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

was that Of highly skilled men, work
ing months and. perhaps. years on the
plates by hand OF with the crudest mo-
chinery.
In the engraving. or cutting, of plates
for paper money. the wOTkmen IN the
employ of the government employ the
most elaborate and expensive machin-
cry and other naraDhernalia that the
coUnterfeiteT could not employ with
out laying himself open to innumer-
a bic chances Of detection Our quar-
~. then. undoubtedly consisted Of mon
who had spent years under effici-lt tu-
tors in the art of engraving We also
knew that but one Of them W2S do
ing the actual engraving. this lesson
having been learned from experience
Before counterfeit money finds its
way into the pockets of UusUSpect1ng
men and women three, and ofttimes
four groups of men, each with their
speciality. have to do with it. The en-
graver of a counterfeit plate does the
cutting and nothing else. making the
plates. either to order or on his own
initiative. and sells them for a speci-
fed sum to the dealer. Here the cut
ter'S connection with the business c-dS
and that Of the dealer commences. The
latter sometimes does his own prlnting.
hut OfteueT has il done by cOnfe der
ates. who do nothing else, turning tie
finished product over to the dealer. 60
Eether with the plates. Then begins
the work % the showers In this
part OF the business two men always
work as "a team. one of them being the
shower proper and the other the
Doodle carrier In a town in which
a team is working the two men are
+, supposed to be strangers. ard never
allow themselves - be seen together.
One note at a time is given TO the
shower. who makes a tTifiinS
purchase. gets his change i'm good
money. meets the doodle carrier Sc
Cretly, gives MIN the good change and
Is given another bill 1t i not my
purpose. IN this ma .ratiVe to deal with
the methods o. Couuterfeiters IN ply
ing their trade but the foregoing d.
gressiou into some Of the "tr:c5Ss Of
the trade" Will be found to illuminate
various points in the story to fol
low.
In the spring of 1873. then. after Chief
WashbuTn had returned to Washington.
I found myself confronted with the
problem Of running to earth two. and
probably more. men of great cunning,
with practically no clues TO work on
but the names Of the suspects. Ny task
was set and my future depended on my
unTaveliug the problem In addition TO
this job I was working on information
BOSCObel- Wis, and St Paul MINI,
and with the three my hands were full.
I am free to say that for time in
the BOyd-DTiggs case I was cropping in
the dark. 4 single crime confined TO
one spot. as a murder. always fur
nishes clues Of some kind on which to
work; The location of two men of vague
description who are supposed TO have
been parties to the circulation of cOUu-
terfeit money which has made its ap-
peaTance in scores of places widely
scattered at practically one time Il an
other matter. At that time John Peter
Mccartney, known to the secret service
as Pete" Mccartney, a particularly
cunning and dangerous COunterfeiteT.
was at large Mccartney was born in
1924 in Shelby county, Illinois and
adopted the career Of Il coUnteTfeiter
early in life IN 1864 he had settled in
/ NauvOo, H., and while there engraved
the plates from which were printed the
| counterfeit of the so United States
treasury note of the Ereenback variety.
! issue Of March 10. 1862, which notes had
/ had wide circulation, thanks TO the en-
/ ergy of the men with whom Mccartney
was in league
But this is another depression except
as 10 the settlement of Mccartney in
NauvOO, this act having resulted in the
establishment in Nauvoo of headQuar-
]
/ and women. Pete" Mccartney in 1864
/ had married Martha Ann Alderman.
whom he had first met in Cincinnati
! several years before. She was the
/ daughter of an old German counterfeit
/ er whose widow with her two daughters
| had lived in Cincinnati for several
years. Martha was pretty and extreme
/ " skillful in the printing of counter
( feits, her father having employed her
{ in that work when she was as young as
Il years of age.
The Mccartney band at Nauvoo had
| gained gradually in numbers and the
I extent Of their operations since Pete
| had settled there. and among his con-
/ federates was Dr. Milton Parker, who,
| at the time 1 was detailed to the Boyd
I briggs case. was in an eastern peniten-
/ tiary for cOunteTfeiting. But Mrs Par
! ker continued to live in NaUvoO and
/ was handsome and intelligent woman.
( There also lived at Nauvoo a counter
/ feiteT named Louis SIeight and his part
ner, John FrisDie. known TO the secret
] service as the leaders Of the 'Sleight
( and Frisbie' gang. knowing full well
I that nearly all the western counterfeit
! eTs of note at one time or another Wis
/ tied NaUvOO. 7 determined. in the alb
! sence Of better or more definite clues
! 10 so to NaUvo0 and look around It
did not take long to discover that
[ briggs had been making visits 20 Nau-
/ VOC. but, so far as could be learned. the
Z magnet that had drawn him thither
was the beauty and charm of Mrs. Par
ker rather than any business plans he
might have been working out-in con-
neCtiOn with Sleight or the other mem