Emerich Juettner (January 1876 – January 4, 1955), also known as Edward Mueller or Mister 880, was an Austrian-American immigrant known for

counterfeit A counterfeit is a fake or unauthorized replica of a genuine product, such as money, documents, designer items, or other valuable goods. Counterfeiting generally involves creating an imitation of a genuine item that closely resembles the original ...

ing United States $1 bills and eluding the

United States Secret Service The United States Secret Service (USSS or Secret Service) is a federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Homeland Security tasked with conducting criminal investigations and providing protection to American political leaders, thei ...

for a decade, from 1938 to 1948. When caught, he openly admitted his actions, adding that he had never given more than one bill to anyone, so no person had lost more than one dollar. He was sentenced to one year and one day in prison and a one-dollar fine, and he later sold the rights to his story, which was made into the 1950 film '' Mister 880''.

Early and personal life

Emerich Juettner was born in January 1876 in

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

to a working-class family. He was the eldest of four siblings, having two brothers and a sister. On June 21, 1890, at the age of 14, he arrived in New York. He found work as a picture frame gilder before marrying Florence LeMein in 1902 at the age of 26. His wife gave birth to a son, Walter, in 1903 and a daughter, Florence, in 1918. To support his family, he began working as a maintenance man and building superintendent in New York's

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the boroughs of New York City, borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded approximately by 96th Street (Manhattan), 96th Street to the north, the East River to the e ...

. His job allowed him and his family to live rent free in the basement of the building where he worked. His wife died in the 1918

Spanish flu The 1918–1920 flu pandemic, also known as the Great Influenza epidemic or by the common misnomer Spanish flu, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 subtype of the influenza A virus. The earliest docum ...

pandemic, shortly after giving birth to their daughter Florence. He then became a junk collector.

Counterfeiting scheme

After his wife's death, Juettner had limited financial means. In 1938, Juettner began using ten to twelve homemade counterfeited bills a week in select stores in the neighborhoods of

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

. Over the following ten years, Juettner continued to use his counterfeited bills sparingly, never repeating storefronts or tenders. The bills were always poorly made on cheap paper and included details such as Washington being misspelled "Wahsington." After Juettner used his first bill at a local cigar shop, the Secret Service opened Case File 880 in what began a decade-long search. He became impossible to track down, since the bills were low profile and were used so rarely in new places each time. In 1948, the counterfeiting came to an end. After a fire in his apartment building, Juettner decided to throw out his destroyed counterfeiting materials into the street. Once snowfall came, the materials were effectively hidden. Later on, a group of children found several of Juettner's $1 bills and took them to their parents. The parents subsequently reported the found bills to the Secret Service. Upon arrival at his apartment, Juettner was arrested. Juettner was later sentenced to one year and one day in prison, plus a one-dollar fine that elicited laughter from those inside the courtroom.

Response from the media

In 1949, American journalist St. Clair McKelway wrote a series in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'' about several different crimes. McKelway covered Juettner's story in a three-part series detailing

ing in America and Juettner's life and scheme, later developing his story into a book. Entitled ''Annals of Crime'', the series was combined with several comics and illustrations.

Legacy

Former Secret Service Director James Maloney blamed Juettner for the rise in counterfeiting incidents in the United States.

''Mister 880''

The life of Emerich Juettner inspired the 1950 comedy-drama film '' Mister 880'', directed by

Edmund Goulding Edmund Goulding (20 March 1891 – 24 December 1959) was a British screenwriter and film director. As an actor early in his career he was one of the 'Ghosts' in the 1922 silent film '' Three Live Ghosts'' alongside Norman Kerry and Cyril Chadwic ...

and starring

Burt Lancaster Burton Stephen Lancaster (November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994) was an American actor. Initially known for playing tough characters with tender hearts, he went on to achieve success with more complex and challenging roles over a 45-year caree ...

as the Secret Service agent in charge of the investigation and

Edmund Gwenn Edmund Gwenn (born Edmund John Kellaway; 26 September 1877 – 6 September 1959) was an English actor. On film, he is best remembered for his role as Kris Kringle in the Christmas film ''Miracle on 34th Street'' (1947), for which he won t ...

(in a supporting role) as the character based on Juettner. The film was based on St. Clair McKelway's article on Juettner. Juettner attended the premier of the film. Gwenn won a

Golden Globe Award The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally held every Janua ...

and was nominated for an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

for his performance in ''Mister 880.'' Ultimately, Juettner made more money from the release of ''Mister 880'' than he had made by counterfeiting.

''The 20th Century Fox Hour -'' "The Moneymaker"

An episode of '' The 20th Century Fox Hour'', titled "The Moneymaker", was based on the movie and first aired on October 31, 1956. Here, the counterfeiter was an elderly lady, played by

Spring Byington Spring Dell Byington (October 17, 1886 – September 7, 1971) was an American actress. Her career included a seven-year run on radio and television as the star of '' December Bride''. She was an MGM contract player who appeared in films from the ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Juettner, Emerich 1876 births 1955 deaths American counterfeiters Emigrants from Austria-Hungary to the United States