“The detection of crime, when entered upon with an honest purpose to discover the haunts of criminals and protect society from their depredations by bringing them to justice, is held to be an honorable calling and worthy of commendation of all good men.”

– Hiram C. Whitley, Chief of the Secret Service, May 1869 – September 1874

Welcome to my series of blog posts revisiting my research on the Secret Service for my Hidden Hearts of the Gilded Age series. For the next few months, I’ll be posting about their history. At the end of each post, I’ll include my resources and links to the other posts. As each post goes live, the links will be updated.

Part 7: A Real Case – Going to Jail to Make a Capture

One of my favorite research resources was the serialized newspaper articles compiled into a book by former Secret Service Chief Andrew. L. Drummond. He was my favorite operative to read, though I read about and from many. Andrew Drummond was smart, innovative, and got the job done. I really admired him and the inside look at how he conducted his cases.

In one of my original versions of Counterfeit Love, Broderick used the following story’s scheme to insert himself into the counterfeit ring. As usual, the story took on a life of its own and lost the details from this case. Since I couldn’t use it in my story, you can read the full riveting tale in Drummond’s own words here: Going to Prison to Make a Capture.

“In the latter part of 1872 a particularly dangerous counterfeit $50 Treasury note was put into circulation. . . . In May 1873, the chief of the secret service ordered me to go to Atlanta, Ga. He said he had nothing tangible to turn over to me for investigation, but a good many of the counterfeit notes had recently appeared in the South, and he wanted me to go down and see what I could find.

I made up my mind I would hang around the resorts frequented by crooks and learn what I could hear.  I was dressed shabbily and had no difficulty in mingling with those with whom I came in contact without attracting attention. And gradually, I let it become known I was a burglar. . . .  I went to Penora to investigate [Hanford’s] statements. I found that they were all true except the one referring to his respectability. He owned a farm, but he also dealt in counterfeit money. . . .

When I returned to Holly Springs, I laid this information before District Attorney G. Wiley Wells, who later became Minister to China. I asked Mr. Wells to co-operate with me in the execution of a plan I had devised to catch the string of men down through which the counterfeit passed from the makers to Hanford.

“Mr. Wells,” said I, “I believe the information I have obtained about Hanford will be sufficient if he be confronted with it to wring a confession from him. IF so, I would like to be arrested for counterfeiting, put in jail with him, and then both of us permitted to break out together. Immunity can be promised him if he will do what I want him to do.”

“What do you want to be sent to prison and then break jail for?” asked Mr. Wells.

“So that all of the counterfeiters in the country will read about it,” I replied. “They all know Hanford, and if they read that he has broken jail with another counterfeiter, they will be ready to sell me counterfeit money if Hanford introduces me to them. When we get loose, I want him to take me to his friends.”

. . .

A few days later, the District Attorney provided me with a genuine fifty-dollar note, which I wet and rubbed together until it looked like a piece of canton flannel. Then I sauntered into Frank’s story and asked for a paper collar. A clerk handed me what I asked for, and I gave him the rumpled fifty-dollar note, which, by the way, was not only good but was marked with the initials of both the District Attorney and myself.

I shall never forget how the clerk looked at me. It was as if he were saying to himself, “here’s the man who is passing all of this counterfeit money, and now he is trying to do me.” . . . and said he could not change the bill. So I gave back the collar and went out.

But before I had even left the store the cashier had reported the attempted “fraud” to Mr. Frank, and both had gone to the District Attorney’s office to tell him what had happened.

. . .

The United States Marshal at that time was Colonel Pierce, who had also been a Northern army officer during the war. He was known far and wide as a bad man to impose upon. . . . It was this kind of man who was selected to arrest me. . . .

From here on out, I’m going to summarize what happened. If you want to continue to read it in his words, you’ll have to check out the Going to Prison to Make a Capture Google scan of the book.

Those involved concocted a plan for Drummond to be arrested the next day by the U.S. Marshal. Drummond set up his rented room with the necessary evidence to implicate him as a counterfeiter. There was some arrest drama because the Marshal wasn’t aware of who Drummond really was, but Drummond survived unscathed. He was then arrested and sent to the jail at Oxford “owing to the overcrowded conditions” of Holly Springs. This was just a setup because Holly Springs was too strong to break out of, but Oxford was weak.

