The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-06-18
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to break the chain by which secret ser
vice operatives might follow them. In
addition TO this division of the work the
universal custom prevailed for the men
engaged in the issue of queer money
TO place long distances between each
other after the plan was arranged
They made rendezvous in one town or
city, perfected the details of the plot.
and then scattered as a puff of wind
would scatter the down Of the dande-
lion. to meet again at place agreed
on three. six or more months after, as
the extent of the job dictated.
S.
In the case in hand l knew that the
principals were men veTsed in all the
/ approved methods of the ''coney men,"
and that it was extremely unlikely that
the conferences between briggs and
I BOYD were for any purpose other than
| the arrangement of the details of some
! big job to b done Therefore, in ad
/ dition to maintaining a strict surveil-
! lance. the principal task before me was
to scatter the ''koniackers' to their
| respective places for work
While affairs stood thus. one of my
assistants. during the course of his
I daily report to me on the movements
/ OF briggs said:
x
/ briggs has lots Of money. and I am
| satisfied you could make SIS. 900 BY los
, ing him"
| ! had been somewhat doubtful of the
| integrity of this assistant for some
/ time. but up to this point had had no
| tangible reason for thinking that he
| would do anything traitorous toward
! the secret service ! asked him how he
/ knew the money could be made and he
I explained the circumstances that led
/ him to estimate the probsb BILE reward
( Of treachery on our part at $4,000.
! then said to him:
! 4 am here to get these men. and am
/ going to do it If You make one move
/ that SpoiIs our game / shall kill YOU
as would dog
He seemed convinced that I meant
J what ] said. for there was nothing i'm
/ his actions or conversation after that
| time to Indicate that he had not done
his full duty
| 1t may seem strange that when we
knew $4,000 of counterfeit money was
| being made in the Stadtfeidt house We
did not descend on the esta blishment
arrest the inmates and cOnfisCate the
plant. but it must be remembered that
the Stadtfeldts were actors of second
ary Importance in the drama that was
being played Boyd. as the cutter OF
| operations of all the others depended
and briggs. as d man Of great shTewd-
| ness and large means. was the most
! dangerous dealer in the country. Be
! sides striving primarily for the capture
of these two I had hoped to be able to
| land Pete Mccartney. whose standing
| in his chosen profession was so high
that he was known as the King of the
koniackers," and who was closely in
league with briggs. Boyd and the
StadfeldtS To have raided the Stadt-
felt plant, therefore. would have flushed
the big game and made them the more
wary in a future chase
The capture of the plates in the pos
session of Boyd and briggs was of al
most IS much importance as the cap
ture of the men themselves, and be-
sides. in order to convict and imprisOn
the principals, it was necessary 10
catch them in the act they were
charged with committing. These rea-
] sons I considered sufficient to allow the
Stadtfeldts to leave Clinton Unmolested
which they did on Aug p. The moving
of the Stadtfeldts I took to be one of the
signs of the approaching fight of the
others. and in this my calculations
proved correct for one day about three
weeks later mysterious movements
were disCernibIe in the briggs resi-
dence.
That evening briggs and his wife
came to the Revere house Every move
made by him was closely watched. and
our surveillance was rewarded in few
hours. for after most of the guests had
retired briggs and his wife quietly left
the hotel and boarded the midnight
train to Chicago Without going into
the details of briggs subsequent move
ments il is enough to relate that he
went to Chicago. where he stopped at
the Hatch house for day; then TO
Dixon. H.. from there to Decatur and
! thence to Centralia. at each step of the
journey covering his tracks as care
fully as possible.
/ Previously Charles Stadtfeldt in the
role of a St Louis drummer. had moved
to Centralia and rented house. These
/ facts. of course. eSts bliSbed CentTalia
as the next base Of operations of briggs
/ and the Statitfelts. and for the time
there was no move TO be made on the
part of the government but to keep the
prey constantly under its eye For
that purpose 1 sent my assistants to
Centralia.
Before leaving Clinton. briggs had
packed and left for shipment by freight
three large boxes and three trunks in
the freighthOuse at Clinton. After his
departure. and late at night. entrance
TO the freight house was gained, the
briggs packages searched. and a COM
pete 0utnt OF presses Tor printing
counterfeit money. inks, papers and
minor materials was found. The things
were all carefully repacked and the
boxes closed. as they had been origin
ally No attempt was made to stop the
shipment of the discriminating money
and materials. for any delay i'm its ar
rival at CentraiiaL would have been GER
tain to cause inquiry and perhaps
alarm on the part of briggs.
| While these events were transpirins
Boyd had been preparing TO vacste his
old stone residence on the bank of the
Mississippi and to take his flight to
some point unknown to me. where he
undoubtedly intended TO settle down "a
a task of plate-cutting in seclusion and
far from his partners In short. there
was every indication that the next few
months were to he period of great
activity on the part of the gang, if not
molested by Uncle Sam
1t was on Sept. 20 that Boyd shipped
his household effects TO Fulton. Ill,
and, with his wife, went there to live