xt7zcr5n9g4k https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7zcr5n9g4k/data/mets.xml Ballingall, Neal. 1855  books b923329b2142009 English N/A : Fleming County, Ky., Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. The life and confession of Neal Ballingall, who was convicted of counterfeiting, and sentenced to the Kentucky penitentiary for eight years. text The life and confession of Neal Ballingall, who was convicted of counterfeiting, and sentenced to the Kentucky penitentiary for eight years. 1855 2009 true xt7zcr5n9g4k section xt7zcr5n9g4k 
THE

LIFE AND

CONFESSION

NEAL

BALLING AL

L,

C O N V 1 C T . E D 0 n 6C C O U N T E R F E I T I N G /

AND

SENTENCED

KENTUCKY
'        !

PENITENTIARY
FOB

EIGHT YEARS,

FLEMING C O U N T Y , K E N T U C K Y ,

1866.

  
  
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I w i l l now give a f ull h istory of my l ife, and i n d oing w hich I s hall be compelled to implicate those , connected w ith me, and who continue in the band from which I am now separated* I was born in Nicholas county, K e n t u c k y , at B a l 1 m yalls' M i l l s , now l & f e j i as Mitchell's M i l l s , f ne - h day of November!'.1803. I am the son of D a vid B allingall. I have a distinct recollection of all the incidents of my life from an early age. I hope     c ommunity w i l l hear me patiently while I speak ' idly, for I s hall soon pay the debt of a ll t heearth, and then give an account to God. I am induced to make thcse-diselosures from the fact that the great band to which I stood identified forsook me when I needed help. Our organization was not deficient, it i s not yet deficient; we, perhaps, number w ith a ny o rganization or fraternity in the land. Those influ-v e nceswere t hrown around me young: step by step I ... progressed u ntil I became a monster workman. M y . " father moved from the m ills above named to the low.- ' er Bluelicks when I was five vears old. The first in-** , c ident of my life was r iding down to t hiyrUre*   ;thc',
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horses f ell down in the river and spoiled my clothes, and as I was fearful of punishment from my mother, I got on a slab and floated down the river some d istance and there concealed; myself in a hay loft. T hey found me late at night, but did not punish me. F r o m that time t i l l I was sixteen, I w orked h ard for.     Cmy f ather, d uring w hich tim/vheandmy only brother,*David, was gambling w ith the means I earned. I d etermined and made it known to my father that I w ould w ork no more for h im.- H e wanted me to help b uild a c ertain house and he would set me loose. N o w in my seventeenth year, Lbegan to contract business for myself, and went to M aysville w ith S am'l C aldwell and James M cClar,, m. They hired me to lead their horses home for the sum of two dollars e ach, r T his was the first money I got for myself; w ith . aat I bought a lottery t icket o f Rine Robinson and d rew a pair of saddle pockets and traded them f or a colt, which on t rial proved to be a race nag. H ere m y experience as a gambler commenced; I w on some t hree hundred dollars, and my desire for this v ice began to increase, which I regard as an i ntroduction to what I am now made to realize i n t his l onel y c ell, separated from my dear wife and children; b ut justice to my country demands that I must .suffer.     I was successful w ith m y f illy. T he first bet I made was -ten dollars, then fifty, and so on. I then b ought a s mall drove of horses, drove them- to A u gusta, G a.', made some m oney, but made more money

  
( 5) p laying cards than I did on my horses. I r eturned home w ith about fifteen hundred dollars. H ere was the unfortunate period in my history. K i n g B i l l M c C o r d , of Kentucky, was w ith m e in G eorgia, h aving horses also. M y brother was clerking for him in the store, and when we came home m y b rother purchased McCord's store and desired me to take an interest w ith h im. I done so. Here I became acquainted w ith c ounterfeit money. Geo. W . B iddle, of Kentucky, and my brother obtained f rbm C incinnati, or elsewhere, a lever for making c ounterfeit silver, and desired to o ccupy the back r oom of our store. I would not give my consent for i t to be used m any sue y i - a y , and reasoned, upon the consequences that mighf grow out of such a course, not being i nitiated into Hie great school of counterfeiters. F inally 1 consented. W . J . W illiams, m y half brother, proposed t ome t o go on to the head of Sandy, where Sprinkle was o perating to perfection. We accordingly went, and w hen we arrived at the pure mint and fountain head o f a l l counterfeit silver, we made an agreement w ith S prinkle for some o f this money. I paid Sprinkle $ 100 00 for so much,, to be delivered at such a t ime. B efore the money came I had engagements in Georgia, consequently, while I was gone the money was b rought, by a man of the name of W i t t y , who paid the money to David B allingall. H e divided w ith J ohn M c C a r t y and W illiams, w ho used the money before I got home and never accounted to me for any