After six days in jail, he and Hanford made a break and took the train to Louisville, where they were arrested because the local police recognized them as the escapees. Drummond explained to the local chief what he was doing, and they were released under the guise of using a bribe. Drummond and Hanford went straight to Cincinnati, which at the time was a hotbed of counterfeiters, and he was introduced to all the connections necessary. Things went so well that additional Secret Service men were sent from New York to help him, “as it was not desired to arrest one until we could arrest all against whom we could get evidence.” At one point, his cover was almost ruined. Several weeks later, they successfully arrested fifteen counterfeiters. All but one or two were sent to the penitentiary.

With Drummond providing inside information, four other operatives built cases against a large network that served customers in Kentucky, Tennessee, and the Carolinas. Their investigation occupied the summer and fall of 1873, culminating in a sweep that ensnared seventy-two dealers and shovers in October and another twenty in December.

Can these four Secret Service Operatives catch the counterfeiters … without losing their hearts?

A Gilded Age Secret Service historical romance series, with mystery and suspense

Read more about the Secret Service’s History

Part 1: The Early Days
Part 2: The Making of an Operative
Part 3: The Challenges They Faced
Part 4: Bringing Criminals to Justice
Part 5: Using Informants
Part 6: Working Undercover
Part 7: A Real Case
Part 8: Dictionary
Part 9: Fun Facts

Resources

While I’m not going to list all the resources I used in research for this story, I will leave you with a few of my favorites in case you want to research further.

Books

Illegal Tender by David R Johnson* (My personal favorite. It gives you a look at counterfeiters AND the Secret Service.)

The United States Secret Service by Walter S. Bowen and Harry Edward Neal

Freedom’s Detective: The Secret Service, the Ku Klux Klan, and the Man Who Masterminded America’s First War on Terror by Charles Lane

True Detective Stories by Andrew L. Drummond (Digital)

Digital Resources

ABOUT CRYSTAL CAUDILL

Crystal Caudill is the author of “dangerously good historical romance.” Her debut novel, Counterfeit Love, was a 2023 Carol Award finalist, and her novella, “Star of Wonder,” won the 2024 Christy Award for short form. She loves history, hot tea, all things bookish, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. She is a stay-at-home mom, caregiver, and chaos organizer. When she isn’t writing, Crystal can be found hanging with her family and playing board games at her home outside Cincinnati, Ohio. Find out more at crystalcaudill.com.

Connect with the author:

Website  |  Newsletter  |  Facebook  |  Facebook Group  |  Instagram  |  Pinterest  |  Amazon  |  BookBub  |  GoodReads

A Question for You:

What was your favorite fact shared today?

“The detection of crime, when entered upon with an honest purpose to discover the haunts of criminals and protect society from their depredations by bringing them to justice, is held to be an honorable calling and worthy of commendation of all good men.”

– Hiram C. Whitley, Chief of the Secret Service, May 1869 – September 1874

Welcome to my series of blog posts revisiting my research on the Secret Service for my Hidden Hearts of the Gilded Age series. For the next few months, I’ll be posting about their history. At the end of each post, I’ll include my resources and links to the other posts. As each post goes live, the links will be updated.

Part 6: Working Undercover

“To meet and thwart [crime] requires the most subtle ingenuity, incessant vigilance, and unflagging energy upon the part of officers of the law.” – Herman C. Whitley, Chief of the Secret Service from May 1869 to September 1874

Investigating

Sometimes, before working undercover or while another operative worked undercover, an operative would conduct interviews. Victims would report the passing or “shoving” of counterfeit bills, and, through an interview, describe the alleged criminal.

Once located, another interview would be conducted with the suspect to determine whether the “shover” had knowingly committed the crime. In such situations, the operative had to appear honest and sincere to gain the trust of those he interviewed. He also needed keen observational skills and the ability to recognize a lie when he heard it.

