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


man." who at one time was the terror
Of the secret service men operating in
the Mississippi valley. 1t will be re-
membered that Nelson briggs married |
Gertrude Stadtfeldt, whose father,
mother, brother, sister and nephew
were all counterfeiters, and who her
self was a valuable assistant to her
husband
These marriages are mentioned to
set forth the clcseness of the ties
binding the different bands which, in
effect, were one band. There were
many other such marriages. but refer
ence to these will suffice.
Besides this bond of intermarciage
there was strong property tie con-
Meeting the counterfeiting principals.
Nelson briggs, whose brother kept
hotel in Jersey City which was a rem
devious for "coney men," had $4,000
in cash, $4,000 acres of land in Texas
and other property. Ben Boyd had
means In plenty, as did Mccartney and
several others. They were men of
good habits in point of abstemious-
ness, and many of them lived Jekyll
and Hyde lives with such success that
in their respective communities they
were respected members of society
while making and showing the queer"
Many of them were mon of education.
Boyd had a magnificent library and
was a student. Few of them, during
the reputable periods Of their careers,
engaged in business that was not hon
orable, among them being farmers,
contractors, professional men and an
editor.
To this rule, however, there were
two or three exceptions. One Of these
was James Kinealy, who, at the time
of this narrative, kept the Hub" sa-
loon at 1894 West Madison street, Chi
cago, with Terrence Mullen as part
ner. Both Kinealy and Mullen had
for years held close communion with
the counterfeiters of the central west,
and their saloon, while orderly enough,
was the general Chicago rendezvous Of
dozens of the most desperate and &C
complished counterfeiters in the coun-
try. In st. Louis saloon of similar
character was run by Fred Biebusch,
one of the most extensive dealers in
bogus currency in the world, of whose
career and final capture l shall tell
in a subsequent narrative.
The same men that frequented the
Hub" in Chicago were at home in
Biebusch's In St. Louis. The halfway
station was the saloon in Lincoln, ILL.,,
kept by Robert Splane, headquarters
for the large band of ''koniackers'
that lived in and near Lincoln at that
time. The principal members Of the
Lincoln band were Benjamin T. Sher-
| idan, farm owner; James L. Fox, Sr.
and Jr., contractors; Joseph de Haven,
| farmer; Thomas ]. Sharp, editor Of the
Statesman, published in Lincoln; Ma
than L. Curtis, Sharp's outside man;
Robert Splane, saloon keeper, and
| Vine G. Williams, bartender. All of
| these men were intimately associated
with kinealy and Mullen in Chicago
| and Biebusch in st. Louis, as well as
with Nelson briggs, Ben Boyd, Pete
Mccartney and many other somewhat
less prominent Another member of
the band was John Hughes, an all
Charles Stadtfeldt while the latter was
showing the queer" made from Boyd's
plates.
The incarceration of Ben Boyd in
the penitentiary had seriously crippled
the counterfeiting industry of the
country. and especially among the dew
otees of the calling who were oper-
ating in Illinois. Nearly all the bogus
currency showed in the middle west
had been printed from Boyd's plates
and handled by briggs. During the
winter of 1856, when it became ap-
parent that the evidence against these
two arch-conspirators was sufficient to
bring about their incarceration, there
began series of conferences of the
"koniackers" In Chicago, st. Louis and
Lincoln, at which was discussed the
prospective serious effect on the coun-
terfeiting business of the locking up
bands which had been fed from the
Boyd plates became more desperate as
! the cutting off Of their source of sup
ply became more certain, and when,
| finally, Boyd passed behind the gray
stone walls of the Joliet penitentiary
there was much wailing and crashing
of teeth among the precious lot of
criminals that infested the Mississippi
valley.
To add to their woes, eight months
after the capture of Boyd in Fulton,
Irvine White, another expert engraver
Of counterfeit plates, had been arrest
ed in New Jersey, stopping this sec
ondary source of supply. The dealers
of Chicago, St. Louis and Lincoln
could, therefore. secure no "coney"
money worth the handling, and the
smaller dealers, from the Canadian
line to the gulf of Mexico, were send
| ing in orders for bad money that could
not be filled. The only plate available
for use at the time was the one of
J $40 note Of the Bank of Richmond,
| Ind This was what was known as a