  
( 6) o f the same. I bought, on my return home fifteen h undred d ollars counterfeit money, let John M cCarty have it on commission, who was to give me half he made. I then sold my horse and buggy to a man b y the name of Johnson, at Bob Rain's, in F airview. T h e buggy was taken there by a man by the name o f Thogmartin. The amount., was seventeen.- hundred dollars, counterfeit. J ohn M c C a r t y received the money, and he and his b rother bought stone-coal w ith i t, paying out every d ollar. One twenty dollar b ill came b ack on u.f. J ohn M c C a r t y bought a favnv- i tli the same k ind o f T he reader w ill see t hatvrjsj dealt exclusively in t his c o i n ; this I c onfess; ana for this must suffer, separated from my family, where we have plenty of t his w orld's goods. I have a quantity of good l and and servants to t ill i t , but I cannot be there. I p ray that m y sons may not take pattern after the examples set them by their unfortunate father who ought, to have lived for their protection, but instead of that t hey are left w ith a l one widowed mother to discharge the duties of both; in t raining, t hem in the w ay they should go. O, that I could c all m y time b ack! When I remember the pleasant hours that once I felt in the bosom of my family, an affectionate wife and devoted children that looked to me for s uccor and protection, as their best f riend in l ife    how painful the thought that I can be w ith them no more forever. " I s hall soon leave the world I know;

  
i f I am separated from the awfur cup in the >*5tafe p rison t hey w i l l soon have me to bury. O, that I had d ied before I contracted such cruel habits; had i t not been for intemperance it would not have been my fate. Step by step have I yielded to the suggestions of the great enemies of man, d rinking, c ounterfeiting and gambling. F o r this is their position i n the history of crimes. I therefore can only e xpect the reward of the wicked; " T h e wages o f sin i s d eath." .... ':. T he same laws that I have offended and for which sentence has been justly past, requiring t h a t ! s hall p ay the penalty by my own personal suffering, while m y beloved family irv-*'. i n their iiriocence also puffer, reccgnize and a p ^ m e the production and manufacture of the very article and means that has brought me to this unfortunate end. I therefore c all upon you as holding the executive p ower. T h i n k of your inconsistency and no longer a uthorize the manufacture of an article that tends to l ead men to their execution. ? desire that a belter influence may be thrown a round m y children tlfen I have done, that they may shun t he vices to whi< . I have become a v ictim. I s hall now resume, my subject, as it was my only m otive in making this pamphlet to give the history o f my l ife, and some of the movements of that great p arty to which I am connected, or have been, I mean the counterfeiters of Fleming and Nicholas, and of the State of Kentucky* They are a cage o f unclean
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b irds, and w i l l not do to rely on. I have been caught, though I have not at any time passed any of the money ; I have preferred buying and selling i t , and they have stood by and saw me suffer, and some o f them have sworn falsely to criminate me. They are a ' m uch stronger party than a great many people s uppose, and more unsuspected men of high rank moving i n the first circles of soeTt'y. I a m aware of that excited state that w i l l a nd must necessarily exist toward me in the development o f these t ruths. S ome, however, may say that as I was convicted my statements are worth nothing; I s hall m ake these statements, nevertheless ; you may b elieve or disbelieve them j ^ o u w i l l se<>. ;ome of t hem tremble when they their names on the r ecord. They are scattered up and down the earth. I f ell i n w ith t hem at an early age, at Lower L i c k ; at that time there was as many gamblers, counterfeiters and so on there as any other place, perhaps. I began horse-racing there, and mated w ith t hem andcovenanted together, to suffer ourselves to be beat at n othing. I f a stranger f ell i n w ith us, he f ell among strangers, and .his money we never failed to obtain, f or i f we could not succeed by f air means we alwaysadopted other means; so I became a p erfect card p layer and studied it as a science. I went to Maysville for the purpose of running a sorrel horse at the r aces.. Thos* Marshal,of Louis county was there, he made a bet on my horse, wdtich. beat the other, a b rag horse. This gave me-great encouragement to