While these investigative skills were great for lower-level criminal activity, they were practically useless for coping with the sophisticated criminals who financed, manufactured, and distributed counterfeit notes. That is where working undercover came into play.

Working within the Criminal Network

To enter a counterfeiting ring, an operative had to conceal his identity and cultivate contacts within the underworld, usually with the help of their informants. By playing a role, he was able to participate in discussions about criminal activities and hopefully induce suspects to commit a crime when and where he could observe them.

Operatives, or their assistants, frequently purchased counterfeit money from underworld criminals, carefully marking the bills with the date of purchase and the purchaser’s initials.

Although observing a transaction was an important objective, it was only a small part of a long-term strategy to identify all the criminals involved with a particular note. Operatives had to ignore minor crimes to build cases against major criminals. Small-time criminals were offered inducements to betray the higher-up criminals.

By spurning immediate arrest, the operative hoped to delve deeper into the counterfeiting ring and develop evidence against each individual. Like the Pinkertons, the Secret Service had a cataloging system for each forger’s name, age, aliases, physical description, dates of arrests and releases, criminal methods, counterfeiting specialties, and a photo of him and/or his cohorts. Ideally, arrests would occur only after all the guilty parties had been identified.

Cases required both investigating and instigating skills.

Can these four Secret Service Operatives catch the counterfeiters … without losing their hearts?

A Gilded Age Secret Service historical romance series, with mystery and suspense

Read more about the Secret Service’s History

Part 1: The Early Days
Part 2: The Making of an Operative
Part 3: The Challenges They Faced
Part 4: Bringing Criminals to Justice
Part 5: Using Informants
Part 6: Working Undercover
Part 7: A Real Case
Part 8: Dictionary
Part 9: Fun Facts

Resources

While I’m not going to list all the resources I used in research for this story, I will leave you with a few of my favorites in case you want to research further.

Books

Illegal Tender by David R Johnson* (My personal favorite. It gives you a look at counterfeiters AND the Secret Service.)

The United States Secret Service by Walter S. Bowen and Harry Edward Neal

Freedom’s Detective: The Secret Service, the Ku Klux Klan, and the Man Who Masterminded America’s First War on Terror by Charles Lane

True Detective Stories by Andrew L. Drummond (Digital)

Digital Resources

ABOUT CRYSTAL CAUDILL

Crystal Caudill is the author of “dangerously good historical romance.” Her debut novel, Counterfeit Love, was a 2023 Carol Award finalist, and her novella, “Star of Wonder,” won the 2024 Christy Award for short form. She loves history, hot tea, all things bookish, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. She is a stay-at-home mom, caregiver, and chaos organizer. When she isn’t writing, Crystal can be found hanging with her family and playing board games at her home outside Cincinnati, Ohio. Find out more at crystalcaudill.com.

Connect with the author:

Website  |  Newsletter  |  Facebook  |  Facebook Group  |  Instagram  |  Pinterest  |  Amazon  |  BookBub  |  GoodReads

A Question for You:

What was your favorite fact shared today? 

“The detection of crime, when entered upon with an honest purpose to discover the haunts of criminals and protect society from their depredations by bringing them to justice, is held to be an honorable calling and worthy of commendation of all good men.”

– Hiram C. Whitley, Chief of the Secret Service, May 1869 – September 1874

Welcome to my series of blog posts revisiting my research on the Secret Service for my Hidden Hearts of the Gilded Age series. For the next few months, I’ll be posting about their history. At the end of each post, I’ll include my resources and links to the other posts. As each post goes live, the links will be updated.

Part 5: Using Informants

Have you ever been an outsider trying to get into a tight-knit group? Our church has small groups where close-knit relationships develop. While fantastic, being an outsider is initially difficult. You are either joining a new group that takes time to develop trust with, or someone from a tight-knit group invites you in.

Now flip that innocent example on its head and pretend you are a Secret Service operative trying to infiltrate a tight-knit, highly suspicious network of counterfeiters. There is no way you can get in on your own. You are a stranger. They suspect you. They might allow you to have a drink with them, but no vital communication will occur in your presence—unless you have an “in,” someone who can vouch for you.

