6 STORIES OF THE SECRET SERVICE BY Capt. Patrick D. Tyrrell r STORY No. 1 THE LINCOLN TOMB ROBBERS Being an Account of the Attempted Desecration of the Grave of the Martyr President at Springfield in 1876, and the Capture and Conviction of a Gang of Counterfeiters That Preceded it. By CAPTAIN PATRICK D. TYRRELL — II J [Copyright, 1905, b> Marion G, Scheitlln.] PART ll.—Continued. Besides this bond of intermarriage there was a strong property tie con necting the counterfeiting principals. Nelson Driggs, whose brother kept a hotel in Jersey City which was a ren dezvous for "coney men," had |40,000 in cash, 28,000 acres of land in Texas and other property. Ben Boyd had means in plenty, as did McCartney 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 they were respected members of society while making and shoving the "queer." Many of them were men of education. Boyd had a magnificent library and was a 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. 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 "Hub" sa loon at 294 West Madison street, Chi cago, with Terrence Mullen as a part ner. Both Kinealy and Mullen had for years held cloue communion with tne counterfeiters of the central west, and their saloon, while orderly enough, was the general Chicago rendezvous of dozens of the most desperate and ac 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, 111., kept by Robert Splane, a headquarters tor 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, Sr. nnd Jr., contractors; Joseph de Haven, Jijrmer; Thomas J. Sharp, editor of the 'italesruan, published in Lincoln; Na than L. Curtis, Sharp's outside man; Robert Splane, saloon keeper, and V'ine G. V\ illiams, a bartender. All of these men were intimately associated with Kinealy and Mullen in Chicago and Biebusch in St. Louis, as well as with Nelson Driggs, Ben Boyd, Pete McCartney and many other somewhat less prominent. Another member of the band was John Hughes, an all around criminal and boodle carrier for Charles Stadtfeldt while the latter was shoving 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 dev otees of the calling who were oper ating in Illinois. Nearly all the bogus currency shoved in the middle west had been printed from Boyd's plates a:id haadh I by Driggs. During the winter of 1875-76, when it became ap parent that tho evidence against these two arch-conspirator* was sufficient to bring about their incarceration, there began a series of conferences of the "koniackers" in Chicago, St. ix>uis and Lincoln, at which was discussed the prospective serious effect on the coun terfeiting business of the locking up of its b-st plate cutter. The different bands which had been fed from ihe Boyd plates became more desperate as the cutting off of their source of sup* ply became more certain, and when, finally Boyd |W 1 I" hind thu traj stone walls of the Jollet penitentiary there was much walling ami Kaashlne of teeth among the precious lot of criminals that Infested the Mississippi valley. To add to tl ir woes, right months «ft*r the capture of H »d In Fulton, Irvtne White another ex;»rt «*iigrav»i of counterfeit plate*. had been arrest eil la N''W Jer ey, ut tpping this sec b - lai, s»urol auppb the deaieis of Chicago, St. Louis and Lincoln could, therefore, secure no "coney" money worth the handling, and the smaller dealers, from the Canadian line to the gult' of Mexico, were send ing in orders for had money that could not be filled. The only plate available j for use at the time was (he one of a $lO note of the Bank of Richmond, Ind This was what was known as a skeleton plate—that is, so made that the part bearing the name of the bank was mortised in, allowing the insertion of the name of another bank, the rest of the note being the same. Counter feits of the and Muncie, Ind., banks had been printed from this plate, but this counterfeit had become worthless on account of the worn con dition of the plate. The Richmond "10s" were so well known as to be practically impassable. Peter McCartney was at large, but was not inclined to divide the fruits of his labors with the Lincoln crowd. Charles F. Ulrich, another cutter, had been released from the Ohio peniten tiary, but his release was not general ly known and he was not disposed im mediately to resume operations. With a knowledge of these facts it can read ily be understood why the straits to which the counterfeiters were reduced j were desperate. The release of Boyd j was an absolute necessity, to be ac- j complished at any cost. For months the members of this most cunning and desperate band had j been whipping their brains for feasible j plans to effect the release of their pal. j None that passed muster in the crim- j inal council had been suggested. The | secret service, knowing that every en- j ergy of the criminals