What is the purpose of passage one: US Coins Symbols and Markings?

What is the meaning of the word checking as it is used in this sentence from the second paragraph of the passage?

What do technical writers need to do when using an image?

If this were a fictionalized account, instead of a memoir, which might be the opening sentence? a) i am not your prisoner. b) i find myself in prison. c) you have taken me prisoner. d) black hawk had been taken prisoner.