1908 BATTLE OVER BAD HALF DOLLARS

Jim Haas writes:

After Battle at Braddock, Pa., in Which One Officer Is Stabbed, Two Men Are Locked Up — East Flooded With False Money

Pittsburg, March 15. — At the point of a gun two men were caught in the act of counterfeiting coins of the United States, and in the roundup the authorities uncovered what they say is the most perfect and largest den of counterfeiters in the history of the country. While only two of the gang of perhaps twenty coin makers were captured and only after a hard fight, fifty molds for making new counterfeit half dollars and almost 600 of the coins already boxed for shipment were captured, with several hundred dollars more ready to be boxed. Joseph A. Haas and John Fuhrman were the men caught in the act of making the coins, and they are in the jail here, having been sent up by the United States authorities after a preliminary hearing charged with counterfeiting.

For three weeks the detectives at Pittsburg have trailed the counterfeiters, who had flooded the town with spurious half dollars. So bad were conditions that the Pittsburg Railways Company took in twenty-seven of the false coins on one afternoon. Detectives Lally, Leff, Dillon and Hanley trailed the counterfeiting to 558 Braddock Avenue in Braddock, a suburb. Having found the counterfeiting machinery was in motion, they telephoned to Pittsburg for the secret service men to come and assist them in making the arrests, as the den was located outside the city of Pittsburg, where the city detectives had no jurisdiction. Operatives W. J. Walsh and John E. Washer were started out as fast as steam could carry them, and, dividing the party equally, they attacked both front and rear of the long, low building.

Battle Over Molten Metal

Once inside they were met by two men who, stripped to the waist, had just left a furnace on which a pan of molten metal was boiling. One of the men carried a knife, the other a revolver, which he discharged at the oncoming officers, but missed.

"Take them alive; there's only two. Look out for others and shoot if they come," shouted Walsh as he closed with the man with the knife. Detective Dillon, who was once a prizefighter, also closed in and with a swing to the ear put the coin maker out.

The man with the gun was also quickly subdued, and all were hauled to Pittsburg, twelve miles away.

The authorities say the best coin makers of the United States were evidently in on the manufacture of the half dollar. There were at least fifteen others connected with the plan at different times in the last two weeks, according to the detectives, who feared they would escape and decided to make the rush.

The bad half dollar is an exact imitation of that of the coinage of 1907 made at the New Orleans mint. Perhaps the only thing which the counterfeiters were not able to reproduce was the small "o" at the end of the eagle's tail. The molds were of new pattern also, the metal being poured in at the edge, and they were of the most clever design.

From this counterfeiting shop, it is alleged by the police, there was coin shipped east to every large city, and the amount of money thus put in circulation is beyond estimating.

Winston Zack writes:

 

Winston adds:

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
NEW BOOK: BAD METAL: SILVER 50C TO $1 (https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n21a04.html)

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