Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1878-07-17
TOM BALLARD.
The Noted COunterfeiter, Attempts Sui
eide i'm the Albany PenitentiarY-
Sketch OF his Career-A bad
Man Well Out of the way.

Inc Albany penlCentlary was the scene last
night of tue most determined attempt at sui
eide that has been recorded for many q day
| Tom Ballard, the famous counterteiter
| who was serving a term of thirty years i'm
prisonment for making counterfeit United
| States notes, stabbed himself IN the neck and
In the left arm with rude knife made by
| himself out of steel rib of a shoe Find.
ing that death did not seem likely to ensue
| from these wounds, Ballard, with the sa ne
weapon, ripped his abdomen open from the
naval upward, so that his entrails Tapped out
upon the floor. With all these wounds, which
he claims to have given himself between one
and two o'clock Thursday morning, Ballard
lay conscious and without aid on his cot until
seven o'clock this morning, when his groans
attracted a keeper, who informed Deputy-Su-
perlntendent Woodruff that he thought Bal
lard was i'll. When Woodruff entered Bal
lard's cell he found the convict in his cot
under cover, and SO self-possessed that no
| thought of the terrible injuries he had in
tilcted upon himself was suggested by his APP
pearance. Ballard simply began begging
that he should not be punished, and pulling
down the bed clothing and showing the
wound IN his abdomen, said appealingIy:
Its no use to punish me, | have taken my
own life. The deputy Immediately sent for
the prison physician, who did all that he
could, but there seems to be no possibility of
recovery, as the intestines are themselves
gashed IN places. 1t was disclosed, upon
further inquiry Of the prisoner, that he had
medltated suicide for several weeks; twenty
seven years Of his sentence remaining still to
be served, and the prospect of so long a time
In prison was especially gloomy to SO active
and intelligent man as Ballard has been.
But he was never able to screw his
courage to the commission of the act until
last night, when he heard two fellow
prisoners IN an adjoining cell say that
| they had put up a job to get HIM the
! liveliest switching he ever had" Then, he
| said, he committed the deed on the impulse
| OF the moment, to avoid the switching. He
had had opportunities in plenty to kill him
self all along, as acids had been found in his
cell, and he had used in the shop where he
| had worked a keen edged knife, but he had.
nevertheless, committed the deed with blunt
| instrument, as described above There was
no reason why he should fear punishment,
being a well behaved convict, and never hav-
ing been either punished or reported. Bal
lard has wife and daughter living on Forty
fifth street, New York, who have been sent
for. The officials of the penitentiary, in
Captain Pilsbury's absence, at first refused to
give out any particulars whatever about the
matter, and even protested Ignorance of any
unusual occurrence in the prison. Ballard
will be especially remembered for an alleged
proposal made by him to the government to
give the authorities recipe for the proven
ton of all counterfeitiDg in return for par
don, and for his general reputation as the
most successful counterfeIter in the country.
SKETCH OF THE CoUNTERFEITER.
New York Herald: The criminal career
of Ballard is a most extraordinary one He
is the eldest of four brothers-Thomas John,
Benjamin, and George Ballard-al counter
feters. who were born near Watkins Glen.
New York, their father being an ex-convIct.
Tom Ballard was the brightest member of
the family. He was apprenticed to the trade
or carriage painting, and soon mastered the
business. He then took up printing, Final
ly he learned engraving, and became one of
the finest wOrkmen IN the country. He exc
cuted many counterfeit plates for western
forgers. His first appearance In New York
was on the night of the memorable arrest Of
Joshua d. Minor, the contractor He had
been suspected for some time by the United
States secret service officers of counterieiting
and a small operator named Harry Coles was
induced to betray HIM. On the night of Oc-
tober %, 1871, Ballard handed q package to
Minor on the boulevard, and was arrested.
Minor was also captured. The package con-
tanned couuterfeits. Ballard confessed to
Colonel Whiteley that he was the en-
graver, and surrendered several print
ing, presses, Plates and an iron
Initiating the United States fiber paper. He
was committed to Ludlow street jail, from
which he escaped on the night of November
Is, 1871, in company with Billy Brown, of
Cincinnati, and James Quinley, of Phiadel-
phIa, also noted counterfeiters. reward of
Ave thousand dollars was offered by the gov
eminent for his apprehension. Nothing fur
Their was heard of him until October Is, 1874,
when Detective Perkins arrested him in a
lonely house in the outskirts of Buffalo Bal
lard, who had one hundred and fifteen thou
sand dollars in counterfeit money on his per-
son, offered desperate resistance and was
severely wounded before he surrendered.
On the evening of January Is, 1875, ne es-
capped from the Albany penitentiary, in com
pany with four others. They cut through
two floors to the roof of the Jail, and lowered
themselves from the roof with ropes formed
from sheets. Ballard, less fortunate than
his companions, was recaptured two days at
ter, and on January 81, 1875, having been
found guilty on two indictments, was SEN
fenced to twenty years imprisonment by the
United States court at Albany. On the fol-
lowing day his wife was found guilty and
sentenced to five years in Onondaga county
jail.