TPUSHED Hffl TlfflLY
Kev. Andrew Jackson Thomas had
delivered a strong sermon at the
Morgan Street Methodist Church in St.
Louis, and at . its close extended an
earnest invitation for sinners to come
to the "mourners' bench," seek di-
vine forgiveness and torsaKe tne
rors cf their past lives. In the good o-
fnshioned Methodist wav Rev. Mr
Thomas left the pulpit at the close of
the sermon and in a fine baritone
voice, took the lead in the singing
song of invitation to the unrepentant.
The lines of the hymn as he sang
them were frequently punctuated with
short impassioned appeals to those
who were not known as church mem
bers. Then, to render his appeals more
direct and personal, the minister start
ed down the aisle, shaking hands with
fife "unprofessed," speaking an ear
nest word to this one and that one as
he went.
Rev. Mr. Thomas was the type of
inister familiarly known as the re-
minis
vivalist. He was about 45 years old,
almost six feet tall, of robust physique.
His hair and beard were brown, and
his eye open and fearless. He was
a vigorous and magnetic, if not pol
ished speaker, a fine singer, a good
"mixer" among all classes and appar
ently imbued with a sincere desire to
bring sinners to repentance. He had
not been in St. Louis long at the i
time of which I am writing, twenty
six years ago, during his residence
there, by his devotion to his ministe
rial labors, had endeared himself to
the little flock of Christian men and
women worshiping in the church at
Morgan and Twenty-fourth streets;
While he was passing among the sin
ners ip his congregation the night on
which I introduce Rev. Mr. Thomas
to my readers he stopped at a pew
well toward the rear of the church.
The visitor was a plainly dressed man
of middle age, evidently a working
man. The minister spoke a few words
to him, still grasping his hand, and
there was some response by the visi
tor. The singing was in progress and
the conversation held in undertones
so that the words passed between the
two were not distinguishable by those
near. The incident was not different,
to all appearances, from a score of
others in the church that night when
the minister importuned the wayward
to repent.
The church services ended, Rev. Mr.
Thomas left the building with several
members cf the congregation, chat
ting of religious matters, until their
homeward paths diverged.
No attention had been paid the visi
tor at the church after the minister
apparently had failed in including him
to come to the "mourners bench," but
he had left before the services closed
and had taken a rapid westerly course.
As soon as the pastor separated from
the memoers of his flock he walked
well out of their sight and hearing
in a leisurely way and then suddenly
adopted a quick, business-like gait.
Walking rapidly west to Grand avenue
he turned north. His home was in Fin
ney avenue, west of Grand avenue,
and near the intersection of these
thoroughfares the "Rock" church an
imposing Catholic edifice, loomed
blackly in the,, night, casting deep
shadows over the sidewalk on the east
side of Grand avenue. As he approach
ed this point Rev. Mr. Thomas slack
ened his pace and became alert, peer
ing ahead into the shadows as though
looking for some one. He was not dis
appointed. From the opposite directions
tkning his pace so that he would meet
the minister in the deepest shadows
of the church, emerged the man who
had occupied the rear pew at the even
ing church service. There were no
other pedestrians in sight.
"Hello, Harry," said the minister in
a low tone, halting.
"Hello, Andy," responded the other,
swinging about and falling into the.
preacher's stride. '
Glancing furtively around him, Rev.
Mr. Thomas thrust his hand under the!
S3S
TOWARD THE CAR71111&:
skirt of his ministerial coat and. draw,
ins a small, heavv package, passed it
auicklv to . his companion. "Harry"
pocketed it as quickly as it had been
passed to him. ; ' ,
"When'll I see you again? asked the
er-Lrecpiver Gf the nackaee.
i can't say now; be at the church
in a few nights," replied the minister.
All this had transpired in less time
than it took to cross Grand avenue.
On the other side there was a low-
spoken good-night, the minister turned
into Finney avenue and his companion
continued in the main thoroughfar
An hour later he was in his small
room in North Sixth street. The minis
ter went direct to his home and let
himself in with, a latch key.
No band of dealers in "coney' or
counterfeit money ever gave the Uni
ted States secret service 'more trouble
than did the "Biebush gang" that ope
rated in v.uSf rom St. Louis for more
more
than twenty-five years.
