Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1905-10-07

parture without precaution against
being followed, for there is no reason
20 believe that b. suspected there
were in Clinton three men to whom
his every move was OF vital interest
AT la Clare '&s,son" made his way
20 an old stone house on the river
bank and spent some time In the com
pany OF middle-accd man. who oc-
cupied the house with his wife Leav.
ing the piping OF the Watson" and
"Schafer' homes 20 my assistants and
in my role OF "Demarest" 1 had taken
up the chase OF Watson" on HIS excur.
sion TO Ia Glare and OF the man whom
he had gone 90 meet This was on
August IL, 1875. and during the
months I had been working on the
case 7 had not had the slightest clew
20 the whereabouts OF Ben Boyd.
After the visit OF Watson" 70 La
Clare ! had little difficulty IN estab.
fishing In my own mind the identity
OF the man on whom Watson" had
called as Ben Boyd. the most expert
platecutter ia the United States and
the man on whose skill and activity
there depended the success or failure
OF the entire band OF "koniackers
male and female. then operating in
the middle west The discovery OF the
whereabouts OF Boyd through the
visit OF briggs. who was none other
/ than Watson" OF Clinton. was a long
stride toward success Ia a search that
had looked hopeless enough at the
start
From that time the three houses
were carefully watched and the
movements OF the inmates minutely
noted A little later Driggs paid his
friend Boyd another visit. and soon
after that Boyd Nturned the calls at
the briggs home in Clinton. This ex-
change of calls on the part OF the two
principals convinced me that they
, were preparing to get down to bust
ness, and this conviction was con
hrmsd by the assistant who had been
watching the "Schafer" home.
While this maneuvering was in
progress an investigation had been
prosecuted concerning the "Schafer"
family, and the results OF that in
vestigation may properly be given at
this point Tie real family name was
Stadtfeldt. Nicholas was the head OF
the family. the other members living
in the Clinton house being Barbara,
the wife; Charles. the son, and Mol
lie, daughter. who was married TO
Henry Clinton. Nicholas Stadtfeldt
had been a couaterfeiter in Germany
before he came to the United States
to ply the same trade His wife had
been his able assistant, while his son.
Charles. a man Of 80. had been trained
to the trade OF his father. Charles
Stradtfeldt had been a candy butch
er" with various circuses, and in that
capacity had had ample opportunity
for working OF the output OF his IA
theirs mill" he was an adept at
the printing and showing OF bogus
money. Al the "Schafer" house in
Clinton this mill" had been steadily
grinding, the output during the resi-
dence OF the family In Clinton being
a batch OF $4,000 Of the counterfeit
fve-dOliar bills OF the Traders ma
tional bank Of Chicago for Pete" Nc
CARNEY. BY the mortising method.
good counterfeits OF the bills OF 10
Illinois banks had been made from
this plate.
Nelson briggs had married Ger
trude Stadtfeldt an older daughter Of
Nicholas. in Dayton. o.. in 1874. Illus
trating the tendency OF men in this
particular line OF criminality, where
the utmost secrecy is absolutely neces-
sary to marry women from counter
feiting families. briggs had met Ger