  
(9) c ontinue. I was married at the age of twenty-fourThe first time I saw my wife, she was at a b all, at Me* Clanahan's. H e r name was L ouisa-Fielder; daughter o f George Fielder. Some six years after that we were married. When I proposed to marry her, she said n ot, of course, as a prudent g irl w ould, and her father opposed m y marrying his daughter, I being a w i l d , g ambling boy. She was r ich, and I worked h ard to accomplish my object. H e r father finally consented, and called for the license himself; but after we were married her father gave us nolhing. I was proud, and determined to have money for her to live upon. About six weeks after we w ere m arried, I put up a heifer to be shot for, and a dispute a rising between myselfi^nd a man by the name'of H arrington, he gave me the d   d lie and shook h is fist i n m y face, when I.stabbed him w ith the intent to k i l l h i m , but did not do i t . On that t rial W i l l i s C R odgers swore falsely, as W'as proven by A r i s T h r o g morton and John B . M c L o r d , w-hich saved me from t he Penitentiary, Rodgers being a man of good s tanding. T hen my wife complained for the first time, and p lead w ith me to quit playing cards. P lad I taken her advice I would now have been a happy man and would not now be confined in this lonely c ell. Husbands ought in such cases to be advised b y their wives who seek t heir happiness. I staid w ith m y father, and paid our board as others did, and w orked hard on ground that I had rented from Robert P ain, M y father-in-law sent his son, Sam F i e l d r

  
e r to mo, requesting me tc/oomt. and live upon his f arm; but the old man" and mcjrould not agree. H e i nsulted me and told* me to leave, i c ould not bear t hat, so I Cursed him,and left and went there no m ore. There I was wrong, I candidly confess. H e has since, through Sam, offered to be my friend. B y t his time, by working and gambling, I had p rocured enough money t o ^ a k e a t r i p w ith K i n g B i l l M c L o r d w ith horses to Georgia, my brother remaining t o clerk for him in the store. On my return home h aving fifteen hundred d ollars, m y brother and m yself bought the store, and assumed the debts o f M c C o r d in favor of A r m rong and others. The rn^xt year Mose> Hopkins, George W . Riddle and D avid B allingali went to Q nfjL m iati and there bought a l ever for the purpose of making counterfeit silver, h aving p reviously made an arrangement w ith S prinkle a nd a man by the name of W i t t y to make money w ith t his lever. T h e y wanted to o ccupy t he back* r oom of the store, but I told them it would not do, and r efused, but proposed to furnish the money to b uy i t . W i n . J . W illiams, a h alf-brother of mine, who is now dead, and myself start! d to Sandy to see S prinkle, and make the arrangements. We passed through F lcmingsburg about daylight, and went on about t hree miles, where we stopped to breakfast. After breakfast we went on a short distance to the forks of the road, where there was a stick setting against the sign post; and my brother, remarking that it was all

