To John Jay from John Lansing Jr., 19 January 1801
From John Lansing Jr.
[19th Jany 1801.]
Sir
A Discovery has been made of a wide extended Association to forge and circulate the Notes of the Massachusetts & Boston Banks.1
It is rendered probable from Circumstances developed in the Course of the Examination of some of the persons concerned, that an early Communication of them to the Magistrates of the City of New York, may enable them to seize their Apparatus, said to be deposited in that City, for continuing the Forgery.
For this purpose, I have directed the Sheriff of Albany County2 to dispatch one of his Officers, Express to New York & submit to your Excellency’s Consideration whether the Expense attending that Service, which is estimated at about fifty Dollars, ought not to be advanced to the Sheriff from the Fund, at your Disposal, for defraying the contingent Expences of Government.3 I have the Honor to be very respectfully Sir Your most obedient and very humble Servt.
John Lansing Jun.
His Excellency John Jay Esqr. Governor
ALS, N (EJ: 00968). John Lansing Jr. (1754–1829), jurist and politician of Albany. Lansing attended the Constitutional Convention in 1787, and had opposed the Constitution as a delegate to the New York State ratifying convention in 1788. He served several terms in the New York State Assembly (1780–84, 1786, and 1788) and later affiliated with the Republican Party. He sat on the bench of the New York Supreme Court from 1790 to 1801, serving as chief justice for the last four years. He went on to serve as state chancellor from 1801 to 1814.
1. An extensive and well-organized counterfeiting ring operated in the Northeast, forging notes in the denominations of five dollar bills from the Massachusetts Bank and hundred dollar bills from the Union Bank of Boston. Newspapers reported that these bills had circulated throughout New London, Newport, Norwich, New Haven, and Albany in early 1801, and that they were even found in Baltimore in June of that year. The counterfeit notes were so widespread that the bank directors issued detailed descriptions comparing the real with the forged bills. Several individuals associated with this circle were tried for producing and passing counterfeit money. In mid-January, Abraham Burlingame, Alexander Donaldson, and Bradford Almy were apprehended in Troy, N.Y., and imprisoned for their crimes. A few months later, Esther Standish, Joshua Mattison, and Bradford Almy stood trial; whereas Standish and Mattison were acquitted, Almy was found guilty and given a life sentence with hard labor to be carried out at Newgate Prison. Connecticut Gazette (New London), 21 Jan.; Commercial Advertiser (New York), 23 Jan.; Massachusetts Mercury (Boston) 23 Jan.; Newburyport Herald, 27 Jan.; Telegraphe and Daily Advertiser (Baltimore), 31 Jan.; Connecticut Journal, and Messenger (both New Haven), 29 Jan.; Bee (New London) 4 Feb.; Massachusetts Spy (Worcester), 4 Feb.; Norwich Courier, 17 June; and Virginia Argus (Richmond), 19 June 1801.
2. Hermanus P. Schuyler (1769–1822) was appointed sheriff for Albany county in February 1800.