The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1876-01-24
QUEER BEN. BOYD.
A FAMOUS CoUNTERFEIrER.

A FAMOUS COUNTERtElTER.
HIS SKILL AND sTYLE-METHOD OF BIS CAP
TURE-APPEARANCE ON TRIAL-THE INEv-
TABLE MOTHER IN-LAw.
Ben. Boyd and wife, a pair of skillful
counterfeiters, are on trial in Chicago, and
the story of their capture is told by the
Times, OF that city: Boyd is probably one of
the most accomplished engrsvers on steel
and copper that ever prostituted artistic
talents to vile ends. He was the maker of
those splendid counterieits on the So notes
OF the Traders National Bank, OF this city,
aud the national banks of
Peoria, Canton, Paxton and Aurora,
that circulated 80 widely last
year and the year preceding it. These bills
were so well executed that even the officers
of the banks themselves were taken in by
them. So delicate and close an imitation
was it that the secretary of the treasury or
dered the issues TO be called In; and when
this was done the departments at Washington
actually received $40, 600 of them as genuine
notes, and lost that amount by the transsc-
! ton. In 1871 Boyd engraved counterfeit
$50 treasury plate, from which he printed
$3.50, 900 worth OF notes that were success
ly set af1oat. OF this amOu OF he reserved
$40 900 to himself; Nelson briggs got $780,
600, and the balance was divided between
Lew Slate and DR.. Parker, these three being
bis partners in the enterprise. As an indl-
printer they had in their employ being
sliced with a severe illness about the time
the plates were finished, Boyd printed tie
bills himself. The copy was almost
exact, aud the whole issue wss gotten rid of
long before the fraud was suspected
He never meddled with the utterance of any
of his work. Buried in the seclusion of some
little river town, in an out-of-the-way
house where he would take his wife to bear
him company and assist in the work, he
1 -
the trade, and avoided that point in the bus
mess which came in contact with the public.
Up and down the river, from New Orleans
to Dubuque, the members OF this band were
scattered, each doing his part in as unas-
Stunning and uDobtrusive style as possible.
Boyd was the heart OF it, and with him re-
moved it's life is gone. He lived a long
time a. Nsuvoo; it was there that he pro-
duced the $50 masterpiece above alluded to.
| In October OF last year, Patrick ID. Tyrell,
chief of the secret service force in this dis
trict, accompanied by the elder Brooks and
John r. Macdonald, went TO Lyons, Iowa,
with the purpose in view of
TAKING BOYD INTO CUSTODY.
Boyd was living in rented house at lie
Claire, Iowa, under the assumed name of
Wilson. He had with him an assistant
named Nat Kinsley,a man of mark and
some celebrity. The detectives had tracked
him there, and knew that he was at work on
some fresh scheme of fraud. They went to
the house on the morning of the 21=t, at
about 9 O'Clock. Tyrell and Brooks knew
from the peculiar arrangement OF the shades
in an upper window that the engravers
were as work. They walked up the road
(the house was isolated and could not be
approached by anyone unseen of those from
within), and, as they neared the dwelling.
saw Kinsley leave it and run away. They
wasted no time in pursuit of him, but leav-
ing Macdonald little in the rear to
watch the front and sides of the house,
Tyrell and Brooks went TO the back door,
which Tyrell entered. The first person he
saw inside was Almsrinda Boyd, who was
standing in the dining room. She de-
manded to know his business, and when he
told her who he was, promptly seized him by
the coat collar and began to make an outcrv.
Tyrell handed her over to Brooks, who re-
tuf ned her to the diuing-rOOm and remained
with her until Macdonald had bsen called in
and instructed to hold her until they should
come down stairs. Boyd, with his coat of,
had appeared at the head of the stairs in
considerable trepi6ation, and TO him Tyrell
at once addressed himself Boyd was taken
into front room and handcuffed. He
was quite disturbed, but on the whole
took things quietly, and sat still
while the house was searched. Mrs.
Boyd, meanwhile, was trying to corrupt
Macdonald. There was good money in the
DOusc, duu sue WduboU IL. Ol6 dsk6u Qlul
who he was, where he lived, and wbat he
was going to DO, all OF which questions he
answered; and then she wanted him To let
her go and get the money. On his refusal,
she offered him bribs of 81 900, aud prom
ised never to tell, but the underling was
true TO his duty, and stuck to her closer
| than pitch plaster to pine plank until
Tyrell called him to where they were ran
sacking the furniture. In the bed room
where they were now all assembled was
very dirty bed and dry goods box, this
latter article being covered with spread
and having upon 1t a wash bowl and pitcher.
Tyrell searched the bed, and falling to find
anything more unusual than an inordinate
population in it, turned to the box and
broke 1t open. Inside 1t was found
A ROLL OF GOOD BILLS
amounting to 1900. While he was tearing
the boards apart one of them split, revealing
a nicely cut mortice "broad way" of 1t, from
which mortice dropped an elegantly en-
grsved plate of the center Of a $40 green
back. Then the rest of the house was gone
through. In the room where the shades
were so peculiarly arranged were found a
workbench and a complete set Of engraving
tools, together with lot OF plates, some
completed, and others in process. Alto
gether there were some twenty five plates
captured, one set of them being intended to
copy 500 treasury note, another for $40
treasury note, another for a S., and two sets
each for Stanton aud Dexter head so cent
scrip. The IS plates were intended for bank
| currency; there were five of them,
all necessary to the production of one note,
one of them was susceptible OF changes that
would suit any national bank in the coun-
try. There were also found two other boxes
both containing contraband apparatus and
one of which Mrs. Boyd endeavored to save
by covering it over with piece of carpet
and showing IL aside with her foot. the pair
were brought to Chicago and lodged for the
| time being in the Brevoort House. While
i there they admitted to Chief Wsshburn and
to both Brooks and Tyrell, the fact of their
b isiness, and held several chats with those
officers on matters connected with that topic
and their own particular affairs. They were
brought TO bar yesterday and District
Attorney Bangs took advantage of the event