The Irish standard., 1906-03-31

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sides, my informant hal given a. ono
of the motives for the proposed crime
the desire for the release Of Ben Boyd,
which knew to be a consideration of
the utmost Importance to the men
whose operations had been so abrupt
}ly curtailed by the plate cutters In
generation.
| The .,oment was one for action,
even a. the risk of finding later that
the secret service had been led into
unnecessary activity by misinforma-
ton. My informant had learned that
certain st. Louis men. whose names
he aid not know. were parties to tho
plot. Previously similar plst, en-
anatiHg from the Same. ssa1oes, had
been revealed to Chief of Police Will
kinson. of Springfield. In this plan
James kinealy had evidently been the
promoter, and had decided to use the
Lincoln countcrfeiting contingent as
his agents. Thomas J. Sharp, editor
of the Statesman; Nathin L. Curtis,
his assistant, and Vive G. Williams,
bartender Of Lincoln. as the first step.
opened a saloon in Springfield, which
they made their counterfeiting head
quarters as we'll as the place from
which they could gather. without, ex-,
citing suspicion, such Information as
they needed to aid them in their work
Of stealing the body of Lincoln.
From the facts that the sum of ran
som money proposed in .nis plot and
the later sum were the same and that
the interests of all the men in both
plots were closely allied. there was
little doubt that one man had con-
ceived the scheme to release Boyd. and
there was also little doubt that the
one man was James Kinealy. He was
capable of connecting and trying to
carry out such a plot.
4 The dream of the easy acquisition Of
$2O0, 900 led the counterfeitersw who had
opened the saloon in Springfield into
the lavish expenditure Of money and
dissipation. In one OF these bouts
Thomas Sharp confided TO a woman
Of the town Of Springfield that he ex-
pected soon to become one Of the bene-
flciaries of the 100000 ransom fund
and intimated To her the plan by
which the money was to be secured.
This woman informed Chief Wilkinson
Of the drunken boasts OF her admirer.
Wilkinson Immediately took steps to
place additional guards over the Lin
coin tomb and took such other pre-
cautions as indicated TO the conspir-
ators that their plan could not he car
ried out 1t was In this first plot that
the lcaden caskct containing the body
Of Lincoln was to be sunk in the San
CANON river till it's hiding place
should be revealed by Ben Boyd.
After coming into possession of the
information concerning the second
plot sent Swegles back to Hughes to
keep In touch with the movements of
the conspilators as closely as possible.
He succeeded 80 we'll in THIS that no
was chosen to be one of the men to
engage actively in the work. and the
details of the plan were intrmsted to
him without reservation. He was to
furnish the light spring wagon in
which the casket was to Ee conveyed
from Springfield. The plan to sihk the
caskct in the Sangamon river. pro-
posed in the first plot. had been aban-
doned. and instead the body was to
he hauled swiftly from Springfield by
relays Of horses into the sand dunes
oi northern Indiana and buried. The
cOnspirators calculated that the shift
ing of these dunes due to tho action
Of the wind would soon oblitcrate all
trace of wagon tracks and signs OF
burial and maze hiding place abs0-
lutely past the power Of any man to
find.
The ghouls were to keep track of the
place Of burial by taking measure
ments from some natural Aohieet, SUCH
as n tree. transmitting the key TO tho
burial spot to Ben Boyd In Joliet.
The negotiations for the return of the
body, in exchange for his own release
and the payment Of $2OD.OOO ransom,
were to be conducted by Boyd on be-
half of the counterfciters. In order 10
render the opening OF these nogotia-
lions the easier, tho conspiratora cali
culated, plan would have to be do.
viscd by which the federal authorities
could be easily convinced thnt Boyd
could actually furnish the Information
concerning the location of the body
in short. they foresaw that Boyd
would have to be in position to prove
to tho authorities that he had accurate
knowledge Of it's whereabouts.
\ In order to overcome this obstacle
IL was decided that a copy o. an Eng
lish or some other foreign newspaper
should be secured. foreign paper be-
ing decided upon SO that Boyd could
convince the government representa-
tives that the copy Of the paper of
which he had part was not one that
could have been obtained in any other
way than the one claimed by him.
This newspaper was to he torn into
two pieces, in an irregular fashion.
One piece was to be left in the Lin
coin. tomb, where 1t was certain to be-
found when the discovery Of the loss
of the body was made, and the other
piece was to be sent to Boyd in prison.
After the discovery of the work of The
ghouls Boyd was to let it be known
that he could solve the mystery and.
to prove nc told the truth. could pro-
duce the missing part Of the foreign
paper which. Of course, would demon
strate to the authorities that the tomb