In fact, long
before there was such a government
institution as the secret service divis
ion of the Treasury Department the
name of Biebush was a proud one in
criminal circles. It had been carried
to distinction in the annals of crime
by Frederick Biebush, who was born
in Prussia in 1823 and emigrated to
tnis country when he was 21 years
old. Prior to his arrival in America
nothing is known of him, but his his
tory since is a romance of crime. His
whole life was devoted to crime as a
chosen profession, and his principal
pursuit had been the exacting one of
a wholesale dealer in counterfeit
money. In this business he had gained
the soubriquet of the "great south
west .koniacker."'
The readers of this narrative who
read my recent account of the events
leading up to the attempt to steal the
body of Abraham Lincoln will recall
that I then made clear the different
hands through which counterfeit
money passes before it reaches the
public. The engraver, printer, dealer,
shover and boodle carrier each has
his distinct function to perform' in
the process of robbing the people. The
dealer is the circulator, and if he
has suitable plates or dies, can flood
the country with counterfeit money
long after every engraver or diecutter
in the business is behind prison bars.
To the business of dealing in "co
ney" Biebush had devoted, his time
and genius, yet he found leisure to
act as a receiver of stolen gods, and
was the patron and financial backer
of thieves and burglars. i:j.e furnished
the engravers of counterfeit plates
with capital, helped produce the plates,
bought plates, bought presses, ink and
paper, and then found trustworthy
men to act as his agents in the cir
culation of the spurious currency. For
thirty years he had followed his choe
sen calling with unequaled success,
his bold and profitable operations ex
tending from Illinois to Texas.
Within a year of his arrival in the
United States Fred Biebush began
his criminal career. He was then a
broad-shouldered man of fine physi
cal appearance. The year 1850 found
him keeping a saloon called the War
Eagle, after a famous steamboat of
antebellum days, in Third street, St.
Louis. His place was frequented by
river men of. the better class, for- he
was a jovial chap and a good business
man as well. I am not familiar with
the way in which suspicion first at
tached to him, but one day the St.
Louis police raided his saloon, and,
buried in the walls they found an im
mense lot of stolen silverware, plate
and jewelry. . There is said to have
been found a good-sized sack of watch
es. He was arrested, but escaped pun
ishment.' At this lime his permanent
headquarters were established in St.
Louis, but his asents worked through
out the entire Mississippi Valley. Per
sonally be dealt at wholesale only, ne
gotiating with extreme - caution - and
keenness of discernment for the' sale
of very large quantities of his wares.
THE CHARLOTTE NEWS, FEBRUARY 24, 1906.
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In Missouri at that time therewas
a state law. which provided that the
testimony of no man who had served
a penitentiary term was admissible
in the courts of the state. Fred Bie
bush was familiar with this provision
and followed one rule as immutable
in his business as the laws of Medes
and Persians never to deal directly
with any man who could not prove
he had been a convict. And he went
even further toward the extreme of
cauticn, for the sale of counterfeit
money with an ex-convict and would
receive from such a one the honest
money in payment for the bogus cur
rency, he would invariably deliver the
T'coney' through the hands of a third
party. So far as I know there is no
man who can say he ever received
"coney" from Fred Biebush except his
time-tested personal agents. His rule
against doing business with any" ex
cept ex-convicts was the thing that
rendered it practically impossible to
convict him. Besides observing the
precaution mentioned he usually suc
ceeded in bringing his subordinates
under his power so that his safety
was theirs. For twenty five years he
pursued his criminal career unpunish
ed. . .
" Before the present system of nation
al banks was established Biebush
flourished wonderfully in his opera
tions in the counterfeits of the bills
of the old state banks. He did no manu
facturing in those days, but from his
St. Louis headquarters he jobbed the
"coney" in enormous quantities all
over the country through, such distin
guished dealers as Nelson Driggs,
Louis Sleight and others, the amount
of representative dollars running into
the hundreds of thousands. In this way
he accumulated, a large fortune. Then
be went into the manufacturing busi
ness himself. ... .
