Counterfeit dos caritas

There are few references to forged dos caritas and they imply, unsurprisingly, that the counterfeiting was of a much higher quality than was the case with the sábanas. No circulars or official pronouncements on how to identify counterfeits are known, so the information derives from some correspondence, some newspaper reports and study of the notes themselves.

Correspondence

On 9 November 1914 Lázaro de la Garza wrote to Navarro that he had been informed that counterfeit dos caritas were in existence and that that he would send an example when he received it so that Navarro could note the differences^{LG papers, [            ], letter de la Garza, Torreón, to Navarro, Washington, 9 November 1914}. On 27 January 1915 de la Garza sent a counterfeit $10 note (number 249481) to Navarro, asking him to find out how it was made and what they could do to identify the perpetrator. On 3 February 1915 Navarro replied that the note had been lithographed (hecho en piedra) and was at first sight an obvious forgery, with more differences noticeable under a magnifying glass^{LG papers, 6-D-37, letter from de la Garza, El Paso, to Navarro, Washington, 27 January 1915: 6-E-7, letter from Navarro, Washington, to de la Garza, El Paso. 1915, 3 February 1915}.

On 3 February 1915 Tesorero General Sebastián Vargas wrote to de la Garza that having studied the counterfeit dos caras, he suspected that they were also being printed at Norris Peters, and asked de la Garza to investigate and, if necessary, punish the malefactors^{LG papers, 3-H-2, letter from Vargas, Chihuahua, to de la Garza, Ciudad Juárez, 3 February 1915}. On 6 February de la Garza replied that the counterfeits were very good, but did not have the secret marks and intentional errors (señales secretas y fallos). He listed over twenty differences that he had found in the $5 and $10 notes^{LG papers, 3-H-5, letter from de la Garza, El Paso to Vargas, Chihuahua, 6 February 1915. There are other references to secret marks. When on 13 February 1914 Lazaro de la Garza asked for a quote from the American Bank Note Company he stated that the notes were to have two secret marks (ABNC, folder s/n. Banco del Estado de Chihuahua (1914-1939)). On 6 January 1915 Navarro sent Vargas details of the contraseñas on the notes (LG papers, 6-D-13, telegram Navarro, Washington, to Vargas, Chihuahua, 6 January 1915) and this cannot have referred to the code letters as they were applied in Ciudad Juárez or Chihuahua. On 2 February 1915, de la Garza suggested that they could inform the public of one of the secret marks every few days to foil counterfeiters, but that the effect would be limited as the counterfeiters would merely redesign their notes (LG papers, 1-J-6, letter L. de la Garza, El Paso, to Villa, Aguascalientes, 2 February 1915). Obviously these secret marks have yet to be identified.}. De la Garza suggested using the secret police and in the same month the chief of Villa’s secret police, Héctor Ramos, sent a detective to San Antonio to arrest three ‘gringos’ and recover nine plates and some counterfeit notes^{the plates were for every denomination from 50c to $50 (LG papers, 6-E-15, letter Navarro, San Antonio, to de la Garza, El Paso, 16 February 1915)}. Those arrested were Fred Meyer and Charles. H. Hudson, two employees of Maverick-Clarke, and J. N. Nidel. The plates demonstrated certain differences from the genuine notes.

Ramos also knew of a certain Dr. Ochoa of the International Engraving Co., who had established himself across the road from the Hotel Paso del Norte^{LG papers, 3-H-14, letter from de la Garza, El Paso, to Vargas, Chihuahua. 22 February 1915}.

On 4 February 1915 Sebastian Vargas wrote to E. G. Saravia, governor of Durango, warning that counterfeit dos caritas had appeared, and that he was sending details^{ADUR, gaveta 6, nombre 83}. He sent instructions on 6 February^{ADUR, gaveta 6,nombre 88}. The governor received the instructions on 15 February and copied them on to the Jefatura de Hacienda and Dirección General de Rentas^{ADUR, gaveta 6, nombre 88. Acknowleged by Jefe de Hacienda Ignacio Montemayor on 17 February and by Director General de Rentas J M Plagaray on 19 February}.

It was said that Jack Noonan who had been in Douglas and by 12 March 1915 was staying in the Hotel McCoy, El Paso, was known to be smuggling in counterfeit notes and should be closely watched ^{JMM papers, box 5, fólder 3, coded telegram from Maytorena to Luís Gaxiola, 12 March 1915}.

On 9 May 1915 Ramos reported to Maytorena from El Paso that amongst the latter’s forces was a paymaster (pagador) called Francisco Huerta, who was in correspondence with the Ponce brothers, known counterfeiters, and it was likely that Huerta was dealing in counterfeit money^{JMM papers, box 5, folder 9}. However, Huerta had already been removed from office on suspicion of disloyalty to the cause^{JMM papers, box 5, folder 10}.