Enter the informant.

The use of informants was crucial for the success of a Secret Service operative. Thus, an operative’s relationship with his informant was highly personal. They were not friends, but the operative had to know whether they could trust the information, as it dictated their tactics and whether they committed their limited resources to an investigation.

Some informants were voluntary while others were coerced, meaning they were under arrest and possibly facing trial and prison.

Voluntary informants were often self-seeking in their desire to share information. Rewards were given by the Secret Service to any person who gave information “not already in the possession of the chief” that led to the “detection, arrest, and conviction” of counterfeiters or the “capture of their implements and materials.” Counterfeiters offered information as a way to supplement their income when they were down on their luck.

My favorite type of informant was the vengeful one. These informants used the Secret Service to exact revenge on their peers for real or imagined grievances, or to drive competitors out of business. These make the best kind of villain in a story. I read a story that former Chief Andrew Drummond published in the early 1900s about one such Italian counterfeiter. You can read about it here: What Jealousy Did in Little Italy.

A new informant initially had to build a case on his or her own to present his or her results to the operative. Then the Chief of the Secret Service would determine if there should be a reward for their services.

When a rumor was substantiated, the local operative kept the chief informed of developments while simultaneously working with his source to infiltrate the new network. Ideally, the operative sought to identify and arrest all the participants before they could complete and distribute the counterfeited banknotes. However, if it had already entered the distribution network, the chief acted to limit the damage by disrupting the market.

This could be done by providing descriptions of the banknote imperfections to each operative, lawman, and newspaper. Operatives and police officers would spread the word to as many business owners as they could. By spreading the knowledge of the counterfeit to the community, the risk of using the note became too great.

(See links to Resources and previous posts below.)

Can these four Secret Service Operatives catch the counterfeiters … without losing their hearts?

A Gilded Age Secret Service historical romance series, with mystery and suspense

Read more about the Secret Service’s History

Part 1: The Early Days
Part 2: The Making of an Operative
Part 3: The Challenges They Faced
Part 4: Bringing Criminals to Justice
Part 5: Using Informants
Part 6: Working Undercover
Part 7: A Real Case
Part 8: Dictionary
Part 9: Fun Facts

Resources

While I’m not going to list all the resources I used in research for this story, I will leave you with a few of my favorites in case you want to research further.

Books

Illegal Tender by David R Johnson* (My personal favorite. It gives you a look at counterfeiters AND the Secret Service.)

The United States Secret Service by Walter S. Bowen and Harry Edward Neal

Freedom’s Detective: The Secret Service, the Ku Klux Klan, and the Man Who Masterminded America’s First War on Terror by Charles Lane

True Detective Stories by Andrew L. Drummond (Digital)

Digital Resources

ABOUT CRYSTAL CAUDILL

Crystal Caudill is the author of “dangerously good historical romance.” Her debut novel, Counterfeit Love, was a 2023 Carol Award finalist, and her novella, “Star of Wonder,” won the 2024 Christy Award for short form. She loves history, hot tea, all things bookish, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. She is a stay-at-home mom, caregiver, and chaos organizer. When she isn’t writing, Crystal can be found hanging with her family and playing board games at her home outside Cincinnati, Ohio. Find out more at crystalcaudill.com.

Connect with the author:

Website  |  Newsletter  |  Facebook  |  Facebook Group  |  Instagram  |  Pinterest  |  Amazon  |  BookBub  |  GoodReads

A Question for You:

What was your favorite fact shared today? 

“The detection of crime, when entered upon with an honest purpose to discover the haunts of criminals and protect society from their depredations by bringing them to justice, is held to be an honorable calling and worthy of commendation of all good men.”

– Hiram C. Whitley, Chief of the Secret Service, May 1869 – September 1874

Welcome to my series of blog posts revisiting my research on the Secret Service for my Hidden Hearts of the Gilded Age series. For the next few months, I’ll be posting about their history. At the end of each post, I’ll include my resources and links to the other posts. As each post goes live, the links will be updated.

