DEXTEROUS

NZ Truth, Issue 1179, 5 July 1928, Page 5

DEXTEROUS

Bissell's Exploits As Counterfeiter (From "N.Z. Truth's" Auckland Rep.) It is extremely doubtful whether — m the history of the Dominion — there has been a more impertinent attempt to put into circulation crudely-forged paper- money than that recently perpetrated by 19--year-old Bertram John Bissell. WITH the aid of an indelible pencil, '* a sheet from a writing-pad andno doubt a great deal of patience, he manufactured a counterfeit £1 note which at least met with, some ephemeral success. ■ . "" „.;.'". '" ■ There is manifest genius, first, m Bissell's conception .of how he might ••"... copy a genuine note, and, -secondly, m his obvious dexterity with the pencil. And, as Chief-detective Hammond ■' put it when Bissell appeared at the Auckland Police Court on charges of forgery, which were subsequently reduced to one of obtaining money by false pretences: "He is an enterprising young man and should put his: art to something more useful." ; Apart from the charge m connection with the illicit paper-money, Bissell was also charged with the theft of £ 2 from a letter while he was staying at Wallace's Mill, Greymouth. He pleaded guilty to both counts. The police evidence went to show that accused, while -travelling to ' Auckland on the night express, jumped off the train at Taihape and tendered a note of his own handiwork m payment for 6d. worth of oranges. He received the . fruit and 19/6 change. Detective Allsop arrested the youth as he disembarked from the train at Auckland. While walking along the platform, Bissell dropped something, which was later found to be another £ 1 note on the Bank of New South Wales, similar to the one presented at, the Taihape station refreshment-rooms. • Jn a statement to the police, the young man said he was an orphan with no fixed place of abode. He confessed to having — on April 13, . while at Wallace's Mill, Greymoutb^stolen £2 from .a registered letter by slitting. the envelope with a knife, extracting the notes arid then pasting up the aperture. He had, he said, been working for a farmer at Masterton and subsequently went to Greymouth. Owing to his theft of the £2 while there, he returned to Masterton under the impression that the police were on his track. When he left the Wairaripa town he was m possession of £10 m cash. EASTER. EGGS He attributed his conception of forging bank-notes to accounts he had read m the papers. With a genuine note placed at the back of a piece of glass, which he held up. to the lighi he traced — on ordinary writing-pad paper— three single notes. The first was a failure and he destroyed it. . As to his transaction at the Taihape railway ; station, Bissell said: "The girl had a good look at the note and asked me if I had any smaller change." Receiving a negative reply, she handed over the 6d. worth of oranges and 19/6 change. Bissell was committed to the Borstal Institution for a term not to exceed 12 months, Magistrate Hunt observing that if he behaved himself he would v be allowed out at the authorities' discretion. "....■ The two notes upon which Bissell had devoted his skili and patience excited a deal of interest when exhibited m court by the chief -detective. Though crude m appearance and flagrantly discernible to close scrutiny,, Bissell's attempts at forging might readily ha.ye passed during a business rush or In a bad light. . The "feel" of the paper, notwithstanding its being ordinary notepaper, possessed an uncanny resemblance to the genuine article. During- an adjournment of the court Chief-detective Hammond gave those present some interesting reminiscences of a bold "scoop" m Auckland some years ago, when two men "flooded" the city with .-£lO notes during the bank holiday period of Easter. Commencing operations as the banks closed for the holidays., the ,two men worked systematically among shopkeepers, a total of £1100 being paid out as the equivalent' of 110 "dud" notes passed over by the counterfeit gentlemen m their purchases of trivial goods of every description. 'fallen the banks opened after the holidays, nearly every shopkeeper m town had one of these 'duds' to present with their deposits," observed the chief-detective, as he produced a remarkably clever specimen of the notes then "unloaded"- — which many Aucjk-. j land business people will no doubt rs^i ■?$ member with no small degree of in-r CM dignatlonl « 4^ . «t&-