On 17 May 1915 Coronel Juéz de Instrucción Militar, Ramón Gavala, reported from Hermosillo on an enquiry started by the Presidente Municipal of La Colorada into a payment of $740 in counterfeit dos caritas made by the casa comercial of C. E. Roundtree y Cía. The company’s manager, E. C. Buichhams, had bought large sums of money from the First National Bank of Nogales, and the Internacional Exchange Company, the Juarez Commission Company and Tomás Rascon, all of El Paso, so the coronel was planning to raid the company, check its holdings and marking any counterfeit notes “Falso”^{JMM papers, box 5, folder 11, item 4}.

Newspaper and other reports

The earliest reference seems to have been on 23 July 1914 when a newspaper reported an instance of $1,800 in very good counterfeit dos caritas passed in El Paso^{El Paso Herald, 23 July 1914}.

Joseph Kleinman: Kleinman, an American citizen who owned a curio store in Ciudad Juárez (on the corner of avenida Juárez and calle de Comercio), was arrested on 26 October 1914 on a charge of having a lot of Mexican counterfeit money. He was taken to Chihuahua for trial^{Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 28 October 1914}. The charges against him were preferred by Colonel F. Corona, who was said to have had secret service men working on the case. The El Paso Herald reported that the Juárez merchants were taking a keen interest in the case as it would bring up the important point as to whether a person who received counterfeit money without knowing that it was false and later passed it, was subject to arrest^{El Paso Herald, 27 October 1914}.

In November 1914 Villista secret agent #5 contrived the arrest of three employees of Maverick-Clarke who had stolen the original plates and so produced perfect counterfeits. They had been arrested with the “goods” and jailed^{CEHM, Fondo Federico González Garcia, carpeta 37, legajo 3669 report of 18-26 November 1914}. It is unknown what relationship this had with the arrest of three employees in February 1915 mentioned above.

In November 1914 the San Antonio Express reported that an American, representing several people whose property had been confiscated by Villa, had tried to interest a Kansas City bank note company in producing $1,500,000 in currency similar to Villa. They planned to recoup their losses by having the money printed, buying livestock or bullion, then taking their purchases across the border and converting them into American money. The bank note company submitted the proposition to the Secret Service Department in Washington, which reported that there would be no violation of any law, but the company decided to decline the contract^{San Antonio Express, 2 November 1914}.

Daniel Reyes Retana, Luis Sánchez Noriega, E Rivero, E Gallegos, Manuel del Moral: In the days when the northern troops were approaching Mexico City it was discovered that a large amount of Chihuahua notes were circulating there. At first it was believed that the notes were brought by people preceding the northern troops, but investigation showed that the notes were counterfeit and led to the arrest of E. Gallegos, the proprietor of a printing establishment and Manuel del Moral, a printer. They implicated Reyes Retana, Rivero and Sánchez Noriega as the principal and real directors of the plan to counterfeit and circulate the notes.

A court martial sentenced the men to death. The wife of one of the men confessed that she strongly opposed the illegal work that her husband was doing and and she destroyed some $30,000 of the counterfeited notes which were in his possession. The majority of the notes (about $135,000) were seized by the police^{The Mexican Herald, 8 December 1914}.

On 13 December they were executed at the Spanish cemetery, north of Tacuba. Reyes Retana, Sánchez Noriega and Rivero all belonged to prominent families in the capital^{El Paso Morning Times, 14 December 1914; La Voz de la Revolución, Durango, 16 December 1914}.

Minor Meriwether: In late January or early February of 1915, Minor Meriwether disembarked in Tampico with a suitcase full of Constitutionalist money. Meriwether, an American naval cadet from a prestigious southern U.S. family in Shreveport, Louisiana, and now an oil executive, was planning on travelling through northern Mexico during some of the most violent months of the Mexican Revolution with 50,000 pesos in cash in order to “transact private and important business”^{Meriwether’s full deposition is available in NARA, Record Group 84, Monterrey, Mexico, volume 162, file 320}. On February 5, he left the port and travelled west on the railroad. His final destination was Torreón, the geographic heart of the Villista army that was preparing to attack the Constitutionalist forces that controlled Tampico and most of the Gulf coast of Mexico. After many “trials and tribulations,” Meriwether crossed the frontlines and found his way into the outskirts of Monterrey, where he was detained by the troops loyal to the Convention. Fortunately for Meriwether, Monterrey was governed by leaders friendly to international venture capitalists like himself. Once in the city, he met with two prominent members of the Maderista faction of the Conventionist coalition: Felipe Angeles and Raúl Madero. He was also received by U.S. Consul General Philip Hanna and even witnessed the election of Madero to the governorship of Nuevo León on 15 February. Three days later, he left for Torreón.

