Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-09-07

men, anu rnaJ II was extremely I'M
likely that the conferences between
briggs and Boyd were for any purpose
other than the arrangement Of the de-
tails of some big job to be done
Therefore, in addition to maintaining
strict surveillance, the principal task
before me was to watch for the puff
of wind that was to scatter the
"koniackers" to their respective places
for work.
While affairs stood thus, one of my
assistants, during the course of his
daily report to me on the movements
of briggs, said:
"Mr. Demarest, this is big thing.
briggs has lots of money, and l am
satisfied you could make $4,000 by
losing 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 explained the circumstances
that led him to estimate the probable
reward Of treachery on our part at
$4,000. l then said to him:
II am here to get these men, and
am going to do 1t. n you make one
move that spoils our game l shall kill
you as would a dog"
He seemed convinced that l meant
what said, for there was nothing in
his actions or conversation after that
time to Indicate that ne had not done
his full duty.
1t may seem strange that when we
knew $4,000 of counterfeit money
was being made in the Stadtfeldt
house we did not descend on the es-
adjustment, arrest the inmates and
confscate the plant, but it must be re-
membered that the Stadtfeldts were
actors of secondary Importance in the
drama that was being played. Boyd,
as the cutter of plates, was the man
on whom the operations of all the
others depended, and briggs, as man
of great shrewdness and large means,
was the most dangerous dealer in the
country. Besides striving primarily
for the capture of these two I had
hoped to be able to land Pete Nc
Cartney, whose standing in his chosen
profession was so high that he was
known as the king of the Koniack-
ers,' and who was closely in league
with briggs, Boyd and the Stadtfeldts.
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
asSost as much Importance as the cap
ture OF the men themselves, and be-
sides, in order to convict and i'm
prison the principals, it was neces-
sary to catch them in the act they
were charged with committing These
reasons l considered sufficient to al
low the Stadtfeldts to leave Clinton
unmolested. which they did on August
25. The moving of the Stadtfeldts
took to be one of the signs of the ap-
preaching flight Of the others, and in
this my calculations proved correct,
for one day about three weeks later
mysterious movements were discern
ible in the briggs residence.
That evening briggs and his wife
came to the Revere house. Every
move made by him was closely
watched, and our surveillance was re-
warded in a few hours, for after most
Of the guests had retired briggs and
his wife quietly left the hotel and
boarded the midnight train to Chica-
go. Without going into the details of
briggs subsequent movements it is
enough to relate that he went to Chi
cago, where he stopped at the Hatch
house for day; then to Dixon, Ill.,,
from there to Decatur and thence to
Centralia, at each step of the journey
covering his tracks as carefully as pos.
sible.
Previously Charles Stadtfeldt, in
the role of a ST. Louis drummer, had
moved to Centralia and rented a
house. These facts, of course, estab-
lished Centralia as the next base Of
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