THE INSIDE MAN.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6382, 30 October 1888, Page 1

THE INSIDE MAN.

£Bi,a Secret Sbbvioe Detective.] When, in April, 1864, a new and almost perfect counterfeit sdol bill on the First National Bank of Whitewater, Wisconsin, waa set afloat in large quantities, there was consternation at headquarters in Washington. The bill appeared on the same day in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Portland, Augusta, Buffalo, and Chicago, proving that a large and well-organised gang had begun work. Many good counterfeits have been issued, but this was perhaps the best of all. They were unhesitatingly taken by cashiers in Btorea and banks, and the amount put in circulation in a week was over lOOjOOOdols. They were still being accepted as all right when a market woman in Boston became suspicious of one she had taken, and had it forwarded to the Treasury Department, where its baseness was at once detected. At that date every counterfeiter in the country was known by name, and we could make a pretty correct guesß at each man's line of work. After comparing notes for several days we came to the conclusion that this issue was the work of a man named George Ashman, alias "Ashes." He had left the country a year and a half before, and had doubtless had- the bill engraved in London or Paris. No one knew where to locate or look for him, and only one man in the Bureau could describe him. When the case was assigned to me he called me in and said : "The last time I saw « Ashes ' he had a round full face, beardless, and two front teeth in the upper jaw had been knocked out by accident. He is five feet six, very chunky, short neck, very small feet, and sports lots of jewellery when in luck. He is down in the records as ' dangerous/ He will shoot you if he has the chance. He is somewhere between Maine and California, and I'll give you a month in which to find him." It was the old saying, "A needle in a haystack," illustrated. He was on« of 40,000,000 people in the country. He had a hundred thousand towns and cities for shelter. No one could advise me which way to go. Indeed, it mattered not which way I turned my face. Nothing but luck could assist me in discovering the arch counterfeiter. When I left Washington I had a ticket for Logansport, Indiana. Why I selected that point, instead of one in Maine, Vermont, Michigan or Nebraska, I cannot say. It seemed to me that I ought to go to Logansport, to get my start, and so I went. Not a bill had been put afloat there. After a day or two I went on to Lafayette. It was the same there, but accident gave me a clue. There were half a dozen strangers at the hotel, and as I eat in the office in the evening-, I heard one of them making enquiries oi the clerk in regard to a stage line operating between the .city and a village twelve or fifteen miles away. He was told that the stage left next day at three o'clock, and he paid his bill until after dinner and secured a Beat. That man could by no possibility be Ashman. He had a full beard, his teeth were all in place, and nothing in his perBonal appearance answered the description. I had turned to my paper when the landlord said:— "Whitewater? Why, I used to live there. Have they got a National Bank there ? Just issued, eh P" I pricked up my ears like a fox, and as I turned my face to the desk, I saw the landlord closely scrutinising a new greenback. " If s all right," said the stranger. " Oh, of course it's all right. Wish I Had a million of 'em/ Half an hour later I wasted that bill to eend off in a letter, and I wanted it so badly that I exchanged a Sdol gold piece {or it. As soon as I could compare it I knew that it was one of the counterfeits. There was a private bank in the town which made a practiceof exchanging money, and' two regular bankuag institutions. Before ten o'clock that night I found that every one of them had been stuck. The stranger had exchanged about lOQOdols in all, and his counterfeits had passed without a word. I could have arrested him that night, but after thinking the matter over I made up my mind thathe was going to a rendezvous, and that by giving him rope I might make a bigger haul. He did not come down to breakfast next morning, and he had no sooner eaten his dinner than he disappeared to remain in hiding until jußt as the stage was ready to start. When it rolled away he was the inside and I the outside, man. He looked me over pretty closely, saw nothing suspicious, and gave me no further attention. We had gone about two miles when the driver, who had been sizing me up to his satisfaction and maintaining, a eevere silence, leaned over and whispered : " What do yon think of him ?" "Who ?" "Man inßide/' " He's a stranger, but all right, I guess/ "lahe P Carries two revolvers and a knife with him. Two of his friends came out with me yesterday, and they were hard characters. 11l bet he's a robber." "I shouldn't think it." "He's got two false teeth in front; I Bawhimtako 'em ont. Them don't look like regular whiskers to me, either. He's a bad 'un or I'm no judge/ It came tome in a moment that the man inside was Ashman, and the next moment, I was planning ho wto arrest him. He was armed and a desperate man, but he would be far more dangerous with his pals at the back of him. We had gone six miles, and had just crossed a small bridge, when the High wheels fell into a washout and the coach canted over and rolled into a deep ditch. There was time for nte to jump, and the driver also saved himself . The man inside had no chance, and the fall threw him against the side of the coach with such violence that he was senseless when I clambered up and found Mm. My first move was to slip on the handcuffs ; the next to remove his weapons. In three or four minutes he regained consciousness, and when he came ta realise his situation he did come awful cursing. He vasinfor.it, however, and that night he slept in a stout gaoL In his satchel was about 20,000d01s of the " queer," and we tad such a strong, case that he pleaded guilty when the trial came on and took his sentence of fifteen years without; a wink. He lived to serve ten of it, and then died of fever.