Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-09-07

copyright. 1905, by Marion G. Scheitlin ]
fPART ONE Continued
From that time the three houses
were carefully watched and the
movements Of the inmates minutely
noted. A little later briggs paid his
friend Boyd another VISIT, and soon
after that Boyd returned 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 busi-
ness, and this conviction was con-
frmed by the assistant who had been
watching the "Schafer' home.
While this maneuvering was in
progress an investigation had been
prosecuted concerning this "Schafer"
family. and the results of that in
vestigation may properly be given at
this point The 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, q daughter, who was married to
Henry Clinton. Nicholas Stadtfeldt
had been counterfeiter 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, man of 30, had been trained
to the trade Of his father Charles
Stradtfeldt had been candy Dutch
er" with various circuses, and in that
capacity had had ample opportunity
for working off the output of his ia
theirs mill" He was an adept at
the printing and Showing" of bogus
money. At the "Schafer' house in
Clinton this mill" had been steadily
grinding, the output during the resi-
dence of the family in Clinton being
batch of $4,000 OF the counterfeit
five-dollar Bills of the Traders ma
tional bank of Chicago for Pete Nc
Cartney. 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
trude when, as good-looking young
woman, she was serving term in the
Ohio penitentiary for passing queer"
money. She had become a printer of
bogus money for her husband, and
was an important member of the con-
Bpiracy.
The establishment Of the facts rela-
tive to the Stadtfeldt family and the
clinching of the Identities of briggs
and Boyd had made the future of the
case much clearer. During the months
under which the principals to the
manufacture of the Traders national
flyes and other important counterfeits
were under surveillance at Clinton
and La Glare was convinced both
from theory and observation, that
neither briggs nor Boyd was actively
engaged in the commission of any
overt counterfeiting act; but l was
equally certain that the Stadtfeldts
had been running their mill and
grinding out bogus bills for circula-
ton among the unwary, and the sub
sequent fact was developed, as pre-
viously told, that they had run off
from their press $4,000 of the Trad
ers' national fives for Pete Mozart
ney.
Aside from any specific information
on the subject, however, would have
been firmly convinced that neither
briggs nor Boyd was at that time &C
lively cutting plates or Showing"
bogus money, for this reason: 1t had
been my observation and that of every
other secret service man who had had
to do with counterfeiting cases that
professionals in the fine art of max
ing and passing counterfeit money
never held any communication with
one another during the time they were
actively engaged in their work The
different processes of labor through
which counterfeit bill passed be-
tween the cutting of the plate to it's
actual unloading on the public were
devised purely for purposes of safety
lin order to break the chain by which
secret service operatives might follow
them. In addition to this division of
the work the universal custom pre-
vailed for the men engaged in the is
sue of queer" money to place long
distances between each other after the
plan was arranged. They made
rendezvous in one town or city, per-
fected the details of the plot, and
then scattered as puff of wind would
scatter the down of the dande.
lion, to meet again at place agreed
on three, six or more months after, as
the extent of the job dictated.
In the case in hand knew that the
principals were men versed in all the
approved methods of the "coney