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

till the work he had on hand was done.
Both briggs in Centralia and Boyd in
Fulton soon had neighbors of whom
they knew nothing but who watched
their every move with more interest
than even pTying neighbOTs are wont to
manifest.
During the eight months that the
hide-and-seek game had been going on
between the secret service men and this
precious lot of criminals daily reports
had been forwarded to Washington, as
is customary in the department. In
these reports the various actors in the
1 play were given fictitious names and,
/ had the reports fallen into the hands
/ Of confedeTates of the COunterfeiters,
, they would have learned little from
! them. With briggs settled with, the
/ Stadtfeldts in Centralia and Boyd hard
( at his nefaTious work in Fulton / be
! lieved the time at hand to close this
! scene Of the play
/ My report of the situation brought
! on from Washington Chief WaShbuTu,
| Assistant Chief Brooks. z. G. Rath-
! bone. John Mcdonald and an operative
named Hurr. all of the secret service
/ division of the United States treasury
/ department ! had arranged for q con-
ference at Lyons, Iowa, where, with
/ Chief WashbuTn, I went over the de-
| tails of the situation and outlined my
Lyons was secret and we were ex-
tremely careful not to be seen talking
! together or even acknowledging any
acquaintance. In a secluded spot on
the river bank we talked the matter
over and decided to make the arrests
on the morning Of Oct II at 9 O'Clock.
1 Chief WashbuTn had lived in Cen
| tralia and knew the city well. so il was
decided that he should lead the raid
on the briggs nest. 7 had carefully re-
| connOitered the Boyd residence, which
he had rented under the name of b +.
Wilson. 1t was a large. two story
frame structure in Prairie street, stand
ing under the brow of a bluff and easy
Of surveillance from the high ground
above it The hour of . was chosen
because. from my knowledge Of Boyd =
habits I knew he would have had his
| breakfast and been at work by that
time provided the day was bright Had
it been cloudy the raid would have been
| postponed. because on q dark day
| Boyd would not have been enga ged in
! cutting plates on account Of poor light
} Even with the best machinery this
| class of work requires a peculiar, bright
light which is obtained by reflection
/ from white screens, and il was reason
ably certain that Boyd, with his crude
, / apparatus. could not work to advant-
age on dark day.
1t was also arranged that Chief
/ Washburn should not make the raid on
the briggs house until he heard by tele-
graph from me that 1 had secured
/ Boyd In order to prevent any posi-
bility Of a slip by which briggs might
| be allowed to escape it was necessary
for me TO get q secret message to my
|, | chief Even the complicated cipher
! ordinarily used in the service would not
/ serve the purpose, as It might arouse
the curiosity of the operator at Fulton
! OF CentraIia and lead to disclosure OF
, our plans It was therefore arranged
that as soon as had secured Boyd
should send the following message to
Washburn:
The captain has arrived with the
barges"
With the details clearly settled Chief
| Washburn left for CeutTalia, leaving
Brooks. who was afterward chief of the
! secret service. and Mcdonald TO aid me
With these two I went over the plan
of capture, always exercising the great
| est caution that no one should learn OF
the connection between US. To the
| world we were strangers up to the time
we met in Boyd's house. Fate favored
, us in the matter Of weather The DAY
/ was bright-an ideal one for an en-
| graver of plates-and I felt that moth
ing could prevent US from catching
Ben Royd dead to rights" I was to
lead. entering the yard by the front
gate and going around to the rear OF
. the house. Brooks was 70 IoiloW
twenty feet behind while Mcdonald
100 feet behind Brooks, was to make
his way direct TO the front door. By
this plan I designed to have each man
at the right place at exactly the right
time.
1 found the back door open and en-
tered. No sooner had I stepped over the
! threshold than Mrs Boyd, her dark
eyes blazing. sprang fiercely at me ana
grasped me by the coat collar.
Leave this room instantly she
screamed. at the same time Juggling
me toward the door with the un-
natural strength born of frenzied fear.
grappIed with her and had her fairly
Subdued by physical power when BROOKS
stepped in and took her i'm custody We
had known that Boyd did his work in
a room on the second floor and L
started up the stairs. When half way
up I met Boyd, in his shirt sleeves,
descending
who are you?' he demanded.
''Tyrrell of the secret service 1
answered. and you are my prisoner
I have heard of you" he said.
! Great beads of perspiratiOn started
from his face. and he became limp as
I placed the handouts on him. Strong
man as he was. he displayed none Of
the ferocity OF his frail wife. who, in
the meantime. had stood. sullen and
apparently AOUhNtE luI a GAuihtE "
escape. in the kitchen siX-hour
search of the house followed the ar
rest. With Brooks and Mcdonald in
charge of the prisoners / undertook
the search, after telegraphing Chief
Washburn-
In loose board in box in the
| front room upstairs I found a cIeveriy
mortised cavity containing the plate
, Of the reverse side OF the counterfeit
$50 note of the state Bank of Ohio. a
note that had been extensively showed
, by the 'coney men," as we'll as the
|. plate of a $50 counterfeit bill of the
|, First National bank of Dayton. .. Nor
tised into the woodwork of an up
/ holstered ottoman in the parlor were
the plates for the 800 Lincoln head
treasury note the conCealment in each
case being so cteveriy accomplished
that it required the smashing of the
wood almost into splinterS to find the
plates In the cleat on another box
was found s7.s5S in good currency.