TWO CAUGHT IN ACT
OF MAKING COINS.
CLAIM THEY WERE TRYING TO
IMITATE MEDALLION.
John Burns and Charles Adams
Made Dash for Liberty When De-
tectives Entered Room -- Moulds
and "Queer" Money Seized.
MEN ARRESTED FOR COUNTERFEITING AND THE
MOLDS CAPTURED BY POLICE
With metal in the melting pot just about hot enough to pour and the moulds on a table ready to receive it, John F. Burns and Charles Adams were surprised yesterday morning in the act of making some sort of coin by Detectives James Fox and William Walsh of Captain Thomas P. Flahive's district. The men were found in the back room of a house at 1732 Oak street. They claim they were merely trying to make a medallion.
At the first intimation of danger, Burns, who was engaged in preparing the moulds, made a dash for the door, ran to the stairs and jumped to the floor below. Detective Walsh followed him, but by a misstep, lost his footing and fell from the top step to the bottom, injuring his leg.
Notwithstanding his injury he pursued the man south on McGee street to Twentieth and back through the alley between Grand and McGee. A small dog guarding the shed, angered by Burns' sudden intrusion, set up a loud barking and snarling. The actions of the dog attracted the attention of Michael Gleason, patrolman in that neighborhood, who immediately ran to the place, arriving there about the same time as Walsh. Walsh fired three shots while pursuing his man. At the station it was found the injury to his leg was so severe that it was necessary to send the detective to his home in an ambulance.
"EXPERIMENT" IS CLAIMED.
Adams, Burns' partner, was finishing his lunch when the police entered. By an oversight, the police declare, the door to the room was left unlocked. The alleged counterfeiters base their one hope of leniency on this fact, asserting that they were simply "experimenting" to find a metal with which they could get a "sharp" reproduction of a medallion by the use of plaster of Paris moulds.
In the room was found two plaster moulds, one with the impression of a silver quarter, and the other a half dollar, together with eight counterfeit half dollars. The coins were fair imitations, but lacked weight and "ringing" qualities. The edges of the coins were still in the rough, just as they were taken out of the moulds.
Files, chisels, and odd-shaped knives, together with a seal, were also found among the paraphernalia confiscated. The scale was a crude affair, made with copper wire and the tops of two tin cans. The can tops served as trays, the whole danging from a nail driven into an upright stick of wood and fastened to a pedestal.
According to Burns and Adams the scale was used to weigh the ingredients for the alloy.
"We got our ideas from books in the public library," said Burns yesterday. "In passing a jewelry store on Main street about three weeks ago w2e saw a medallion of Kansas City displayed in the window. The price was $1.75, and we got an idea that if we could reproduce that medallion for 30 or 40 cents we could make money by the sale of them.
PRAISED BY LANDLADY.
"Not wishing to go to the expense of having a die made, we used the coins , as the book from which we gained our information stated that coins could be used for experimenting purposes. We conducted our experiments openly and made no effort to conceal our actions. Mrs. Nellie Evett, the landlady at 1732 Oak street, saw our toils and the moulds in the room. Our door was never locked and anyone who wanted could come in at any time.
Mrs. Evett said yesterday that she did not know in what work the men were engaged. She dec la4red that she had been in their rooms but once or twice since they took them, six weeks ago. She said further that Burns and Adams had paid her but one week's rent since they came.
"I knew they wre out of work," said she, "and I felt sorry for them. They seemed to be gentlemanly, good boys, and I know they tried to find something to do to earn an honest living."
Captain Flahive called Burns into his private office yesterday afternoon while Mrs. Evett was present. At the end of the interview, Burns took an affectionate leave of his former landlady, pressing her hand and kissing her. Following this, Mrs. Evett was subjected to a rigid cross examination, but convinced of her innocence and ignorance of details regarding the work carried on in her rooms, Captain Flahive allowed her to go.