Not being an engraver nor a print
er, he had to hire these artisans,' and
soon formed a partnership with John
Peter McCartney, for whom he had
formerly been an agent. McCartney
was an enrjaver cf high, rank and the
new criminal team was a strong one.
McCartney did the engraving and Bie
bush superintended the printing and
circulating. Later he acquired plates
engraved by such high-class cutters as
Benjamin Boyd and William Shelley.
His fortune grew by tremendous leaps.
He was arrested fifty times in all
but the early arrests never result
ed in conviction tor two reasons his
caution with whom he dealt and his
wealth. , ' .
Many, times he was arrested un
doubtedly so that the officers making
the arrest could "bleed"him. Never
was a malefactor more adroit in the
use of money with public officers, poli
ce and court officers than, Fred Bie
bush... One., of .his favorite methods' of
escamrie' conviction 'was to ''railroad'''
the state's witnesses ' out of the way
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by use, of money, or his secret- power
over. them. After one arrest there, was
found in his possession letters from
dirferent members'" erf 'the secret..' serrT
vice offering to stand by. him and help
him out, of trouble, cf Course for a con
sideration. I am glad to say that, such
operatives' in the service rapidly grew
fewer. . '
His wealth and power were also in
dicated by the 'finding in his posses-;
sion at another time of notes for an.
iiggregate amount of ?60,000, signed byj
prominent citizens of St. Louis, He
could command most powerful poli
ticians and state officers. '
At the end of the civil war Colonel
H. C. Whitley was appointed incharge
of the newly-organized secret service
and determined to bring such crimi
nals as Fred Biebusch, "Pete" McCart-
ney, John Hart, "Bill" Burney, Thom
as Hale and other notorius counter -
f eiters to iustie'e. Operative john Eag-!
an was put in charge of the St. Louis ,
district, and after much work, arrest
ed Biebush for selling counterreit mon
ey. Eagan pushed the case with a (
vigor unknown to Biebush,forced the
prisoner to early trial, and succeeded
in having him sentenced to ten years
in the penftentiary. The wily old Ger
man stayed behind the bars exactly
one-half that many months, when he
returned to St. Louis and resumed op
erations. Under the direction of Colonel Whit
ley a "stool pigeon" named McCabe
was sent to Biebush and succeeded in
paying him marked money for "coney".
Biebusch was arrested again in 1869,
i released on bail and brought to trial.
He. had. as usual, "fixed" the govern
,'ment's witnesses and thought he was
again to escape. In the meantime,
however, William Shelley had. been
caught in the act of engraving a plate.
The - secret service learned that he
had recently come from St. Louis,
where he had made some plates for
biebush. Shelley was . induced to re
turn to St. Louis and tell his story in
court. When Biebush appeared in
court he was suddenly brought i face
to face with with Shelley, ana nis bra
vado failed him for the first time. He
escaped from the courtroom, forfeiting
$20,000 bail and disappeared.
Secret service, operatives were p'ut
on his trail. A close watch was kept
on the movements of Mrs. Biebush,
who, in a day or so was traced to Caba
ret Island, opposite the town of Venice-.
invthe Mississippi River. There
she met her 'rrusband in a corn field
Biebusch "retiring to a, hut in which'
he had taken shelter. The hut, was
surrounded and several shots fired to
frighten the fugitive out. The shots
were , returned . by the counterfeiter.
Then the hut was fired. ? Biebush
rushed out and made a mad 4ash for
liberty. but ' was- caught at a high
fenee, and after being manacled,
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taken , back; to, St. Louis. Once more
he was : tried,, and in December,' 1870,
he was sentenced to fifteen years in
the 'Missouri"oeiiitentiary. - - .