Meriwether soon discovered that his treatment in Monterrey was truly a singular experience. Other military leaders in Northern Mexico were considerably more suspicious of someone travelling through the war zone with large amounts of cash. When he arrived in Torreón on 25 February, Meriwether was arrested, but he was quickly released thanks to the swift actions of U.S. Consular Agent William Dent. Dent telegraphed Hanna, who contacted Angeles; it is not clear how the general intervened, but by the next day at 6 pm, Meriwether was out of jail and on his way back to Monterrey.

On 14 March Meriwether was arrested at Paredon, Coahuila, and charged with having 20,000 pesos counterfeit Villa money in his possession. He was given a hearing before Governor Santiago Ramírez at Saltillo where he claimed that the money was obtained from Villa government authorities in Monterrey^{Times-Picayune, New Orleans,19 March 1915}. On 13(?) March, British Consul MacMillan telegraphed the Consulate General in Monterrey: Meriwether had been arrested again and charged with counterfeiting money. MacMillan wrote: “Meriwether says that he is known to General Angeles, General Raoul (sic) Madero also to yourself and [Vice-Consul General] Mr Ayres Robertson.” Meriwether was asking for Angeles to use his influence to get him out of jail again, or at least to have his case transferred to a court in Monterrey. He must have suspected that he would receive better treatment from the Maderistas.

Indeed, Meriwether was transferred to Monterrey where instead of being imprisoned he spent one day detained in the government palace and enjoyed a swift release when he swore “on his word of honor” to return to court when ordered. On 18 March, Meriwether was personally received by Raúl Madero. Meanwhile, Hanna received telegrams from the U. S. Secretary of State Bryan and the Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives asking him to help Meriwether. Bryan also instructed the special representative, George C. Carothers, to make a thorough investigation^{Dallas Morning News, 23 March 1915}.

On 30 March Meriwether was to be sent to Ciudad Juárez, “presumably for deportation to the United States”^{Dallas Morning News, 31 March 1915} and subsequently released^{Prensa, 3 April 1915}. On 1 April, a New York Times article stated, “the case of Minor Meriwether, formerly a midshipman in the Naval Academy at Annapolis, who was under arrest at Paredón, Mexico, has… been settled to the satisfaction of the State Department”^{New York Times, 1 April 1915}.

On his release, Meriwether gave his version of events. “Some weeks ago I arrived in Monterrey with $50,000 in notes, of which $10,500 were Monclova issue, and all were acknowleged as genuine and revalidated by general Felipe Angeles. I went to Torreón and presented my money. There I was arrested and held in prison for five days. Finally the authorities released me, and acknowledged that my notes were genuine and that it was wrong to have jailed me. From Torreón I went to Saltillo. The authorities there checked my notes and said they were genuine, but when I left, they took me off the train at Paredón, and took me back to Saltillo. The only explanation for what happened is that relations between Angeles and Ramírez, the governor of Coahuila, are strained. After six days in prison I was put through a mock execution, and then released. I have to declare that neither Duval West, the special representative of president Wilson, nor George C. Carothers, the special agent of the Department of State, helped me in the slightest or showed the least interest in my case”^{Prensa, 3 April 1915}.

The Meriwether case did not end there. Meriwether’s baggage, personal effects and some money disappeared at some point during his journey. On 6 April, Consul General Hanna sent a politely worded letter to Governor Madero asking for help locating the “money, clothing and personal effects of Meriwether”^{NARA, RG 84, Monterrey, Mexico, volume 162, file 320}. The British Consul in Saltillo and the U.S. Consul General exchanged a few more letters and telegraphs inquiring about Meriwether’s luggage. The final document concerning this case was a handwritten letter from Meriwether to Hanna sent from Taylor, Texas and dated 15 May 1915. A tireless venture capitalist, Meriwether was in Texas “trying to get from under an oil deal.” He was still concerned about recovering what he had lost in Saltillo, but he also seemed worried about his friend Raúl Madero’s situation; by this time Villa’s army had been defeated and Monterrey was about to be captured by Constitutionalist general Pablo González. Meriwether offered to receive Madero and a member of his staff by the last name of Navarro if they needed to go into exile in the United States ^{The handwritten letter postmarked in Taylor, Texas reads: “Dear Mr. Hanna, Here trying to get from under an oil deal. I have wondered if you have by any chance recovered my baggage or money. I hear Raul will soon be a fugitive. If this is true I will entertain hi [sic] and Navarro on this side! Your efforts are muchly (sic) appreciated. Kindly write to me at Shrevenport, La. Sincerely yours, Minor Meriwether.” (NARA, RG 84, Monterrey, Mexico, volume 162, file 320 Meriwether to Hanna, 15 May 1915)}. The bonds of solidarity between the two members of the North American elite families, the Meriwethers and the Maderos, were strong.