  
(1.1) r ight, rapped the post a t ime or two, when a man came out of the woods w ho called himself W i t t y . W e went on to Sprinkle's, and I paid him good m oney for so much counterfeit, which was to be brought on soon a fter, and we returned home. I then started for Georgia w ith a l ot of stock, and while I was gone the money was brought and paid to W illiams. H e d ivided i t w ith D avid B iiilingall and John M c C a r t y , and w hen I returned the money was spent, and I lost a ll that I had paid out. I t hen paid    120,00 to Williams or my brother, I do not distinctly remember w h i c h , to buy counterfeit money, not being .satisfied y et. I started then' for Georgia, s;nd they continued to. s windle me, teeing me the} had put \%Mt on commission. I here d etermined to dissolve; and finding myself minus $ 3000,00, declared myself broke. Sam Fielder then stood by me l ike a man, and my f ather-in-law h elped me. I dropped the party at the L i c k here and went to card playing and driving horses. I> went to Louisiana and made $700,00 on my horse, and A l l e n b eing in partnership w ith m e, made some $ 2,500 00 on card* T h e Citizens' Bank, at N atchez was then in op nation, and being very much c rowded, I was pushed in at the window and drew a t icket, r ealizing $ 125 ,00, and took a share in the bank. I was successful in every way. H aving sent my clothes home, my friends thought that I was dead, and divided Avith A llen for his part o f the horses and squared up the debts against my
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( 12) b rother and myself at M aysville. S amuel Fielder c ontinued his favors, and I continued driving horses f rom year to year. I drove horses nineteen years s uccessively, and made fifteefi hundred dollars every t rip, a l l honest, clear and clean. I n 1 839,1 drove nine wagons to Georgia loaded w ith b acon, and the yellow fever being bad I left there immediately, and returned the next year to c ollect my money, taking along a drove of horses. ( I was taking intermission from counterfeiting.), I r ented the stables in Augusta for $100,00 a year and k ept a large boarding house, made money fast in '54, and brought home eleven negroes, a fine carriage and a p air of hcrses: Henry Ck>r>aid me'a'visft. Hearing that I was l ikely to havt? & suit about bringing negroes here from Georgia, I sent them off and sold t hem for the money. D avid B allingali and Riddle standing in need of m oney to buy a load of pork, forged my name to a n ote; and drew out of P aris bank some m oney, what amount I do not know, as I never paid it. T h i s was i n J anuary, 1 848. I now had money enough to do m e, and John M c C a r t y wanting s ome, I went to G ynthiana to get some c ounterfeit. The week after, J ohnson, an i tinerant, b rought me the money, and it was appropriated to John McCarty's benefit. I w i l l now give the names of those who were the most prominent men of the party w ith w hom I have been concerned and have a knowledge as such. I c ould enumerate men of every grade as such; but as

  
( 13) 1 before stated I dealt in the article as a commmodity, b uying and selling it. 1 have sold it 1o David B e l l , who has bought i t of me, and when I was taken u p for counterfeiting, he told me he bored a b ole i n the house log, put the money in and drove in a p i n on the same. ' H e and B i l l P ain promised that i f I s hould be t a ken u p, they would swear me c l e a r ; but they stood b y and heard the t rial i n my case, and rendered no assistance. I appeal to the community for their decision i n the justice of the course pursued by me. as we are united under the most solemn vows to defend each other. Young men of the world, k.^ep c lear oli, them, the}' not do; f o r they '      have R e ceived me and they Wm d eceive y ou. C ounterfeiters are confined to no particular State or climate, but extend from Maine to Georgia, of h igh r ank and low. rank, b ut l ike a l l other fraternities, i t has its big men and its l ittle m en. I was a k ind of cashier, but they thought I d rank too much w hisky. M oses, Hopkins, of Nicholas, who waa c ashier of the genuine bank in C arlisle at the same, t ime that he was cashier of our bank, Robert P ain S ilas, o f Nicholas, John J . Robinson, Grimes, the son of the celebrated Howard, Alfred Bowin, G r o tion, D outon, Anson Browning, who passed $50 North C arolina, and $5 Kentucky b ills on Borry, a perfectly honest man ; W m . Fogison, C alvin M ulican, D a vid P arker, H arry C racraft. Fontleroy, B a l l , W m . W iggins, C onway, C ollins, James Hubanks, W m ,

