Operating out of the wilderness of Pope County during the depression of the 1890s, the Bullfrog Valley Gang printed bogus $5 and $10 notes and distributed them all over the United States. The head of the gang was George Rozelle who had moved from Nebraska to Arkansas and had printing equipment shipped from Chicago, Illinois. He set up his counterfeiting operation in Bullfrog Valley, “a remote and inhospitable glen north of Russellville (Pope County) that was famous as a hideout for highwaymen, bandits, and moonshiners” [Encyclopedia of Arkansas].
Arrest of Three Counterfeiters in Fort Smith, Arkansas, Annihilates the Band
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The New York Times
LITTLE ROCK, Ark., June 27. (1897) — Deputy United States Marshals attached to the Fort Smith court have captured three men whose arrest, it is believed, has effectually broken up the once-famous band of counterfeiters known to secret service operators all over the United States as the Bullfrog Valley Gang.
Its headquarters ” mint ” was situated in Pope County, Ark. The gang had branches for the purpose of floating their spurious money in nearly all the principal cities in the country and even, so the secret service men say, in Toronto, Canada, and the City of Mexico.
At the last term of the Federal court, held in this city, eight indictments were returned against members of the band. These persons are now in custody, awaiting trial. Several other members of the gang have been convicted for passing counterfeit money in various cities and are now serving terms of imprisonment.
The work of finding the headquarters of the Bullfrog Valley counterfeiters is considered one of the best pieces of detective work accomplished by the secret service operators in the past decade. The members of the gang sought a remote spot in the fastnesses in the mountains of Pope County. and settled there as rough mountaineers. They dressed like the natives, and adapted themselves to their customs to such a degree that the residents of the county paid no attention to them, supposing the men to be honest mountaineers.
The money was manufactured in the mountain mint and shipped to agents in all parts of the country to be floated. All efforts on the part of the officers to find the mint were baffled for a long time. Detectives in Chicago discovered that counterfeiting materials were being shipped from that city, and by a fine piece of work they traced the shipments to the Pope County mint of the Bullfrog Valley gang.
Daily Arkansas Gazette
Little Rock, Arkansas
22 Jul 1897
Lewis Martin, Who Looks Innocent, Faces the Law.
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CHARGED WITH COUNTERFEITING
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Thirteen Members of the Famous Bull Frog Valley Gang Have Fallen Into the Meshes of the Law and Martin May Be the Fourteenth—An “Easy Way of Making a Living” Was Martin’s Inducement.
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Lewis Martin, an innocent and harmless looking young man, appeared in United States Commissioner’s O’Hair’s court yesterday to answer to a charge of counterfeiting. Martin is either the victim of a conspiracy or one of the boldest counterfeiters yet brought to grief by the federal authorities. He has the air and ways of one unused to the world, but the fact that a full counterfeiting outfit was found In las possession Indicates that he is at least an apt pupil In the art of learning “ways that are dark and tricks that are vain.” Martin hails treat Pope county near Russellville, and the suspicion is that he belongs to the famous Bull Frog Valley gang of counterfeiters, thirteen of whom have hereto-fore fallen into the meshes of the law.
Martin was arrested by Deputy United States Marshal Saulpaugh on information furnished by a neighbor, who stated that the moulds and counterfeit dollars could be dug up at a certain place, where Martin lived. The directions were followed and found to be correct. The bogus coin was in dollars and halves and proved to be a very poor counterfeit, easy of detection, and exhibiting lack of skill of making. which went to prove that Martin must be a very fresh hand at the business.
In making a statement to the court Martin tried to excuse himself by saying that he had been solicited to go into the “business” as an easy way of making a living. He declared that the witnesses who testified against him had swornn to Iles and told one that he would get even with him.
Commissioner O’Hair fixed Martin’s bond at $500. It could not be given and the defendant was remanded to the custody of the marshal to await examina• Mat by the federal grand jury in October.
Gradually the officers are breaking up the Bull Frog Valley gang of counterfeiting and the prospect Is that ere long every member of that large and dangerous crowd will soon be behind the bars.
Read more in the Encyclopedia of Arkansas
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