Omaha daily bee., 1908-12-24
CONTRIBUTING SET FOUND
outht for Making Spurious Money I'm
earthed In old House In
Dixon County.

A crude set OF moios for making counter
felt silver dollars has Just been turned over
to the United States authorities. They were
found In the dismantling Of an old house
in Waterbury, Dixon county. The molds
look as II they had been extensively used In
their day. The dies are set In plaster Of
paris and are attached to crudely hinged
blocks OF cottonwood scantllnE about eiEh-
teen inches long.
IT discovery Of the outfit was made by
carpenters who were dismantling the old
house for its recent purchaser. a resident
OF Hooper, and was turned over by the lat
ter to tho federal authorities, or rather to
United States Marshal Warner Saturday,
who turned 1t over to Secret Service Of
ficer H. B.. Mills for further Investigation.
and to trace the outfit back to its maker,
II possible.
The dies show that the dollars from which
the Impressions were made were OF the
early sos. One end of the die frame is
badly burned and the hinge connecting the
frame is an old iron strap hinge. From the
accumulated dirt and CRIME on the outfit
It has evidently not been used for many
years.
The house from which the plant was re-
covered has also been vacant for many
years. No one in that vicinity seems to
have any recollection OF the old house being
occupied.
The counterfeiting plant is thought to
have been the property Of a notorious coun-
terfeiter and all around bad man by the
name OF Milt Biggs, who lived in that
country in the late '7Os and who in con-
nectlon with his oounterfeiting traded with
the Indians of the Winnebago and Santee
reservations as we'll as engaged in horse
stealing, and cattle stealing, running the
stock over into Iowa and disposing OF II.
He accumulated considerable money
through his various enterprises and was
finally arrested under an Indictment for
counterfeiting. While he was being taken
from Fort Dodge to Sioux City handcuffed
he jumped out the car window while the
train was going at the rate of thirty miles
an hour and succeeded in making good his
escape. Biggs completely disappeared from
that part of the country, but was after
wards heard from Indirectly in the Indian
Territory, where he became a member OF
the Dalton gang, the noted bandits of that
section and California.
It is not known for a certainty that Biggs
ever occupied the Waterbury house. but he
was seen about there frequently in the
early days. He was the leader of a tough
gang that raided up and down the Mis-
soun river and northeastern Nebraska for
many years. 1t was believed for a long
time that Biggs made his counterfeit money
in that section, as much OF the vac money
traced to him was of a uniform character.
He is supposed to have disposed OF most
of 1t to the Indians, preferring to take
no chances with white people. While an
all-sround bad man, Biggs confined his
lawlessness chiefly to counterfeiting and
theft and swtndiing Indians. He was
never charged with any killing. though he
was one Of the most expert men with a
gun ever known in hat country.
Biggs is thought to be the member Of the
Dalton gang that was killed in the Coffey-
Vile (Kan.) bank raid in the later sos. as
nothing has ever been heard from him
since that raid.