I loved this book when I was younger. I thought my copy had worn out because of the binding opening too many times. After this used copy arrived, my wife told me that I still had it. Oh well, this one lacks coffee stains. It is a load of fun to read; lots of very clever people who might have put that same industry and intelligence to honest work (with one tragically comic exception). Two guys who successfully counterfeited $100 bills from inside their prison cell (they were in for counterfeiting $100s so well that the U.S. Government recalled all existing bills). They even did photolithography (a new science at the time, in their cell). The government had to prove that they did so to prove that these were not part of their previous crime.
They were just doing what they could to ease the tight money supply.
ReplyDeleteThat was an actual argument at trial for one bunch. There was also a group of Czarist counterfeiters who put in incredibly small print on the back, "Our money is no worse than yours."
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