side of the new combined note, but it was done so clumsily that the
fraud would have been seen at a glance, and the only hope of passing
the notes as fives would have been to pass them over with the $5 side
up and trust to the man receiving it not to turn it over before
putting it away. The doctored notes came to the notice of the writer
through one of the Chicago banks, with the request that they be
allowed whatever they were worth. The government always redeems notes
at the face value, and as the faces in this case were of a $1 and a $5
note, $6 was allowed. It is not known whether the bank was caught on
the split notes or not.

Another scheme for altering bank-notes is practiced with more or less
success. It is to take a one dollar silver certificate and by means of
powerful acids and fine penwork the large figure "one" on the reverse
side is split into two "tens," and the intermediate portion transformed
into a scroll. On the other side the "one" over the representation of
the silver dollar is obliterated and "ten" substituted, but the "s" is
left off the dollar. The single "1" figures in the corners are neatly
eaten off and the figure "10" substituted. The small "one" is changed
to an "X" and a new series number is printed in red upon the face. The
bill would pass anywhere. None but an expert would detect the fraud.




APPENDIX

INTERESTING WRITINGS OF VARIOUS KINDS FOR STUDY AND COMPARISON