The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-07-24
A TOUGH COUNTERFEITER.
HIS BRUSH WITH UNCLE SANS MEN.
Major Carter Tells OF the Dayton Fight
How Jim Guyon, the Chief Criminal,
Escsped-The Unusual Career
of Old Msn briggs

O., where he had spent several days with
other officers in ferreting out and arrest
ing gang of counterfeiters. The incident
Of the fight, which resulted in the
wounding of one of the officers and
one of the counterfeiters, was pub
lished in THE SENTINEL at the time, but
Maj. Carter adds some interesting features
20 it. Il was never more disappointed
with an expedition in my life," said he.
The very man whom we were after and
the man for whom we had been working
for months was the only one to escape. 1t
was Jim Guyon, who has the plates from
which the spurious ten-dollar bills were
made He is the only man
in the world who knows where they
are, and but for little hard luck, and per-
haps little bad management, we would
have captured him by this time aud would
have had the plates. Guyon is a desper-
ado and lie about as smooth as you ever
read Of He was a member OF the gang
which operated in Illinois eight years ago.
Everyone but him was captured and sent
20 the penitentiary. The main thing we
were after at that time was the plates,
and finally we induced one OF
the men under sentence to tell
US where they were concealed II was
IN an island in the Mississippi
river, and along with them was So, 900 in
counterfeit money. But when we came 10
look. for them they were gone. Guyon
bad stolen them. He was then compara-
lively unknown tous. We heard nothing
of him until about n year ago, when the
bad bills began 10 show up once more.
He was engaged in making them again,
just as be will now begin TO do again
shortly, in all probability. No gov
eminent officer ever saw GuyOn
until few DAYS ago. We
then found he was in Cincinnati, trying
10 sell some OF his money. He had agents
working with him and negotiating for
some OF his money, and finally one of
these made an agreement 10 meet him at
the road house, run by old man briggs, in
Dayton, and buy a large amount OF il,
agreeing to pay him pa cents on the dol
lar. / rode on the train from Cincinnati
20 Dayton with GuyOn on "Wednesday
night He is man OF medium
sire, with a beard which would be black
II il were not sunburned, that reaches half
way down bis waist His hair is black,
but be has keen, gray eye. He has large
Cheek-bones, but his head tapers notice
ably both toward the forehead and chin.
He is a smart one, undoubtedly, and halls
originally from Arkansas; is printer by
trade and fne plate worker.
"Why didn't l arrest him? Well, il
was because we had made different
plans. OF course I bitterly regret now
that did not, for I could have done it
easily. But, you see, we had arranged
for our man 10 meet him at briggs the
next morning, and we were to be on hand
and make the arrest right there, with the
money on him. Things, however, didn't
work as we expected. W hen we arrived
at briggs next morning, at the hour
agreed upon, il so happened, unlucLily,
that Guyon had gone out in the woods,
about one hundred Yards away, to
get a portion OF the money that
be had hidden there. The rest
OF il he had concealed in an old bucket in
the wood-shed. This he sent briggs after,
while he himself went 10 the woods for
the remainder II was just at this juno
ture that we arrived at the house. Three
of the officers were stationed around the
house. and Abbott and | went inside.
Just as / got to the biliard-room old
briggs entered the back door with the
bucket of money in his hands.
well, Mr.. briggs. I've come for you
said l.
That's all right, SAID he, smiling as
Quietly as If he was merely greeting a
neighbor. i know your business
"He made no effort TO resist, and We
handcu lied him. His wife came in and
we arrested her. but did not handcu If her
Then We started up stairs, suppOsing
Guyon was there Abbott took one stair
way, and the other. But we didn't find
our man, OF course. We found an
other woman-'Frenchy,' they called
her-who, probably, was Guyon's
woman. In the meantime, how
ever, there was trouble. Mrs. briggs,
like ourselves, thought Guyon was up
stairs She knew he was a desperate man,
and supposed the shooting was about to
be2in. As a consequence she set up
screaming, and this gave warning to
Guyon, who was returning from the
woods. Abbott and 1 had twelve rooms to
look through up stairs, and by the tine
we were through and down stairs
the other officers bad discovered Guyon
and were after him. The firing had be-
gun before we got ont of the yard. Guyon
is the coolest man ever saw, and a daisy
with the gun. He trotted along ahead of
the men, loading his pistol as he went,
and all the time was as cool as a cucum-
Der. Donnella was the only officer who
got very near him, and he received shot
in the back OF the head but was not seri-
ousiv hurt Guyon was hit also, j think,
in the shoulder, but it did not seem
20 bother him much. II a man had APP
peared on the scene just then with a shot
gun he could have sold il for $500 There
was field Of corn as high as our heads
near by, and next 10 that a field of oats
with two or three small ravines in il; and
IN this way Guyon escaped. We hunted
all day, but without success. In addition,
we offered a reward OF 500 for his capture,
which brought a number of men into the
hunt, but without success.
"Guyon-Jim Guyon he is called-has
several aliases, among them Jim Hank
and Jim Hamilton. He is regular prai-
RE rat, and has probably not slept indoors
for years. The briggs woman told me
that he never slept in the house when he
came there. Sometimes when il rained
he would sleep in the wood-shed, but
generally he stayed in the woods"
Nelson briggs. the "old man briggs" to
whom Maj. Carter referred, is one OF the
best known counterfeiters in the country.
He is now seventy-nine years OF age, and
has been in the business pretty nearly all
his life. He was a prosperous young
farmer, said to be worth 10000, and was
living In Brown county, Ohio, when his
crooked work was first discovered. Up TO
that time he was highly respected. Since
then, however, be has spent good por-