Part 4: Bringing Criminals to Justice

The Secret Service adopted a long-term strategy for suppressing counterfeiting. While the country was split into 11 districts, covering multiple states and territories, the first step of this plan was to concentrate its operatives in the largest urban centers: New York City, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, and St. Louis.

There, they sought to penetrate the criminal networks by starting at the lowest level and gradually working their way upward to identify and arrest the manufacturers. Informants were crucial to their success, providing information and introductions into these secretive gangs of counterfeiters.

Good cases took weeks, even months, to develop and required enormous amounts of patience and dedication. Although not usually dangerous (the first operative to lose their life on the job was not until 1907), operatives stayed in peak condition to contend with criminals who did not wish to be caught.

Operatives were scrutinized by their superiors and were required to write extensive daily reports. Expenses were itemized, including the purchase of counterfeit notes, travel expenses, and personal expenses. In 1875, Chief Washburn demanded that field operative Andrew Drummond obtain a refund from a Philadelphia telegraph operator who had overcharged him one cent. Ever dutiful, he obtained the refund.

Not only were their expenditures itemized, but their days were also detailed from waking moment until slumber. A typical report might say: “I got up at 5:30 AM, ate my breakfast, left home at 7 AM, arrived at the office at 8 AM, at 8:30 I went to First National Bank…., I returned home at 10 PM and went to bed at 11 PM.”

Though they faced internal and external challenges, through the use of informants, undercover work, and both investigative and instigative techniques, the Secret Service reduced counterfeiting from the most prominent criminal activity in the pre-Civil War United States to a spattering of successful occurrences by 1900.

Fun Fact:

Long before the Miranda Rights were established in 1966, the Secret Service had its own version. It was common practice for law enforcement agencies to grant freedom to criminals who spouted information at their arrests. However, Chief of the Secret Service Elmer Washburn (1874–1876) enacted a policy for the Secret Service which required operatives to inform arrested criminals that anything they did must be done “voluntarily and without any promises whatever.” (See reports by Secret Service operatives as quoted in Illegal Tender by David R. Johnson [1995]). This policy was further emphasized by Chief James Brooks (1876–1888) in 1879. Operatives were instructed to warn suspects of their rights. Everything a suspect said would be documented and used against them in court, and they did not have to answer any questions until they had consulted a lawyer. Nearly ninety years before the rest of law enforcement agencies required it, Secret Service operatives were reading suspects their rights.

Read more about the Secret Service’s History

Part 1: The Early Days
Part 2: The Making of an Operative
Part 3: The Challenges They Faced
Part 4: Bringing Criminals to Justice
Part 5: Using Informants
Part 6: Working Undercover
Part 7: A Real Case
Part 8: Dictionary
Part 9: Fun Facts

Resources

While I’m not going to list all the resources I used in research for this story, I will leave you with a few of my favorites in case you want to research further.

Books

Illegal Tender by David R Johnson* (My personal favorite. It gives you a look at counterfeiters AND the Secret Service.)

The United States Secret Service by Walter S. Bowen and Harry Edward Neal

Freedom’s Detective: The Secret Service, the Ku Klux Klan, and the Man Who Masterminded America’s First War on Terror by Charles Lane

True Detective Stories by Andrew L. Drummond (Digital)

Digital Resources

Can these four Secret Service Operatives catch the counterfeiters … without losing their hearts?

A Gilded Age Secret Service historical romance series, with mystery and suspense

ABOUT CRYSTAL CAUDILL

Crystal Caudill is the author of “dangerously good historical romance.” Her debut novel, Counterfeit Love, was a 2023 Carol Award finalist, and her novella, “Star of Wonder,” won the 2024 Christy Award for short form. She loves history, hot tea, all things bookish, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. She is a stay-at-home mom, caregiver, and chaos organizer. When she isn’t writing, Crystal can be found hanging with her family and playing board games at her home outside Cincinnati, Ohio. Find out more at crystalcaudill.com.

Connect with the author:

Website  |  Newsletter  |  Facebook  |  Facebook Group  |  Instagram  |  Pinterest  |  Amazon  |  BookBub  |  GoodReads

A Question for You:

What was your favorite fact shared today?