He served fiye years and again was
! pardoned, returning to St. Louis to re-!
siime not only his old calling, but to
set up as a dealer in high-class bur-
glars' tools. John Kagan had retired
from the secret service to private lfej
and I was transferred' to the St. Louis j
district, from. -Chicago, to manage . tnei
pursuit of Biebusch,
j
Herc, then, was not a mysterious
crime, the perpetrator -of which was
unknown, as I suppose should be the
case inall well r ordered L detective
stories,' but the task of fastening guilt
on a man who had had a criminal re
putation for more than a third of a
century," been arrested forty-nine
times and. profitins: by the lesson
rcf the past, was foiiowing his vocation
with greater caution than he had
exercised before
When I took up - the effort to put
'old Fred" Biebush where he could
make the government no more trouble
he was busy circulating brass,: silver
plated coins in, denominations of 25
and 50 cent pieces and dollars. These
coins could not be classed as clever
counterfeits,, presenting an almost per
fect appearance, but being noticeaoly
light in weight. He was also circula
ting the spurious : S20 . United States
treasury note engraved1 by "Pete" Mc
Cartney and the bills known at the
Richmond tens. The former was a
perfect piece of work.
The Ricnmond. bills were made from
a "skeleton" plate in which the name
of the bank -was left blank. Other
plates were then used in - connection
with it it on which nothing was en-
graved but the . names of the . Rich:l
mond, Muncie and Lafayette, Ind
banks. .An .issue of bills was struck
from the principal plate. Part of this
issue would be run through the press
on one of the other plates, thus filling
in the name of the bank, desired.: And
here I may say that, the engraver of
the Richmond plate was never found,
so far as 1 know, nor his identity as
certained . 'with ' certainty. I'knew per
fectly well that Biebush was" getting
the treasury notes from McCartney,
but this precious pair were so cunning
in the transaction of their affairs with
one another that we were never able
to connect' ' them i with legal evidence
in this case. ' . - .'" '
As soon as I had taken a general
view of the task I had before me and
had secured all the general informa
tion available concerning Biebush 1
sent for a man named Thomas Gal
lager, with whom I had had some deal
ings in the pursuit of criminals, and
instructed bini-ttc. try to buy counter
feit moneys from Biebush. Gallager
was from Seymour, Ind., 'and had done
&ome good work in 'the capacity ofexisted, and Biebush- was-- cunning
By
p Captain
At. A 5
AMA
in
a; stool pigeon or "roper," as we called
them in the secret service. Reinhardt
Bosse, a countryman of Biebush, ran
j a saloon known as the Sheridan Ex-
change, at '2724 Franklin avenue, and
his place was the headquarters for the
Biebush clique. Biebusb lived with his
wife and - children, at" 2733 Stoddart
street, a. short distance away,
Gallegher began woiik by frequent-
,n the Bosse saloone drinking, play
ing cards and gradually ingratiating
himself nto the confidence of the
salocn-keeper and Biebnsh, who spent
much time in the place. After consider
able time was expended by him in
this process Gallaghei thought the
time propitious for making a propo
sition to Biebush to purchase "coney."
Claiming to be an ex-convict, he at
tempted' to negotiate. Biebush prompt
ly, began to examine Gallagher as to
his criminal history, and. his wide and
accurate knowledge of criminals made
it possible for him to detect a spuri
ous convict as a bank teller could de
tect a spurious coin or bill.
Gallagher could not pass the rigid '
examination to which" Biebush subject
ed him, and the old German declined
to sell him any "coney," making-'ex-cuse
that , he had none at that time.
He evidently believed, however that
Galagher was a crook who wanted to
handle counterfeit money, for he did
not appear- suspicious of him except
when it came , to the point of giving
himself . into , his power by personally
.negotiating a sale of "coney." This
was failure number one. ' . "' ' ,
Some time before this W. W. Ken
noch, a; shrewd . Scotchman, had been
relieved of the command of the New
York division cf the. secret service on
account of his over-indulgence in liau-
or. He was an henest, concientious
and able operative, and had but the.
one fault, a fatal ; one,; however, in a
man who is carrying secrets' of great .
importance to the .government,. After '
being relieved of tis eastern command
Kennoch did a good deal cf work for
the , secret service as a "roper," He
was familiar with criminals and. cri
mes, a plausible talker, and could
worm his way into the good graces of .
counterfeiters with much, skill.
I enlisted his services and assigned
him to the same task I had given Gal
lagher. He worked ' slowly, making
Bpsse's saloon his rendezvous. When '
he thought his relations with, Biebush
were sufficiently close he broached
the subject of buying "coney." As in
the case of Gallagher," the wily Prus
sian did not take offense nor deny that
he ever handled such goods, but he
began to put Kennoch through a cour
se of, questioning concerning his" past.
