The Cooperstown courier. (Cooperstown, Griggs Co., N.D.) 1902-1913, 1905-10-19
Copyright. 1905, by Marion G. scheitlin.l

Copyright, 1905, by Marion G. Scheitlin.l
PART II.-Continued.
Besides this bond of intermarriage
there was strong property tie con-
Meeting the counterfeiting principals.
Nelson briggs, whose brother kept a
hotel in Jersey City which was 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 lney
were respected members of society
while making and showing the queer -
Many of them were men of education.
Boyd had q magnificent library and
was 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. .@ 1
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 Club" sa-
loon at 294 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 a 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 I 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, ST..
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 Biebrsch in St. Louis, as well es
with Nelson briggs, Ben Boyd, Pete
Mccartney and many other somewhat
less prominent. Another member of
the band was John Hughes, an all
around criminal and Doodle carrier for
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 Boyds plates
and handled by briggs. During the
winter of 1856, when it became ap-
parent that the evidence against these
two arch-conspirators vas sufficient to
bring about their Incarceration, there
began series of conferences of the
''koniackers" in Chicago, st. Louis anG
Lincoln, at which was discussed thu
prospective serious effect on the coun
terfeiting business Of the locking VI
Of its best plate cutter. The diheren
bands which had been fed from tn,
Boyd plates became more desperate al
the cutting of Of their source of sup
ply became more certain, and when
finally, Boyd passed behind the gra.
stone walls of the Joliet penitentiar,
there was much wailing and gnashinl
Of teeth among the precious lot o
criminals that infested the Mississippi
valley.
To add to- their woes, eight month
after the capture of Boyd in Fulton
Irvine White. another expert engrave
I Of counterfeit plates. had been arrest
ed in New Jersey, stopping this sec
ondary source Of supply. The dealer
la5ss when h6r4. atowe Awoke.