would be strained to free Boyd, but having no j knowledge of the plans suggested, worked diligently to enmesh the j known members at large on counter- \ felting charges and in so doing made I a special effort to trap John Hughes, j who for a dozen years had success-! fully passed and dealt in counterfeitj money, besides taking side excursions into other paths of crime. Sufficient evidence against Hughes had been j gathered to secure an indictment by the federal grand jury in 1874, but for a year and a half he had el'ided the shrewdest men in the secret service. At that time I often secured in formation from a man named Lewis C Swegles. He was what we then termed a "roper" or stool pigeon. Swegles was the son of the first audit-! or of the state of Michigan-—tho black sheep in a fine family—but a man who had been of considerable value to the j A .i' % ;.- r: y 'V J^| •"i«r —, T~t*a ® fei fciL/Ay/ . THE LINCOLN TOMB AT SPRING- | KIKLD. secret service on account of his in timacy with criminals. I had been working to locate Hughes, but had been unsuccessful until Au- I gust, 1876, when Swegles informed me of his whereabouts. Starting with the information given by Swegles, I soon ' found and arrested Hughes in tho "Hub" saloon at 2'Jl West Madison street, previously mentioned as having been kept by Jim Kinealy and Terry j Mullen. Hughes was arraigned and j deposited $2,000 to secure his appear- j anee for trial the following January. In the meantime Swegles, whose j identity and connection with the secret i service was a most carefully guarded j secret, was working to ingratiate him-1 self into the confidence of the counter- | feiting band that made its headquar- j tors at tho "Hub" while in Chicago, i He confided to Hughes that he had j served time in a western prison for; horse stealing, but that he was anxious to forsake the crudities of horse steal- ! ing and other common lines of crime for the refinements of dealing in coun- j terfeit money. Swegles, by clever dis-; sembling. was successful in convincing j Hughes that ho was promising mate rial for an addition to the ranks of; the "coney men." 1 was fully aware that Swegles was working to win the confidence of the counterfeiters that met at tue "Hub," j but it was about two months before I i had any other communication from my j "roper" that was of importance. He then confided to me that the band hau j tinder way a sensational plot—not j along counterfeiting lines but to steal the body of Abraham Lincoln and hold ' li for a large ransom. Accuctomed as I was to the daring operations of these men, the audacity of this plot startled 1 me. Swegles mentioned $200,0 n) as I thp amount the conspirators had fixed j as the price of the rctur.i of the body.' For a time I 1 >und it <ltni< > i to con \iuco myself lhat thine men. cunning and daredevil a. they had proved themselves to bo in oilier crimes, would ai iiully attempt t<> carry out a plot ho bold and which struck o deep ly ut tho roots of uuh of the country's I deep* it s«*uiimen; tin love for Lin ■ oln and its reveren e for all of him (hat was tartnlv Hut the situation permitted the In lulgence nf imi t.i iiiintent The Info: | tuition given me by }«w"kl»s had In j i 1 no t nam n,«n t > i.eruilse tin hi* wa< piß .tiiK bin fat* * In this ca» • r that he had allowed him #lf to I \ mll#d by lliigbea and Milieu. li« I CAMERON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY, JANUARY 18, 1906. sWlni, mv Informant fjTp.n as ono of tho motives lor the proposed crime the desire tor the release of lJesi Boyd, which x knew t.o he a consderation cf the utmost importance to tho men whose operations had been so abrupt ly curtailed by the plate cutter's in carceration. The Moment was one for action, even at the risk of finding later that the secret service had been led into unnecessary activity by misinforma tion. My informant had learned that certain St. Louis men, wnose names he did not know, were parties to tho plot. Previously a similar plot, em anating from the same sources, had been revealed to Chief of Police Wil kinson, of Springfield. In this plan James Kinealy had evidently been the promoter, and had decided to use the Lincoln counterfeiting contingent as his agents. Thomas J. Sharp, editor of the Statesman; Nathin L. Curtis, his assistant, and Vive G. Williams, a bartender of Lincoln, as the first step, opened a saloon in Springfield, which they made their counterfeiting head quarters as well 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 foots that the sum of ran som money pvoposed in mis plot and the later sum were the same and that the interests of all the men in bota 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 tho one man was James Kinealy. lie was capable of concocting and trying to carry out such a plot. The dream of the