The Counterfeiters of Boren Avenue
A Secret Service investigation reveals a family-run forgery ring using 'secrets of wise men' and early forensic fingerprinting to manufacture bogus coins in Seattle and Tacoma.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
With the arrest of Frank Lundstrom of 531 Boren Avenue by Captain Bell, head of the local United States Secret Service, and U.S. Marshal Tyler, the last of a trio of counterfeiters has been secured. The others, Mrs. Alice Roepel and her son Charley Johnston, were arrested Wednesday at 2923 Hosnel Street, Tacoma. The gang had been manufacturing bogus 25-cent and dollar coins. Lundstrom had recently found work as a gripman on the Yesler Avenue car line, but at his home, agents found plaster of paris, a glass creamer containing amalgam, a brush for gilding, and a book titled 'Secrets of Wise Men, Chemists and Physicians.' The book, which contains a formula for gold-plating without a battery, was well-thumbed and covered in dirty fingerprints. In Tacoma, police recovered coin molds and a plaster of paris crucible. An important piece of evidence is a clear fingerprint left on an undried plaster mold, which will be used in the prosecution—the method of comparing fingerprints for identification being considered a 'sure one.' The three are now lodged in the county jail.
“The plastic material received a clear impression of the finger tip of one of the men, which is now hardened and well preserved. This point will be used in the prosecution of the case, the method of comparing finger prints for identification being a sure one.”
This case highlights an early intersection of forensic science and urban policing in the Pacific Northwest. Today, the Yesler Avenue line and the Boren Avenue neighborhood are central to the ongoing evolution of Seattle's downtown and transit infrastructure.
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