Even though Meriwether lost some cash and his luggage, the fact that he managed to walk away from a war zone with his life, his freedom, and most of his money speaks to the effectiveness and influence of the U.S. consular service. It also shows a great deal of reciprocity between members of the North American liberal elite on both sides of the border. Angeles, Hanna, Madero, and Meriwether all seemed to share similar values and were equally committed to fostering an atmosphere suitable for business. It is remarkable that, at the height of the Mexican Revolution, capitalists like Meriwether were still looking for ways to profit in Mexico^{Most of the information and opinions in the preceding paragraphs are verbatim from Rodolfo Fernández, Revolution and the Industrial City: Violence and Capitalism in Monterrey, Mexico, 1890-1920, Washington, D.C., 2013}.

On 12 February 1915 an individual was arrested in Nogales with $20,000 counterfeit dos caritas. The money was incinerated at the customs house^{Prensa, 13 February 1915. On 17 February 1915 the newspaper Vida Nueva described these as ‘Banco del Estado de Chihuahua’ in the headline and ‘Estado de Chihuahua’ in the body of text (Vida Nueva, 17 February 1915)}. On 18 February Treasurer Vargas warned that, in view of the large number of forged sábanas and dos caritas circulating, anyone in possession of counterfeit notes would be shot^{Periódico Oficial, 21 February 1915}.

Archie G. McMath: A few days later, on 22 February, an American, Archie G. McMath, a local real estate dealer, was arrested at the Hotel McCoy, El Paso, by detective O. W. Smith, with a handbag filled with $50,000 in false $5 dos caritas. A complaint was filed in justice J. M. Deaver’s court. McMath had earlier been indicted in Fort Worth on a similar charge but the case was later dismissed^{El Paso Herald, 23 February 1915: Vida Nueva, 23 February 1915}.

Ernesto Sánchez: By March forged notes had been circulating in the markets of Léon, Guanajuato, for several weeks and on 9 March Ernesto Sánchez was arrested in flagrante delicto with 2,000 pesos in false $10 notes as he paid for some goods. The notes were very similar to the genuine article except for the quality of the paper used^{Vida Nueva, 10 March 1915. However, Sanchéz turned out to have been a reputable businessman from San Luis Potosí (Vida Nueva, 17 March 1915)}.

There was, however, a lot of confusion over the different seals and the type and size of signatures that led to accusations of forgery and reluctance to accept certain notes. On 18 March 1915 R. A. Sepúlveda, the head of the Office for Exchange (Oficina Canjeadora) in Monterrey, Nuevo Léon wrote to the editor of La Epoca to correct an article that had referred to Vargas’ and Munoz’ signatures and the colour of the seals on the reverse^{Periódico Oficial, 19 March 1915}. Sepúlveda pointed out that a feature of the forged $1 and $5 notes was that Vargas’ signature extended beyond the edge of the design whereas this occurred with either one or both of the signatures on the genuine $50 notes. On the forged $1 and $5 notes the facsimile signatures of Vargas and Munoz were thick, larger than on the authentic notes, and scrawled^{‘subsiste como detalle para distinguir los billetes falsificados, el hecho de que las firmas de los Sres. Vargas y Muñoz, hechas en facsímil, que calzan los billetes falsos de UNO Y CINCO PESOS, son gruesas, más grandes que las que se ven en los billetes auténticos, y GARRAPATEADAS.’}. Again, the seals on the reverse of the $50 could be black, blue or red. On 10 May the Inspector Oficial in Monterrey, Alfredo H. Hernández, in his first circular, declared that the first issue of the dos caritas could be identified by the fact that the signature on the $1 and $5 extended beyond the design, the $10 had its seal on the front, and the $10 and $20 were handsigned. People, he said, were mistakenly refusing dos caritas because they did not have a date next to the series letter or letters on the reverse^{Periódico Oficial, 14 May 1915}.

On 20 March 1915 Guilebaldo Romero, Presidente Municipal of Guadalajara, denied that there were any counterfeit dos caritas^{La Republica, 20 March 1915} and on 4 April 1915 Sub-secretary Padilla repeated the claim. Padilla told the Mexican Herald that the fact that some notes lacked seals or serial letters in a particular place did not make them counterfeit^{Mexican Herald, 4 April 1915}.

