[Autograph letter, signed, by J. P. Taylor to Spencer H. Cone, returning a counterfeit banknote.]

Philadelphia: 88 Arch St., 3 May 1832. 1 p. plus integral address leaf, 9.75” x 7.75”, in ink. Addressed to Spencer H. Cone in ink, and “care of Wm. Hutchins 396 Pearl” in pencil. $5 banknote (2.75” x 6.5”) affixed to p. 2; the name “Mr. Murdock” and two illegible names are inscribed on the verso. CONDITION: Letter good, separations along old folds but intact, a few breaks reinforced with tape, a tear to page four from the broken wax seal; banknote good, some wear at top margin.

A fascinating letter accompanied by a tipped-in counterfeit banknote, sent to a prominent minister and asking him to prevail on the party who issued the note to send a genuine replacement.

Writing from Philadelphia, Taylor asks Rev. Spencer H. Cone of New York to give the enclosed $5 banknote to a Mr. Murdock, a Baptist in New York and evidently a member of Cone’s church, and asks that Murdock send a “good note” via one H. Lincoln. The banknote, drawn on the Bank of the United States, was completed on 10 Nov. 1830 and is made out to one T. L. Robertson. The note is signed by cashier Joseph L. Roberts and the bank president George Newton. The false engraver’s credit on the banknote reads “Fairman, Draper, Underwood & Co.” Other known counterfeit notes with this engraver’s credit (recorded in Sylvester’s Bank-note and Exchange Manual), lack a dot over the i in “Fairman” (which is not the case here). One such counterfeit note made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, in United States V. Brewster (1833).

The letter reads in full: “Respected Friend, Will you have the goodness to hand the enclosed 5 doll. note to Mr. Murdock, a member of the Baptist Church in your city who gave it to me at the moment of leaving here on the 26th of last month. I find it to be counterfeit, Mr. Murdock is a friend of the Hon. H. Lincoln, who will pass thro’ N.Y. in a short time and will be at my house on his way to Washington [D.C.], Mr. Murdock can send a good note by him. With sincere esteem. Your friend, J. P. Taylor.”

Born in New Jersey, Rev. Spencer Houghton Cone (1785–1855) was a clergyman who at the height of his career was one of the most popular and influential Baptist ministers in America. In 1812, Cone joined the Baltimore American as treasurer and bookkeeper, and soon afterward, in connection with his brother-in-law John Norvell, he purchased and began publishing the Baltimore Whig. During the War of 1812, he was at the Battle of Bladensburg with Norvell; his experience is chronicled in Some Account of the Life of Spencer Houghton Cone, A Baptist Preacher in America (New York, 1856). Cone then became a clerk in the treasury department in Washington, D.C., and after moving there began to preach with remarkable success. He converted to the Baptist Church in 1814, and from 1815 to 1816 he served as Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives. Around 1823, he moved to New York, where he lived for eighteen years and became pastor of the First Baptist church. In 1832, he was elected president of the Baptist Triennial Convention, and subsequently re-elected, serving until 1841. From 1837 to 1850, he was president of the American and Foreign Bible Society. On the formation of the American Bible Union, he was made its president, serving in this position until his death in 1855.

A remarkable letter documenting the sender’s clever strategy of enlisting a man of the cloth to return a counterfeit banknote to the issuer and get the offending party to make good.

REFERENCES: Cone, Edward W. Some Account of the Life of Spencer Houghton Cone, A Baptist Preacher in America (New York, 1856); Sylvester’s Bank-note and Exchange Manual (New York: S. J. Sylvester, 1833), p. 12.