  
(1'4) P ursell, D utch M a r y , W m . M i t c h e l l , son of C o l . M i t c h e l l , of V irginia, w ho bought all the property the}' own w ith c ounterfeit money, b uying the gold o f Cummins Jackson, of V irginia. S hortly afterWards, t hey having some on hand, and some men c oming to the m i l l to get w hisky, M i t c h e l l , suspecting t hey were coming to arrest him threw the gold i n the m ill-dam. W m . Massy and James Meeks are the witnesses. Being very sick, I s hall be compelled to close soon, t hough I recollect many others.     I feel that of all men I am the most miserable, and I do not expect to bear it loner.- M y poor c hildren w ill, i in doubt look upon this as the last act of their i utier's IHe, andttutb: sorrovfj nnd regret shedding .the tears of sad recollection w e r the end of a r uined and degraded father. I. hope that never in t heir l ives w i l l m y crimes be the means of casting a    disrespectful reflection upon them, who are innocent of a l l such vices. I warn you, my sons, to beware/ of counterfeiters; they w i l l come upon you as a t hieR in the night, as they did upon me. Strange it must seeint, when I say card playing, drunkenness, and c ounterfeiting are t win sisters, and go hand in hand ; and for drunkenness they have left me to suffer. It is seldom that I. have seen a good hand w i t h . c ards, b uthe made a pretty good hand at counterfeiting, and 1 k now them wherever I see them. I. cannot continue this work to any great length in m y present state of health, and therefore s hall refer briefly to the incidents of my l ife. T he next event

  
v wortll'y o f consideration was^my t rip to Georgia. T here-was fifty-two liundred dollars coining to me t here, and and I went to collect it. I arrived in G eorgia, and began as usual w ith m y friends d rinking and gambling. I-was Peter Harrison's security for two hundred and forty dollars, and was taken w ith a b ail w rit and put to j ail t here. I lay there twenty-two months, and doting that time, it was reported h ere, and there both, that I was in j ail for passing bad money, w hich was false. A great many persons came i n to see me, and made many propositions in r egard to counterfeiting, and proposing that i f i w ould accede to themTuhat they would burn th^, h I i ustru^ecithem h o w * o c o u n t e r f e i t m&  &-iu%<-. T his I- c foceive to l ^ W e o f the most ^angeroii3 artsy'but one which any man may learn i f l i e is "disposed to* practice. I understand it perfectly w ell, and can perform the work of f illing u p blanks w ith as much precision as any other man perhaps. T h i s is done b y a glass before-ihe evening sun, or any s imilar l ight in front of the genuine type, w ith a g old l eaf l aying on the glass, and taking the signature of the genuine b ill b y picking w ith the point of a s mall c ambric needle. Hjfcing done, t his so as to correspond upon the gold leaf w ith the letters of the" signature of the genuine note, cut out the pick w ith a k nife p oint, and you then have the type of the signature upon the gold leaf; lay it upon the counterfeit b lank, and w ith a fine brubh made of camel's h air or something s imilar,-having i nk upon it, you w i l l r ub
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the brush on the gol J l eaf laying on the blank, and y ou then have the counterfeit. This I have showed' to many, but I advise all men not to engage i n it. I went home f rom Georgia after standing my t rial, and b eing released from the debt, having paid the debt before. I t hen returned to Georgia on a pleasure t rip, t hinking that I had so much money that I c ould never spend it a ll. I -staid in Georgia some t wo or three months and then engaged in a faro bank. T here I made money very fast 'while I continued, but returned home again. A few days after I got 'home I swopped horses w ith B i l l P ain. I traded V    a fine horse that I brought from Georgia, and ^Ji g p e luu'five dollars in gob/' to boot ahd   old that M horse t o(BHl N ash for five-kindred dollajrs. W m . P ain and Xash got the money, which was counter- ' " " i feit, on the Bank of Ohio, and David B ell and W m . P ain passed the money. I then sold 100 acres of l and for four thousand dollars Tennessee money, a l l y c ounterfeit. Moses Hopkins got that money of me and passed over two thousand dollars of i t. I then b ought of this same W m . Nash four hundred dollars, and M oses Hopkins passed that for me and paid me some good m oney.
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Moses Hopkins then employed me and A lison , Brown to go to Indiana and buy claims against Jas.     Colwell and Wesley Boyd. We had a suit, they s ucceeded, and then took i t to Chancery. Moses ' Hopkins met me at. H annibal, i n St. Louis, and he p.aid'ine two fifty dollar b ills, and I bought a watch
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(17> p aid me two counterfeit fifty d ollar b ills, w ith w hich I bought a Watch, but being followed by the man w ho sold It to me, I redeemed it w ith good money. M oses Hopkins also took i t back. W e then went to N eW O rleans, w here Moses Hopkins passed $1,500 "counterfeit money. Nothing occurred after that unt i l the circumstances v h i c h led to'my apprehension and c onviction. ^ Moses H opkins, i n the first p lace (so he told mej directed Dutch M a r y to take a box to my house. She did so, and delivered it to my b lack boy for safe keeping. I was then in M issouri. T h e boy took i t and h p e d it in the loom house. T his press, or a pVirt o f it vias used allisummer at "Moses H opkins', s pring houfisu b y a man by the name''of S i c k i n , w ho, I understand, is now at C incinnati. r )utch M ary brought him and his wife to my house when I was i n-Missouri, and t his gave r ise to my recent fate'and r uin ; and it being found at my home, I was arrested. I shall soon close," and I expect, fender an account for all I have herein set forth ; and I t ell the t ruth, G od being my witness. I never k new a nything about that press or box for which I am condemned by twelve men who sat in judgment on my case. I never had any knowledge of i ts b eing t hereuntil i t was f o m d : therefore you have coiv demned an innocent man in this, c ase,' though I any not pleading innocence in all cases. I have no'more disclosures to make to my own personal knowledge. I a m accpiainted w ith the celebrated T o m Robinson, the K i n g o f all counterfeiters, who has many nam.es.

