Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1906-01-04

ldh7lbIt iNdoOi iOl lIIhhEuS ludl u0
would do anything traitorous toward
the secret service. | asked him how
he knew the money could be made,
and he explained the circumstances
that led him to estimate the probable
reward of treachery on our part at
$4,000. | then said to him:
Il am here to get these men, and
am going to do it. If you make one
move that spoils our game | shall kill
you as | would dog"
He seemed convinced that | meant
what | said, for there was nothing in
his actions or conversation after that
time to indicate that he had not done
his full duty.
1t may seem strange that when we
knew $4,000 of counterfeit money
was being made in the Stadtfeldt
house we did not descend on the es-
tablishment, arrest the inmates and
conflscate the plant but it must lie re-
membered that the Stadtfeldts were
actors of secondary Importance in the
drama that was being played. Boyd.
as the cutter Of plates. was the man
on whom the operations of all the
others depended, and briggs, as man
of great shrewdness and large means,
was the most dangerous dealer In the
country. Besides striving primarily
for the capture of these two | had
hoped to be able to land Pete Mo
Cartney, whose standing in his chosen
profession was so high that he was
known as the King of the KoniaclI-
ers," and who was closely in league
with briggs, Boyd and the StadtfelGts.
To have raided the Stadtfeldt plant,
therefore, would have flushed the big
game and made them the more wary
in a future chase.
The capture OF the plates in the pos
session of Boyd and briggs was Of
almost as much importance as the zap
ture of the men themselves, and be-
sides, in order to convict and im-
prison the principals, it was uccesr
sary to catch them in the act lhey
we've charged with committing. These
reasons l considered sufficient tc as-
low the Stadtfeldts to leave Clinton
unmolested, which they did on August
25. The moving OF the Stadtfeidts /
took to be one of the signs of the ap-
preaching flight of the others, aud in
this my calculations proved ccrract,
for one day about three weeks later
mysterious movements were discern
ible in the briggs residence.
That evening briggs and his wife
came to the Revere house. livery
move made by him was closely
watched, and our surveillance was re-
warded in a few hours, for after most
of the guests had retired briggs and
his wife quietly left the hotel and
boarded the midnight train to Chica-
go. Without going into the details OF
briggs subsequent movements. it is
enough to relate that he went to Chi.
cago, where he stopped at the Hatch
house for a day; then to Dixon. ILL.,,
from there to Decatur and thence TO
Centralia, al each step of the Journey
covering his tracks as carefully as pos
sible.
Previously Charles Stadtfeldt, ID
the role of a st. Louis drummer, had
moved to Centralia and rented
house. These facts, OF course. estab-
lished CentTalia as the next base Of
operations of briggs and the Stadt-
feidts, and for the time there was no
move to be made on the part of tho
government but to keep the prey CON
stantly under its eye. For that pur.
pose | sent my assistants to Centralia.
ITO BE Continued