easy acquisition of $200,000 led the counterfeiters who had opened the saloon in Springfield into die lavish expenditure of money and dissipation. In one of these bout* Thomas Sharp confided to a woman of the town of Springfield that he ex pected soon to become one of the bene ficiaries of the $200,0U0 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 auditional guards over the Lin coln tomb and took such other pre cautions as indicated to the conspir ators that their plan could not be ried out. It was in this first, plot that the leaden casket containing the body of Lincoln was to be sunk in the San-- gam on river till its hiding placo should hp revealed by Ben Boyd. After coming into possession of tho information concerning tho second plot I seat Swegles back to Hughes to keep in touch with the movements of 1 he conspirators as closely as possible. He succeeded ko well in tu.s that ho was chosen to be ope of tho men to engage actively in the work, and the details of the plan were intrusted to him without reservation. He was to furnish the light spring wagon in j which the casket was to be conveyed from Springfield. The plan to sink tho casket in the Sangamon river, pro-' posed in the first plot, had been aban doned, and instead the body was tc be hauled swiftly from Springfield by relays of horses into the sand dun s of northern Indiana and burled. The conspirators calculated that the shift ing of these dunes due to t'je action .of the wind would soon obliterate all trace of wagon tracks and signs of j burial and mai.e a hiding place &bso» ! lutely past the power of any man to find. 1 The ghouls were to keep track of the place of burial by taking measure ments from some natural object, such as a tree, transmitting the key to the burial spot to Ben Boyd in Joliet. The negotiations for the return of tho body, in exchange for his own release and the payment of $200,000 ransom, were to be conducted by Boyd on be» half of the counterfeiters. In order 10 render the opening of these negotia tions the easier, the conspirators cal culated, a plan would have to be de vised by which the federal authorities could be easily convinced that Boyd could actually furnish the information concerning the location of the body in sfiort, they foresav that 80/1 would have to be in position to provs to the authorities that he had accurate knowledge of its whereabouts. In order to overcome this obstacle it was decided that a copy Ot an Eng lish or some other foreign newspaper should be secured, a foreign paper ing decided upon so that Boyd coulfc convince the government representa tives that the copy of the paper ot which nc had a part was not one th»t could have been obtained in any oilier way than the one claimed by him. This newspaper was to be torn intc two pieces, in an irregular fashion. One piece was to be left in the Lin coln tomb, where it was certain to b« found when the discoveiy of the lost of the body was made, and the othef piece was to be sent to Boyd in prison. After the discovery of the work of tho ghouls Boyd was to let it be know 4 that he could solve tho mystery and, to prove tie told the truth, could pro duce the misslnt? purt of the foreign paper which of course, would dernou stra'e to the authorities that the tumlt robbers had . >'iit lioyd the paper ai d with it the Key to th« lotatiou oi tho body. |T . l!< •"&! tinned.l Where Meet. In j.ii'Nunum r the twill ht of evente* ii mci . the twlUnht of .ii'irn 1 c in tl » extreme roiilteru parts of.the l utifl States, the IU-ht of th sun, while that orb Ut*r I- >w tin hftfUou, being • i in (tui 1 piiiilcl* In i hi <p. "t Live Hat-Piu. A lady wh'i >.«u eyeHu* #«ir IP xMil, Kn •Ut t It t ">ll (hit »• trtkc her In ad and 1 mm! ihM a t< irrow In Its iti< *il huMnli Wft - lis* IttailM t H 0 ll.{ II . 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FaSntsmss, Extreme Lassitude, "don't-care" and " want-to-be-left-alone" feeling, excit ability, irritability, nervousness, sleep lessness, flatulency, melancholy or the ''blues," and backache. These are sure indications of Female Weakness, some derangement of the organs. For Kidney Complaints and Backache of either sex the Vegeta ble Compound is unequalled. Yoit can write Mrs. Pinkham about yourself in strictest coulidence. I.YUiA E. FINKIUM MED. CO., I.jnn, Slang. Glad to Drop the Subject. Stock Broker (to future son-in-law)— I've been waking inquiries about you. Gavboy—And 1 about you. "Oh, have you? Then we'll talk about ■oniethi'iß else."—New Worker. Breast for Medals. "How dreadfully stout the general ii getting." "Vcs: isn't it fortunate? Other wise he wouldn't bo able to wear all hit nieduls." —The Tattler. 'The successful people nowadays are tlifl reformers," remarked the patriotic citizen. "Yes," answered Senator Sorghuin, "1 be lieve that reform is actually petting around to a basis where it can be made to pay."