W. B. Cox: By 6 April 1915 Cox of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, was under arrest in Chihuahua and committed to a military court, charged with having a large amount of counterfeit currency^{Los Angeles Times, 7 April 1915. A Chihuahua newspaper reported that they were Monclova issue (Vida Nueva, 3 June 1915)}. Cox was apprehended in Monterrey with $109,560 in his possession, having arrived there from Tampico, through which port, it is believed, the notes were introduced^{SD papers 812.5157/75 memorandum of Enrique Llorente to Secretary of State, 7 April 1915}. Cox declared that he did not know the money was counterfeit and claimed he had obtained it from officers of General Villa in payment for oil lands^{Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 4 April 1915}. The Villista confidential agency in Washington stated that when Cox entered Mexico through Tampico he was carrying two million pesos in counterfeit notes so he had put into circulation about 1,900,000 pesos of his worthless money^{Tulsa World, 7 April 1915}. Cox was sentenced to death but after two months’ imprisonment also had his release secured by George Carothers^{El Paso Herald, 21 June 1915: Prensa, 22 June 1915. The El Paso Herald said that Cox was charged with bringing Carranza money into Villa territory and attempting to exchange it (El Paso Herald, 16 June 1915).}.

In April 1915 Detective Joseph Hausinger seized some $6,000 worth of counterfeit Villa money from a rooming house on Mills Street, El Paso^{El Paso Herald, 30 April 1915}.

George Marx: Apparently Marx, an American jeweller, from El Paso, received $150 in Villista money in payment for a watch and entered one of the gambling houses in Ciudad Juárez, began to play at one of the tables and was arrested on the charge that the money was counterfeit. The Juárez court sentenced Marx to be shot, the sentence being subject to review by a higher court at Chihuahua and General Tomás Ornelas, the commander of the Ciudad Juárez garrison, sent him to Chihuahua^{Albuquerque Journal, 11 June 1915}. On 16 June George C. Carothers, special representative of the United States in Northern Mexico, left for Chihuahua to join Miguel Díaz Lombardo, Villa’s Foreign Minister, in reviewing the cases of the three Americans under sentence of death for passing counterfeit currency^{Los Angeles Times, 16 June 1915}. After the case was reviewed by Carothers and Díaz Lombardo, Marx was released on 18 June^{El Paso Herald, 19 June 1915: Albuquerque Journal, 19 June 1915}.

Samuel Finkelstein (also known as Franklin): Finkelstein, an American horse-trader, from Rochester, New York, was sentenced to death at Ciudad Juárez in early June 1915 for passing counterfeit Villa money^{Dallas Morning News, 13 June 1915}. He was transferred to Chihuahua, and also released after his case had been reviewed by Miguel Díaz Lombardo and George C. Carothers^{El Paso Herald, 19 June 1915: Dallas Morning News, 19 June 1915: The New York Times, 19 June 1915. A Chihuahua newspaper stated that Marx and Franklestein were arrested together. Having lost heavily in a gambling den in Ciudad Juárez one of them gave his watch to the other to sell. The other sold it and gave the Estado de Chihuahua notes that he received to his companion so that he could keep on betting (Vida Nueva, 16 June 1915)}.

Mrs. F. E. Arerdes: On 13 June 1915 Mrs. Arerdes, an American, was arrested in Ciudad Juárez, charged with attempting to circulate counterfeit Villa currency and with using insulting language to the customs inspectors^{El Paso Herald, 14 June 1915}.

John (or Johnson) Amos: Amos, a discharged United States soldier from Laredo, was accused of having counterfeit Villa money in his possession and sentenced to death in Ciudad Juárez. El Paso Mayor Tom Lea and City Attorney Ware obtained a pardon from Villa^{Los Angeles Times, 4 August 1915; Dallas Morning News, 5 August 1915}.

In San Francisco Carranza’s agents uncovered a group of Americans who were counterfeiting both Carrancista and Villista currency, and calculated that not less than $12m had been produced in that part of the United States alone^{Periódico Oficial, Sinaloa, 23 September 1915}. On 10 August 1915 the consul there, Ramón P. de Negri, reported that he had examples of high quality bogus Ejército Constitucionalista notes, Chihuahua notes and revalidados, and that there were five million that were being shipped to El Paso, Nogales, Agua Prieta and Brownsville^{Periódico Oficial, Nuevo Leon, 14 August 1915}. On 21 August de Negri arranged the arrest of one of the principal counterfeiters and confiscation of a million pesos^{Periódico Oficial, Sinaloa, 23 September 1915}.