BOGUS TREASURY NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18891, 13 December 1924, Page 2 (Supplement)

BOGUS TREASURY NOTES.

MADE IN GERMANY.

SKILFUL IMITATIONS.

DISTRIBUTION IN LONDON.

FIVE MEN SENT TO GAOL.

Remarkable evidence in regard to the circulation of skilful imitations of £1 British Treasury notes wa.« given in October, at the trial at the Old Bailey. London, of five young men, wbo were charged yith uttering the notes.

When forged notes began to appear in Britain in ever-increasing quantities it became plain (o the police authorities that lliev were the work of expert criminals, but* it is doubtful, says a London paper. if even Scotland Yard suspected how far afield their inquiries would lead. Factories for the manufacture of spurious notes have been discovered in Trieste and Berlin, and though these will now cease to be Sources of supply for the criminals who have acted as distributors, there is reason to believe that some of the chief conspirators arc still at liberty. Notes which recently fell into the hands bf the police arc notable for the closeness •with which they resemble genuine ones. but it is said tha< those from Berlin arc the most convinch g;. and that they would aimost d?fy detection even if scrutinised by an expert. There were recently many complaints from North Loudon of victimisation by a gang who were engaged in circulating fals'e notes, and as the result ot a specia; police campaign a number of men wen caught, red-handed. The fact that ii. soul" instances those passing the notes, are known to have paid 4s each for them points to the possibility of an enormous; traffic. While there is no doubt that the: men actually circulating the notes in-j tended to tak) full advantage of the opportunity of iiiaking money easily, it is believed they were to some extent the tads .of an inner circle of master criminals with an elaborate and highly efficient organisation.

Five Men Sent to Prison. Tn cases beard at the Old Bailey it "was suggested that some of the notes passed by men arrested in North London had come from Germany and others from Trieste. While they were clearly Ihe work of clever forgers, the Common ♦Sergeant, Sir Henry Dickens, K.C., pointed out that there were flaws nearly always to be found, even in the most successful imitations of genuine £1 currency; notes. The chief of these was the omis-' Mon of a tiny minaret in the design on; the buck, which the forgers appear to have so far overlooked.

The men dealt with at the Old Bailey. Mid the sentences of imprisonment imposed were:—Joseph Phillips, engineer, IS ■months; John Warren, porter, 15 months: Edwin Murphy, carman, 12 months: Al Ired Burridge, dealer, six months anc Frederick Marshall, window cleaner, three months.

Notes had been tendered in publichouses in payment for bottles? of whisky. but the men had endeavoured to disarm suspicion by buying beer with coin in the first instance. In one case a barmaid, thinking that the note handed to her for a bottle of

whisky looked pale in colour, drew the attention of the manager to it. and when the men. who were waiting for their change, found that they were suspected they were so eager to get away that they dropped the bottles of stout they had already ordered and disappeared.

Good Army Record. It was stated that Phillips had been three times convicted and had been recognised as the man who had passed forged notes at a public-house and also at a coffee stall. One of his convictions -was for unlawful wounding, and by means of a safety razor blade he was alleged to have cut a man's throat from ear to car.

Phillips is the son of highly respectable Jewish parents, and from early in June. 3915, to June, 1919, served in the R.F.A., Leing discharged with a very good character. On demobilisation he obtained '•work with a firm of auctioneers, and remained with them for two and a half years, and it was while he occupied that .post that he became acquainted with a ■woman of undesirable character. He Jived with her at intervals, and she took his name, and later, when his father set him up in business, she continued to visit him, and eventually lie had to close his shop, although he had a splendid opportunity to do well. "I look upon Phillips as the principal." said the officer. "He has had every opportunity to do well and his parents have done everything they possihty could to help him. He is regarded by the police in my division as nothing more or less than a blackmailer."

Man Who Supplied the Notes. Warren was also described as another '<if the. ringleaders in the affair. He was hound over as a, suspected person as far hack as 1908, and for shop-breaking two years later was again bound over, but 'in the following year he was charged with warehouse breaking, and sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment. Since then he had hot been in trouble, hut at the time he ■was arrested in connection with the present case he was not working and was associating with the other prisoners. The police had been informed that he was the man who was able to supply the other men with forged notes, and a relative of Lis had just been arrested with 100 notes in his possession. Although Bunidgc had been convicted F'-veral limes for stealing and had given false names, since he had served a sentence of 12 months' imprisonment passed on him at London Sessions for possessing housebreaking implements at night, lie had made an honest attempt to go "straight," and had earned his living as a furniture dealer. It was only during ■the last few weeks before his arrest that he became, mixed tip with Warren, who ■"as his brother-in-law. In view of Ins efforts to make good the Common Sergeant said he, would not. take Burridge's past record into account.

Quite a Family Affair. It was pointed out that with the exception of Phillips all the men were related. Mr. U. St. John McDonald, who defended Warren, said it was a remarkable thing that somebody had heen vie. timising the whole of the family, and added. "There is no doubt that these are 7>ot the men who forged the notes, hut they had heen used by some scoundrel who has got the whole of the family t<> distribute notes over North London.*' I Murphy had not heen convicted before, j but had frequented racecourses, and a j j'wd many forced notes had been passed there. Marshall had always heen a hard- | ■working inan. and in this case was regarded by the police as a tool. A Russian named Miassoyedeff, son of an "rtist whose pictures are well known in the public galleries of Russia, has been sentenced in Berlin to three years' imprisonment for a very clever forgery of English notes. Working with the crudest, of materials—his printing plate was cut from an old saw-—he produced £10 notes which baffled the experts of the Reichshank and had to he .sent to London before their spuriousncss could he definitely establishoc'i J One of hi ? fabrications was betrayed only by a mieroKCopical projection of 'the watermark, which he failed to rfimiinto - when cutting i )ls p a p er r> ( . fr)| . 0 , 1( , * . caught he had put into circulation forged C Valuc of man y ""Wands

Another gang rounded up by the German police specialised in British Treasury notes, oi -which they had put a large number into circulation.

The ringleader and actual maker of the forgeries, a man named Wilde., was caught through an accident during a pleasure outing at Hamburg. He took tin actress for a row on tile Alster and carelessly ran down a boat containing a police official, who, holding him responsible for the collision, insisted en seeing his papers of identity.

Onsr of tthe gang, who acted as circulator of Wilde's products, lived on a luxurious footing at most expensive hotels, where he kept, a private safe stuffed with false Treasury notes.

Sir Basil Thomson, assistant commissioner cf the metropolitan police, in an article i.uhUshed recently revealed new details of tlie greatest treasury note forgery of modern times. This cost the State £60,00 : 0 before the forgers were traced, i'lie counterfeit note was so perfect tha'o detection was almost impossible.

It was discovered that an exveonvici was passing the notes. The police decided to help, instead of hindering him. A Scotland Yard apent became friendly with this man and agreed to go halves, in cashing the notes every Friday. The ex-con-vict paid the printer half the fate value of the notes. The name of the. printer could not be discovered for some time, but eventually lie and the ex-convict were caughfc red-handed and convicted. It is stated that, this conviction of the two men saved the country from the crisis <>f a refusal by tradesmen and wageearners to accept notes in tho early days of the note issue.