FLASH NOTES. 55 



characters as these, horses, aDd in many instances, cattle 

 and sheep, are only a vehicle or a cover to shield them 

 from suspicion as to the true nature of their calling. 



The flash term for these notes, as used by them, is 

 " soft-uns ;*' and many counterfeit notes are passed in 

 the following manner : There are stationed in the 

 vicinity of the fair the dealers in these notes, who sell 

 them at ahout five per cent, on their value, if they were 

 good; the smashers seldom buy more than one or two 

 at once, which they mix up among a lot of genuine 

 notes ; then, suppose, for instance, they buy a horse 

 whose true value is 30, by paying two genuine notes 

 and one counterfeit, they get a 30 horse for 20 ; the 

 horse is passed, by a sham sale, to a confederate for 

 35, who generally holds a receipt embodied in a war- 

 ranty for that amount, and thus proof being apparently 

 shown that the horse has been honestly bought, no sus- 

 picion attaches to the confederate, who is allowed to 

 hold possession of the horse in peace, while the actual 

 smasher makes good his escape ; and, supposing the 

 farmer detects the counterfeit a thing of rare occur- 

 rence, after very often rolling it up and depositing it 

 among others, taken from some one else, perhaps the 

 cheese buyer, or butcher how is he to bring the charge 

 home to the smasher ? He may be arrested and searched; 

 nothing, however, is found upon him but genuine money. 

 He states that if the farmer really can prove that he 

 paid him the note, he will give him a genuine one in 

 its place, but he is always very particular ; he buy* and 



