The National Republican And Ohio Political Register

Pittsburgh, March 5.

A few weeks ago, Mr. Tustin, one of our most ingenious operatives in iron, was spoken to by some strangers, to make them a screw or press of a particular description; which they represented to be wanted for some manufacturing process. At the precise time when the article was finished, they entered the shop at night and stole it away. No doubt is now entertained of this machine being intended for coining counterfeit money. It must have been conveyed down the river in a boat. It weighs eight hundred pounds.

It is certain that at that time there were counterfeiters in town, and among them a noted horse thief: very probably it was some of the same gang, who stole Mr. Denny's two bay mares. It is said, the tracks of these animals were, in the morning they were missed, traced from the stable to the river at the lower ferry on the Monongahela. They did not cross at the ferries. The fact is,--and it should be borne in mind, for these thefts will be repeated, and one is apt, always to fancy the horse thief escaping on the back of his prize,--that a covered flat boat, affords too many facilities, and too much security in stealing horses, not to be remarked and adopted, by these cunning and experienced knaves. In the first place it is a mode which is not likely, as I have said, to be suspected; then it leaves no tracks, no traces. The horses are not met on the road--stop at no taverns: the boat carries their feed: they are concealed: they pass the towns in the night; when they arrive at a distant point, which they may do in high water, faster than rumor, their horses are fresh: they may outstrip pursuit, or they will sell at once, being in good order.

The boats and cargoes along our shores, at this season, are subject, themselves, to much nightly depredation. Many instances have occurred of grain, flour, and other produce being stolen off, and even of canoes, skiffs, and flat boats being cut away, whilst their owners were absent in town.

This spring we heard of a boat of pig metal being lost, in this way, on the night of its arrival. It was the first fruits of the enterprize of a young Iron master, who having anxiously but safely steered it through chutes and ripples and floating ice, had gone to a tavern--to dream, in a dry and soft bed, of the conversion of iron into gold--little expecting that, in the morning, no visible trace would be left of boat or cargo--save the end of the rope, by which, it was the evening before, secured to the bank, evidently detached by the knife of some successful pirates.

The time is coming, when the business of our harbor, and the revenue of wharfage, will justify the establishment of a nightly watch, to patrol the shores, and lessen or prevent these evils.

Just as we had received the above communication, a gentleman called at our office and requested us to caution our honest citizens on the subject of base coin, now in circulation in the city. A number of counterfeit half dollars, supposed to be the work of the above press, have already been imposed on store keepers and market people within a few weeks past. One of those spurious tokens of specie, has been left at this office for public inspection. Its appearance is a tolerable imitation,--and its jingle, either on wood or stone, is very deceptive.

Persons would, therefore, do well to be particular in the examination of half dollars, as our informant assures us that a certain individual had passed two of them on himself.