Bismarck weekly tribune., 1889-10-25

were cauG0G, all LOT passing ten dollar
webster head" treasury note, printed from
plate whose history probably has no par
allel.
A DANGEROUS COUNTERFEIT
It was in February, 1880, that this note ap-
peared at Chicago, and the arrest on suspi-
cion soon followed of Terrence Mullen, Of Chi
cago, and Jim Keneally, of st. Louis. Mullen
had been arrested in 1876 with others for
conspiracy to steal the body of Abraham Lin
coin from its tomb at Springfield and hold it
for the ransom of Ben Boyd, a noted Chicago
counterfeiter, who had been convicted and
sentenced for a year. These arrests led to
the arrest of John Bowdre alias John Hill,
in May, 1880, on 1atboat in the Mississippi
river, near st. Louis, with $1,000 of these
tens in his possession, 2,278 sheets of paper
cut the size Of the note, and steel plate for
printing upon the paper good imitation Of
fiber
Bowdre was imprisoned, and through him
it was learned that James Guyon, alias Hank,
alias Hamilton, had stolen the plates and
$4,000 of the dangerous" tens. 1t was as
though Guyon and the plates and money had
dropped out of existence For more than
seven years nothing was heard of them, until
last February it was flashed from dozen
banks in as many western cities, almost stimuli
taneously, that the Webster head" had again
appeared. Sure enough it was the counter
felt of 1880, of which Guyon held the mo-
nopoly, again in the field.
At once Chief Bell of the secret service con-
centrated his men and took the field himself
A dozen arrests soon followed, all of them
persons who had purchased the notes from
Others. Through the attorney who defended
some Of these men it was learned that Nelson
briggs and his wife, Gertrude, who kept
road house near Dayton, O., were middle
men" for the sale Of the money. Chief Bell
secured an introduction to briggs as Andrew
McWilliams," crooked attorney at law of
Hartford, Conn. His plans to make his iden-
; tity good were ingenious and thorough. He
was received without suspicion as one who
wished to deal in the ''queer," and then en-
sued weeks OF fencing and diplomacy on both
sides, description of which would fill book.
The manner in which Chief Bell ingratiated
himself into the good graces of the two would
have been worthy of Vidocq. briggs met his
wife in prison, and when they had served
| their time, married her, though she was less
than one-thId of his age. She was suscepti-
ble to fattery, like most people, and Bells
nimble tongue soon left no shadow of suspi-
cion in her mind that he was other than he
represented himself. He soon discovered that
the principal in the transaction was to be no
other than the mysterious Guyon himself,
lifelong counterfeiter, the man who had the
Webster head" plate, and who had got
away with $40, 600 of the bills when Bowdre
was arrested, and who operated constantly
STRIKING THE BARGAIN.
After weeks of finesse Bell and Guyon met
The latter, talked of everything but money.
He was ''sl1ing up" the supposititious attor-
ney, who wished to buy counterfeit money
At last every body was satisfied and the bar
gain was struck. "McWillians" was to buy
$4,000, more or less, of the tens, at 2211a cents
on the dollar. Every precaution was taken
to prevent trickery in the transfer On the
day it was decided to be made two of the tin
cans containing the bills were put in posses
sion of the Drggses. The old man was to de-
| liver the first, and while he went for the sec
ond Gerty was to count it and get the good
| money for it. Meanwhile Guyon was to pro-
duce the remainder from some spot not known
even to the Driggses, so fearful were they
that MAC" would trick them in some way.
The first can was delivered and paid for in
back room of the hotel, and when briggs
went for the second he was quietly taken in
custody by Bells assistants, who were hidden
outside, and the chief himself suavely in
formed Gerty that she was his prisoner. Sew
eral men had been set to watch Guyon. Three
of them followed him to an adjacent wood on
their hands and knees through field of OATS
They were close on his heels as he kneeled
down beside all old stump of tree to get the
money He could have been captured many
times, but the purpose was to capture him
with some of the money in his possession
As he was uncovering the tin cans ter
rife Shrek came from the direction of the
hotel It was the scream of Gerty when put
under arrest. Instinctively Guyon's trained
ear told him there was trouble. He sprang
to his feet and ran like deer. Donella, one
Of the detectives, called on him to halt and
throw up his hands. He did, but it was be.
hind tree, and he threw up his hand quick
as lightning and shot Donella, tearing d piece
from the side of his head Donella dropped
Guyon sprang away through the underbrush,
and that is the last seen of him, though Chief
Bell vows he viii have him behind the bars
at no distant day. Over s2o, 900 of the web
ster heads'' were captured, but they were of
q later issue than the $4,000, and it is not
known that any of them had been passed, but
the plate is not captured, and so the romantic
history Of that ten years old plate is not yet
ended. - Washington Cor. Pittshurg Dispatch.