The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-06-18

I plate. The Richmond los were 50
well known as to be practically IN
j assa BILE
| Peter Mccartney was at large, but
was not inclined. to divide the fruits
of his labOrs with the Lincoln crowd
/ Charles F. UlrioiI. another cutter, had
been released from the Chic peniten-
| tiary but his release WAS not generally
/ known and he was not disposed inn
| nediately to resume operations. With
| a knowledge of these facts il csn read
| lily be understood why the straits to
were desperate. The release of Boyd
was an absolute necessity, to be ac
complished at any cost.
For months the members Of this
most cunning and desperate band had
| been whipping their brains for feasible
/ plans to effect the release of their pal.
| None that passed muster IN the Grim
| inal council had been suggested The
secret service. knowing that every en-
4 ergy Of the criminals would be strained
/ to free Boyd. but having no knowledge
| of the plans suggested. worked dill
| gently to enmesh the known members
/ at large on counterfeiting charges. aud
/ in 80 doing made a special effort 10
/ trap John Hughes. who for a dozen
/ years had successfully passed and dealt
/ in counterfeit money. besides taking
| side excursions into other paths Of
/ crime. Sufficient evidence against
I Hughes had been gathered to secure
an Indictment by the federal grand
/ jury in 1874. but for a year and a half
| he had eluded the shrewdest men in
| the secret service
At that time 1 often secured informa-
ton from man named Lewis G
SweEles He was what we then termed
| 4 roper OF stool pigeon SwegieS was
! the son of the first auditor Of the state
of Michigan-the black sheep i'm fine
family-but a man who had been of
considerable value to the secret service
on account Of his intimacy with Grim
inaIs
] had been working to locate Hughes.
| but had been unsuccessful until August
/ 1876. when Swegles informed me of his
wherea bouts. Starting with the in
formation given by Swegles. I soon
round and arrested Hughes in the
hub saloon at pa West Madison
street. previously mentioned as having
| been kept by Jim Kinealy and Terry
| Mullen Hughes was arraigned and de
posted $500 to secure his appearance
for trial the following January.
IN the meantime Swesles, whose
identity and connection with the
secret service was "A most carefully
guarded secret. was working to IN
Sratiate himself into the confidence of
! the cOunteTfeiting band that made its
headquarters at the Hub" while in
| Chicago. He cOufided to Hughes that
he had served time in a western prison
! for horse stealing. but that he was
anxious to forsake the crudities Of
/ horse stealing and other common lines
of crime for the refinements of dealing
/ in counterfeit money. Swegles. by
/ clever assembling. was successful in
! convincing Hughes that he was prOmis-
| ing material for an addition to the
ranks of the 'cOney men,"
7 was fully aware that SwegIes was
| working to win the confidence of the
/ counterfeiters that met at the Hub"
/ but il was about two months before I
I had any other communication from nv
roper" that was of Importance. He
then cOnfided to me that the band had
under way a sensational plOt-not
along COunterfeiting lines-but to steal
the body of Abraham Lincoln and hold
II for large ransom. Accustomed as
] was TO the daring operations of these
men, the aUdacity of this plot startled
me Swegies mentioned 5000 600 as the
amount the COnspiratOrs had fixed as
the price of the return of the body For
time I found il difficult to convince
myself that these men. cunning and
daredevil as they had proved them
selves to be in other crimes. would ac-
tualiy attempt to carry out a plot so
/ bold and which struck so deeply at the
roots Of one of the cOuntry's deepest
sentiments-its love for Lincoln and its
reverence for all of him that was
earthly.
But the situation permitted the in
! diligence of no sentiment The informa-
ton given me by Swegles had in pre-
V1ous instances been accurate. and I
| had no reason even to surmise that ne
/ was playing me false in this case or
/ that he had allowed himself to be
EUlled by Hughes and Mullen. Besides
my informant had given as one of the
motives for the proposed crime the de
/ sire for the release of Ben Boyd, which
I ] knew to be a consideration of the ut
most importance 10 the men whose
/ operations had been 81 abruptly cur
I tailed by the plate-cutter's incarcera-
( ton.
/ The moment was one for action. even
+ at the risk of finding later that the Sc
/ Cret service had been led into unneces-
/ SaTy activity by INSTRUMENTATION Ny
/ informant had learned that certain St.
| Louis men, whose names he did not
/ know. were parties to the plot PTevi-
J ously a similar plot emanating from
/ the same sources. had been revealed %
/ Chief of Police Wilkinson of Spring
/ field In this plan James KineaIy had
] evidently been the promoter. and had
decided Ia use the Lincoln counterfeit
/ ing contingent as his agents Thomas
/ J. Sharp. editor of the Statesman. Ma
! than l. Curtis. his assistant and Vive
/ q. Williams a bartender of Lincoln. as
/ the first step. opened a saloon in
/ Springfield which they made their
/ counterfeitiug headquarters as well as
/ the place from which they could gather
/ without exciting suspicion, such infor-
nation as they needed to aid them in
/ their work Of stealing the body of Lin
I coin.
From the facts that the sum of ran
! som money PROPOSED in this plot and
I the later sum were the same and that
the interests of all the men in both plots
/ were closely allied, there was little
I doubt that one man had conceived the
/ scheme to release Boyd. and there was
also little doubt that the one man was
/ James KineaIy- He was capable of con-
/ coctiuE and trying to carry out such a
plot.
/ The dream of the easy acquisition Of
| 100000 led the cOunterfeiters who had
opened the saloon in Springfield into
the lavish expenditure of money and
| dissipation In one of these bouts
! Thomas Sharp confided to a woman of
/ the town in Springfield that he expect
ed soon to become one of the beneticiar-
/ les of the 100000 ransom fund. and in
timated to her the plan by which the
I money was to be secured. This woman
informed Chief Wilkinson of the drunk
en- boasts of her admirer. Wilkinson
| immediately took steps to place addi-
/ tional guards over the Lincoln tomb
/ and took such other precautions as in
| dicated to the consDirators that their
plan could not be carried out II was
i'm this first plot that the leaden Casket
/ containing the body Of Lincoln was 10