Counterfeiting Scheme Uncovered in Gilman
Two coal miners are arrested after allegedly being caught in the act of minting counterfeit currency.
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.
Thomas Rowley and Kelly Ramsey were arrested by John McQuade, city marshal of Gilman, on Sunday, while in the act of working on the manufacture of counterfeit coin. He brought his prisoners to Fremont on the Lake Shore road, and there delivered them to Deputy United States Marshal Henry Bigelow. Rowley is an Englishman, 32 years old, who has been a participant in labor disturbances at the coal mines and currently owns a half-interest in the Davis house at Gilman. Kelly Ramsey, also an Englishman, previously figured in labor troubles four years ago during the Newcastle riot. Both men deny the charges, though the tools found in the house appeared to be those used for making quarter dollars and gold pieces.
“He strenuously denies having had or having ever seen any counterfeit money or any tools for making any, though he appeared to know that the tools found in his house were such as were used for making quarter dollars and gold pieces.”
Gilman is known today as the city of Issaquah. The overlap between labor agitators and illicit activities was a common trope used by the press of the era to discredit organizers during the tumultuous period of coal strikes in the region.
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