— Washington Star. O- Cheerfulness is a virtue hard to prac tice when you persist in indul] en< 0 in late suppers ana manufactured "happi ness.'—Chicago Tribune. A Guaranteed Cure for Piles. Itebinpr, Blind, Bleeding, Protruding Piles. Druggists nro authorized to refund money il PAZO OINTMENT fails to cure in tj to 14 days. 50< It is sometimes difficult to convince a young man tii it all the world loves a lover after he has met the dear girl's fa ther.— Chicago Daily News. «. An instantaneous cure for Piheumatism, Neuralgia, Toothache, Headache, Lame ness, backache, is Dr. Bayer's Penetrating Oil. 23e a bottle. Take no substitutes. Ever notice how much harder tho Tiooden pew of a church is than tlio wooden chair in an opera house? Mrs. Austin's famous Buckwheat makes the finest buckwheat cakes. Beady in a moment. A preferred creditor is best described at one who makes no l'u.-s about waiting until you get ready to settle. siiiiiSiE ~ = —l Positively cured by A C? these i-ittie Pills. Willi L§\o They alsorelievo Dl> n tress from Dyspepsia, In iTYLsU digest ton and Too Hearty ri j] I? 1 E[s Eating. A perfect rem y H * Cxi ra edy for Dizziness, Kausea, I fPSllj'3. I Drowsiness, Dad Taste SVI ECT ,Q tho Mouth, Coated Touftue. Daln la the Sluo, SBB iTORI'ID UVKR, Thuy repulato tho Bowc'a. purely Vegetable. SMALL PILL. SMALL DOSE, SMALL PRICE. Genuine Must Bear HjliTTiE Fac-Sitnilo Signature} REFUSE SUBSTITUTES. ItouMeiJ with ills to Utfil (ox, U.N .11 a dv„:he is nurv .l iu. ./ eac tcsilut. Thoroughly cleanse*, kills<l. u * germs, •tops Uifi'b4fgei, noals 11... -aaution :< 1 Ivml »>i OMJ, caresl.'i- •(«» a ,d u;4c 4t. nh. I', i.ii |»<w .if |..i in lu U 11. > in | qrt » ami is t.r i i ro ch ic"-i'n?, 1. > i >.iu. ...J ana : ileal lh.ui U-J'iul »i.i:. M '.wlloi all iwiu r ami woMi va bprcui. uses I r Kill at Uiu u, 60« uuai. Ti'-I Ilui ur.J Him k ul liutrufllniH I'rM. TK- n, t*AATUM CiiMHNf KvJTUM, M»56. New Prize Pozzlo '&?*<?.» Not r? M . Mil, 1.. , 1.114,1.1 I'l O 41 Ufc HI •<.«»».» 111 l> » #•••■ uul «»•»., rUiU, WHOOPING COUGH »» . \ %11 ♦ - i » « II 11 •i »<•. -*ll Uiuf oa.» Mhi,, CLfeVt'.lAfcU, g. j Balcom & Lloyd. | | ============ I 1 fl H 1 8 1 In WE have the best stocked general store in the county | and if you are looking for re- jj| liable goods at reasonable Ji prices, we are ready to serve you with the best to be found. ={| Our reputation for trust i? worthy goods and fair dealing fl is too well known to sell any p but high grade goods. R 1 0j Our stock of Queensware and 0 Chinaware is selected with ft |g great care and we have some ffl of the most handsome dishes rg ever shown in this section, m both in imported and domestic fit . . J# pj makes. We invite you to visit jg| ta us and look our goods over. 1 i i i I i 4 I 1 1 i | =— ===== | TOO s EH SMSE ® m RTIK* wmmrwp WHO? iX!k aSA * tfc i«i jRi XXk £ % jO*. iTt £ * fSSk US £ \ 2* jOk £& n% iCi JZi its* J! \ || LOCK ELSEWHERE BU. RCN'T FORGET THESE PRICES AND FACTS AT I | L | 1 la We carry in stock 1 1,111 «. the largest line of Car- . „ ' JM Hi pets, Linoleums and SZ lf , •« Mattings of all kinds fjf ff3 ever brought to this jluJiniTlTpjM town. Also a big line m of samples. BLXUJJJJJI,Djjm A very large line oi tFOR THE fflr 15 Lace Curtains that can- I* r e X ra .he h pHcc any - CONfORTADU 10D61N6 tin ! - s* ? j Art Squares and of fine books in a choice library ** Rugs of all sizes and S"!ect the Ideal pattern of Globe- HI kind, from the cheap- Wernicke "Elastic" Bookcase. est to the best. Furnished with bevel French $ § 9 pi nto or leaded glass doors. A Dining Chairs, foh cale dv Rockers and GEO. J. LaSAR, \ .1 High Chairs. Sole Agent lor Cameron County. A large and elegant i-— —■ ?! line of Tufted and H Drop-head Couches. Beauties :nd at bargain prices. 12 ?30 Bedroom Suite, COC $lO S'debojiid, quar- CQfl solid oak at SZ«J tered tak $uU k 5 |2S Bt-droom Suits, CSI f!!2 Sidebtard, quar- COC Q solid oak at tercd oak ? .4 $25 Ued room Suits, COH $22 Sideboaid, quar- CtlC M solid oak at I tued 0ak,... J™ l« M A large line of Dressers from I CbifToniers of all kinda and H || up. all prices. kg The finest line of Sewing Machines on the matket, Kg |J the "DOMESTIC" ard M I KJJ Cii.* All chop- |J PJ heads and warranted. A fine line (»l Dishes, comnn t: grade and China, in J* ** sets and by the piece. P4 As I keep a full line «>1 everything that goes to I^l J> mike up a good Furniture stoic, it is u>eUss to iinini |(| erate them all. fc* I'leasc call and see for yourself that lam telling Kg you tlie truth, ami if you don't buv, there is no harm kg k 2 t'ojie, it i-. 110 trouble tosh vv oods. k . M II jj GEO. J .LaBAR. || uiviDnnTAinivo. vC ww««ww «r wmv wr wu> wv w w C<
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers