A MASTER COINER

Hokitika Guardian, 2 September 1931, Page 8

A MASTER COINER

NEW ZEALANDER’S FAME. DEATH IN SYDNEY. SYDNEY, August 13. The police are convinced that the New Zealander, Edgar Ronald Stokes, alias James John Ritchie, who was found dead last Saturday in a room in j a house at Darlingliurst, Sydney, was | one of the . greatest counter l eiters in Australian. Most elaborate devices ! came to light alter lie had died, and so expert was he in the manufacture oi coins that for many months lie live.d entirely on the gains of counterfeiting and the widespread traffic in his spurious florins and sixpenny pieces Stokes a sentence of two years for Shop-breaking, and this terminated, last year. Detectives have no knowledge of him receiving any remuneration since then except l’rom counterfeiting. Certainly lie worked on fruit barrows, but the police believe that he did so merely to open a channel lor the distribution vof his false coin. Although Stokes’s record disclosed convictions for a variety of offences, detectives were unaware that he was a counterfeiter until they entered his room alter his death had been reported. They are sure now that he was taught the intricacies' of coining by a fellow-prisoner exceptionally well versed in the art, and that he perfected the knowledge, until the coins seemed nearer to the genuine than any the police had examined for years. An example of the' high grade “quality” o- - the coins was revealed when the detectives took some florins to the bank 1 for testing. Always it is regarded as ; practically a conclusive. test when bad I coins are placed in a* special testing machine. When pressure is exerted they snap cleanly. But in this instance •no amount of pressure . would break them. Bank officials were able to bend | them in tile machine as they can ail 1 good coins, but that was all. I Detectives searched the man’s possessions very cnorougiily, but there was nothing in the room to indicate his private history. On a piece of paper a New Zealand address was found, and the detectives, after taking fingerj prints, soon communicated with the New Zealand police. It is thought that Stokes had a wife in New Zealand. Stokes’s sudden death was caused bv I his own poison—the cyanide he had used in the manufacture of the counterfeit coins, and detectives believe that he transferred it to his system of 1 drawing his fingers across his lips • after treating the coins. ‘Tile alternative theory is that lie was overwhelmed by the fatal fumes. Anyway, there *is no doubt that death was due to .cyanide poisoning. 1 Among the discoveries in the room wa.s a stick of white metal used Unmaking the coins. It was a strange i metal to the police, and its composition will not bo known until it lias been analysed. Altogether there were ten moulds, ,100 false florins, , counterfeit sixpences, a quantity of nitrate of silver, a tin of cyanide; silver shale to impart hardness to the coins a special wheel to give the coins the milled edge, and an ingenious brush. .with steel fibres as fine as silk. This' was used to remove roughness from the coins and add to their efficient finish’. In addition there was a quantity of coal, and it is recalled that Stokes- stipulated that his room must have a fireplace. Another man, a frequent visitor to the room, has been charged in connection with the discoveries.