Marcus T. Rounds had a great deal of drive and determination. The 37-year-old was living in Portland, Maine, with his family when he designed and patented a tooth powder bottle in 1905. The bottle didn’t take the world by storm, but Marcus was resourceful and confident that another idea would come.

Born on June 17, 1868 in Taunton, Mass., to George and Mary Rounds, Marcus learned the trade of engraving and supported his wife Lea (Dupree), his two children, George and Annette, and his widowed mother. When he was offered a job in Massachusetts, he temporarily left his family and settled into a boarding house in New Bedford. He would work as an expert engraver and die cutter at the Pairpoint Corporation, which produced silver-plated items and metal mounts for luxury lamps. Marcus started his new job on Feb. 6, 1908, and soon learned that he had more talent than anyone knew – a talent that came with a temptation which would destroy his life.

On July 26 of that year, Marcus ventured into Rhode Island where he visited Crescent Park in Riverside. From there, he moved on to Rocky Point in Warwick where he intended to watch a baseball game. However, his plans were thwarted later that afternoon when he was placed under arrest. An employee at Crescent Park had notified police that they’d chased Marcus from the grounds after he attempted to spend a counterfeit half-dollar. Marcus admitted that he had indeed tried to use faux money and explained that he had purchased the coin from an unknown man in Fall River who had sold him 18 dollars-worth of counterfeit coins for 12 dollars.

Marcus was taken into custody and, the following day, was placed before United States Commissioner William Cross. In a great deal of distress, Marcus stated his name and age and answered every question put to him. He admitted that he had been counterfeiting and using bogus money for the last two months. “Soon after I began working for Pairpoint, I commenced experimenting with making plaster molds and castings of scrap stock of britannia (a British silver alloy), such as is used by the firm for which I was working,” Marcus explained. “Among other objects that I cast were pieces of United States coin, and so perfect were these that one night when I was in a barroom, I was tempted to pass some of the pieces that I had in my pocket. Not being detected, I made up more of the coin and for more than two months I have been circulating the ten-cent pieces without limit in New Bedford.”

Amazed by how easily the bogus dimes passed for genuine currency, he became emboldened. He decided to begin producing quarters, then half dollars. “I realize that I am in a bad mess,” he said. “I am old enough to have known better but must face the consequences now.”

The commissioner asked Marcus if he was able to pay the $3,500 bail which had been set for him. He said that he was not – that only his mother would be able to afford the hefty amount. However, he feared it would kill her to learn of what he had done. In absence of bail, the Commissioner began to arrange for Marcus’s transfer to the Providence County Jail. His distress deepened and he cried out. “Oh, my God! Can’t this matter be fixed now?” It could not and he was put behind bars to await a court hearing.

Marcus had given the Commissioner the address to his boarding house, admitting that all of his tools and personal possessions could be found there, along with more counterfeit coins. The contents of his illegal operation were soon confiscated by police.

During the hearing in Providence that December, Marcus pleaded nolo to counterfeiting. The district attorney told the court that he had personally witnessed the great mental suffering Marcus had endured during his five months in jail. The judge had little sympathy. He sentenced Marcus to three years of hard labor at the United States Penitentiary in Georgia. He arrived at the institution on Dec. 8 and was given a job in the prison’s carpentry shop.

Marcus was separated from his family until his release on April 3, 1911. By that time, his daughter was 21 and his son was 18. No amount of money – real or counterfeit – could buy back the time he had lost.