Harry Wilson might have gotten away with one bad silver dollar. He might even have slipped by with two.
But in 1906 New York, his mistake was coming back for a third try.
According to the Secret Service, Wilson was already known as a persistent passer of counterfeit money, or, in the slang of the day, a “shover of the queer.”
His latest attempt began in a small Roosevelt Street stationery and tobacco shop, where he bought a pipe, then tobacco, each time paying with a false silver dollar and walking out with real change.
By the time he returned again, suspicion had caught up with him. A Secret Service agent was waiting in the back room.
Wilson Tripped on Third Bad Dollar
NEW YORK CITY, New York. — Harry Wilson, whom the Secret Service vice agents declare to be an unusually persistent “shover of the queer,” was arrested today and later held in $2,000 bail by United States Commissioner Shields.
The complainant against Wilson was Lizzie Olion, who has a small stationary and tobacco shop on Roosevelt Street. According to the woman’s story, Wilson purchased a pipe from her and tendered in payment a silver dollar. Mrs. Olion handed him 80 cents change.
A little while later he bought a box of tobacco, tendering in payment a second silver dollar. He got more change.
After his departure, the woman became suspicious and found that the coins were rank counterfeits.
A secret Service agent was sent to her store and while he was in the back room of the little store, Wilson returned again to make a third purchase and was promptly arrested.
Source: The Evening World. New York, N.Y. March 5, 1906.