  
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" While he stopped at the Blue L i c k s he called h i m self O apt. Samuel A l l e n , o f South C arolina. H e sent me an i nvitation to come and see him which I d id. I was introduced to T o m Roberts, in Georgia, by C hain S troud, being twenty miles t his side of Greenville C ourt House, as a celebrated counterfeiter and engraver. H e presented me a plate, and requested me to bring it to Fugetee, the great engraver, who b roke the P enitentiary. B efore I delivered it to F u gette, he came to the Springs, or L i c k s , and when I got there he had taken stage and was gone. I w ould here_s/ate h o w l became a c ompanion of these men. C harley S ummers and John $ ^ Carty r eported that I had been put in j ail for passing counterfeit money, w hich h ad a tendency to c all i n the party, and there i t was that they proposed to burn the j a i l , o r unlock t he doors, they having keys for that purpose. A few days after I was to meet T o m at the L i c k s , and a t all fine gentleman came to my house w ith a l etter f rom h i m , requesting me to meet h i m , C aptain A l len, at M a r k W i l l i a m s ' , w ho was one of the party, and w ho l ived on the Ohio rive# in Greenup county, d irecting m e, in the letter, how to find h im without m aking any i nquiry; b ut something occurred, so that I c ould not meet him there on the day appointed but substituted J oseph M y e r s , who also failed to meet h i m . H enry Hubanks then went to Myers', by my o rders, and got the plate and brought it to my house. I gave the plate to Wheeler Anderson, who took it to

  
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C incinnati and had it changed i . eorgia to I ndiana, and those $10 I ndiana b ills w ere made on that p late. I would here state how Robinson and myself c ame b y this plate. We gave t he clerk of the bank s ix h undred dollars to steal it out of the bank. There was two plates on i t , one ten and one twenty. Wheeler and Anderson agreed to give me a thousand of each for the plate, which they paid Moses Hopkins f or me, but he died and I lost it a l l . I p aid Robinson for his part on both plates, being t wo on one. I then sold one hundred acres of land to a class leader in the Methodist Church by the name of Narfh, w ho liv d two years at M a y ' s L i c k , a nd some t ime at May? i lle, and Was aclassleaderat b oth places, and a man* tff high standing. F o r the f arm he gave me four thousand dollars counterfeit m oney, b oth him and me knowing it to be such. I w i l l n ow finish the story of my old friend, who has as many names as there are seasons. H e is a high toned gentleman, and having been m y close f riend I regret what I am compelled to say in this work against h i m ; but I must, as I set out to t ell the whole t ruth, and nothing but the t ruth, and I hope he w i l l forgive me, as I am done w ith s uch things ; I mean C apt. A l l e n . H e returned from M a r k W illiams' to C arlisle, and instructed Moses Hopkins to t ell m e not to be uneasy, for he had passed that day, on the F lemingsburg b ank, three or four hundred dollar b ills. T he reason he said this was because he had left I w ith me two thousand dollars to pass, and charged^'

  
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