Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1886-02-18

had no reason to think that / was .
Government officer, she seized me Dy
the collar and tried to hold me. ltook
hold Of her wrist and threw her from
me, calling to Brooks to take charge OF
her. Hurrying to the stairs. met
Boyd in his shirt-sleeves, about to come
down, and placed him under arrest.
He made no resistance, and. with con-
siderable agitation, said: Who are
your When told him he simply said:
i have heard of you
II then searched the house, and this
gave me active employment for Elk
hours. In the room upstairs from
which Boyd had come when surprised
him l found every evidence of the work
Of a counterfeiter. There was work
bencn - the room, Uttered with large
number of engravers' tools. On the
table was genuine twenty-dollar note
on the National Bank of Dayton, o.
Near this was a partly-engraved plate
of it. In another room found large
dry-goods box On emptying it l found
nothing but rags, but on tipping the
box about one of the boards dropped
out and revealed mortise, from which
fell plate engraved for printing the
centerback of twenty-dollar Nation
al Bank notes. The border or
rim to match this was the unfinished
plate OH the workbench. l asked Mrs.
Boyd if there was any money IN the
house. She reluctantly said there was,
but refused to tell what it was told
her | would give her half an hour to
think about it. and then went out and
telegraphed Chief Washburn. While
was gone Mrs. BOYD offered Mcdonald
one thousand dollars to let her take
what she wanted from the house and
keep it quiet. Mcdonald told me of
this when returned. finally found a
box in the bedroom, across one end of
which WIS nailed cleat, presumably
to serve as handle. On breaking the
box to pieces found that the cleat was
hollow. and in it was good money in
bills to the amount of over seven thou.
sand dollars. While was working on
this box noticed Mrs. Boyd adroitly
dropping piece Of carpet over a small
box. turned my attention to it, and,
on breaking it into pieces, found the
front and BAG plates for printing the
500 'greenback'. These plates were
stuck together with putty and covered
with waterprooting.
The entire party left for Chicago
that night. While on the train Boyd
said to me: 'Tyrrell, you are not long
in the secret service, are you?'
4 told him l was not, and he re-
piled: 1 thought if you were an old
member of the service you would take
the property now in your possession
and let me skip out the back door
Boyd and his wife were tried in the
United States Court in Chicago on Jan.
uary 10 and 20, 1876, and Boyd got ten
years imprisonment. His wife was
charged with being his accomplice.
but the court discharged her on the
ground that she was Boyd's wife and
it was her duty to obey and protect
him. His Imprisonment was a heavy
blow to the .coneymen' in the West
and South. To be sure. they could
still get the queer, but they were no
longer next the plate, and the stuff
they got was poor. And then they had
to do business with middlemen, and the
profits were small.
''The most desperate efforts were
made from many quarters to effect
Boyd's release, and one of these efforts
was most CHASTITY in its character, and
occasioned worldwide comment. l re-
fer to the attempt made in the winter
of 1876 to steal the remains of Presi-
dent Lincoln. The gang which tried
to carry out this villainous scheme was
organized in Lincoln under the leader
ship of a ST. Louis counterfeiter. In
case they succeeded their terms for the
return of the body were to be two hun
bred thousand dollars in cash and the
pardon of Ben Boyd. A disreputable
woman in Springfield learned of the
job and reported it to the police in time
to prevent its being carried out
Chicago NstUs.