, 1865-03-17
GREAT HsaLH4 &sE BOUNTY
JFJNEsE&{S.
\ Trap sprung, and Nrurly SIX Hup..
Ircd Dcs+r1ers, Isonnty-3frok-rs add
Other Thieves, Caught ana Sent to
Frre TnfAyAtf%.

rom t1e NGN 10fk 1lmG9, NifCn II.
The wal. upon, the bounty brokers and
ing 10 close. Yesterday they received the
most signal defeat beyond all comparison,
that they ever before sustained. The affair
vas complete surprise, and must bs as de-
noralizipg as the capture Of Richmond will
concise conc idea Of how this brslfiant result ] was
obtained, 1t Is ntccssary to review the pre-
y1ous operations Of the campaign q little.
The Provost Marshal Generals, including
Generals Fry, Kinks and others, suggested
various plans recently for trapping the
purpose: No plan they could devise would
"orl. Txno, . jumper here and there would
b. pinned once IN Thile--peshaps shot, or
the like Of that; but what did the great
cessfnl jumper, who had made hts fortune?
HI only laughed at his more unfortunate fel.
lows, and continued his own course, trusting
to luck, which Is always good till 1t tu1ns bad.
Col. Baker captured few On the old prin-
this was becoming very light
business, for the brokers were grow
ing more and more cautious on account
Of Colonel Baker's operations. At length,
tho Colonel determined to adopt newer and
fce in Odd Fellows' Hall, Hoboken, aboi,t
week ago. The stars and stripes flew from
every part Of the tullding, and large posters
! Informed brokers, Jumpers, and every one
United States rendezvous. All banda soon
I got their eyes on the place 1t was freely cir
culated that large bount1es were paid, nnd
that it was the easiest thing In the world to
get of With pocket full Of greenbacks.
Colonel Baker had been here but short time
greatest and most audacious band Of robbers,
| murderers, and telous generally, that over
| disgsaeed q civilized community. He found
| nearly thousand bonnty-hrokers distributed
throughout New York and Btooklyu, with
agencies throughout the country; and on cx-
| tending hls Investigation he became aware Of
the presence In this city Of more tban ten
thonsana deserters, nearly every one Of
whom was @ tool of the bounty brokers.
These perfons were the o1fscourings Of the
clty'a 61ums, old prison birds, graaua. lea from
the city institutions, on Blackwclrs Island,
and Tcmbs "repeatcrs.".
These fellows he resolved to capture aud
to do this be resortcd to strttagem. He
leased Odd Fellows' Hall building, IN Hobo
ken, and opened recruiting o1tlce 10 the
OF the regular army, as d mastering officer,
and 1eyeaicd bis plum to that gentleman, as
he did also to Lieut.. Rife, Of the 9Th United
States infantry, to whom he gave command
Of the recruiting office guard. These officers,
on first hearing Of the s:upendous. fraud IN
monstratcd; but upon bciug assured that no
trick was to be played on any honest man,
and that the service was imperaltVely delnan-
ded Of them By their country, tiey relut:
tantly consented to act, though they would
much rather have been ordered to Storm q
fort or meet foes on the open field.
Having opened his recruiting Office, Col.
Baker employed men whose good will he had
purchased, and sent them abroad among tho
dcns in Houston street, in tile 4th and 9Th
rn%Sn $+- Nal r1~vsf1
with instructions to advertise anong the
bounty,juInpers the opening, IN Hoboken, Of
what dcsefters call a*t perfect gut '--or
bounty ,Qker's recruiting office, where heavy
bounties are paid and the guard5 are under
stood to be corrupt and ready to accept any
trivial hribe. It was the understanding be-
tween Col Baker and Lieut.. Riffs that for
two or three days. or rs long as might seem
necessary, the Hohokeu recruiting. office was
to be, in the tersc language Of the thieves,
who was enlisted on the first, second and
third days WAS to be handsomely paid by the
recruiting officer md let of By the guard for
mere SONG.
Thus the model recruiting office was open.
ed, and Its recruits were duly accepted, mus
tered into the service and paid, and then
quietly slipped out at bacE door by tho
quad, to make their way to New York and
Spread the news which Col. Baker wished
them to circulate. His agents, meantime,
were busy among the bounty brokers. They
wanted. they said. only experienced bounty
jumpers-men who could do the .'clean
tbine',-no burglars who would fa1l into the
| hands Of the Government officers. All this
appeared reasonable enough. 0feourse the
head ofany such recruiting Office REQUIRED
nlcn who would not bring them Into difh :ol-
ty-so the bounty brokers bestirrcd them
tclves among experts; md before the close
| Of the frat weeks operations the Office was
oesleEed and almost ovcr1un by bounty
jumpers from New York and elsewhere, who;
th5fg'ng t5S nots;a seen @ Their fellows go out IN
,ths1r hannts ' Il ths' city city n 1t nj ght G
| with g1eat rolls OF Treasury notes.
we're eager to tsy their luck, Having suffl-
cleut1y 2dSe1tlsea this model bounty jumper
age, Col baker ordered his subordlnates to
60 to work IN earnest and early on Monday
morning Last the recruiting office In Odd Eel
lows Hall commenced let Ultimate business,
The highest bounties were paid, of coarse.
and the recruiting officers efforts we're crown,
ed with abundant success until Thursday,
when the bounty Jumpers, observing that Il.
mllIar faces we're nowhere to be seen, began
to suspect their fellows Of treacherT and
one of their number, kecner than his accom-
pl,ces, found bis way to the rear Of the build
ing, and on bis return to bis confederates. re-
from Odd Fellows' Han ,and that the hun
ireds OF their fellows who had entered that
recruiting office during the week were proba-
bly Gagged beyond the possibility Of escape.
short, they had been sold! This proved to
y: Man san whom Col. Baker Ind emp,oyed to
c,rulate among the outside crowd lost no
t;,ne IN acduainting him with the fact that
ths iran had been discovered, and It at once
hecome evident that the field must be aban-
doned WITH only half the fruit gathered; He
Ind hoped to secure at lest thonsand' a, ano
possibly two thousand desertets' anu nom tSnt
WIS va lett hin. These we're IN Ignorance up to
Friday morning, and is they: appeared at the
recruiting Office and notified the officer i 10
charge Of their readiness to settle, that o1l.
Ger tamlliar]y clapping bis hand On dhs1t
i shoulders REQUESTED them to wait awhile at
l 1f,{f fha hatt r hrlIsatA feQf :