Kennoch claimed he had served in a
New York penitentiary, but he could
not furnish such-proof s as demanded,
for the reason "that no such proofs
Patrick D. Tyrrell
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enough to know genuine proofs from
false ones. Here was failure number
two.
I did not consider myself any
shrewder at such work than Ken-
j noch, but it is a universal trait for
one to believe he can do a thing bet
ter himself than anyone else can do
it for him. I determined to see v,hat I
could do toward leading the old fox
into our trapt I was not known to Bie
bush. I allowed my beard to grow into
a stubble and chose the make-up of
a river man. If I may be pardoned the
digression I will say that with a few
days', growth of beard and rough clo
thes I could look "tough" enough to
satisfy even the fastidious Biebush,
to whom the appearance of "tough
ness" was a strong recommendation.
Thus attired I made my debut at
Bosse's. There was a card game in
progress most of the time, and Tsat
in." Biebush and others whom I after
ward learned were members of his
band played in the game with me. 1
frequently sat opposite my quarry and
studdied him closely. Friendly rela
tions were establisued between us,
and I thought matters were progress
ing favorably until I hinted to "old
Fred" that I would like to handle
som) of his goods. Then- I found
I had made just as ' much pro
gress as Gallagher and Kennoch had
made and no more. Biebush said he
did not object to doing business
vith me, but be "bad no coney just
then." From the way he spoke I knew
I was wasting my time and that be
fore we landed him behind prison
bars we would have to practice deep
er and more circuitous methods in
"roping." Failure number three.
Before I. took charge of the St.
Louis district I had been informed by
a deputy warden in the Joilet peniten
tiary that a certain prisoner in that
institution had intimated to him that
ho had information which might be
cf value to the secret service. I be
thought myself of this and went to
see him. He proved to be John Bridg
es, alias "Hoosier Bill," under senten
ce for horse stealing. This worthy was
an Indiana product and something
over 40 years old. He was a congenial
criminal, stopping only at murder. His
favorite form of crime was "garroting"
that is, grabbing a pedestrian by the
throat from behind, thrusting his
knee into the small of the victim's back
and thus pinioning him while his assist
ant relieved the prey of valuables
"Hoosier Bill" was not over particu
lar, taking side excursions into the
field of burglary, horse stealing and
pretty acts of "knavery. The Chicago
police knew him as a West Side hold
up man of .dangerous character.
I listened to his story, with deep in
terest, as it bore directly on the case
in hand the landing of the big fish
we were playing for Fred Biebush.
"Hoosier Bill" knew Biebush intimate
ly. He had established this intimacy
by presenting proper penitentiary cre
dentials, of which he had plenty, be
fore he ran afoul of an Illinois sheriff
and bad been "settled" for driving off
the wrong horse, Bridges had opera
ted in St. Louis as a burglar and turn
ed over to Biebush such of his "swag
as was suitable to the latter's purpose,
especially, the solid silverware. On
one occasion he had arived at the Bie
bush residence at 4 o'clock in the mor
ning in a cab,bringing with him a
package of silverware. Tho paper
wrapper broke as he was about to
ring! the door bell, scattering the loot
Over the.poarch. The "cabby" help
ed him gather it up, after which Bie
bush appeared and took it into the
house. I found this "cabby" later and
usedhim as p. witness against Biebush.
The "swag" brought in by burglars
was . paid for in "coney," according w
Bridges, the thieves favoring this way
of dealing 'because they received large
compensation tin1 representative ot
counterfeit dollars than they would m
genuine money. The silver was ineU-
ed'by Biebush into bars, to be uscu
in the manufacture of silver money.
But this was not the most valuable
information learned from hoosri
Bill." He let me into the secret oi
the identity of the more active and mi
"Hankey" Thielen and John Sullivan,
he said, were two of "Old Fred's
trusted lieutenants, serving as do'j.
carriers and go-betweens in thedeln
ery of "coney", for their chief to the
persons with whom he elected to ao
l , i ....... must ; n,1AiHs:Tt iti hlJ
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