St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 45

SUNDAY MOUXINfi ST. LOUTS POST-DTSPATCI1 OCTOBER 2S, 1000 CAPTURED IN AN ARKANSAS CAVE. COUNTERFEITERS from All Intrusion, Bogus Money Workshop Where the Gang, Seemingly Molds and Dies and Manufactured They Thought Would Make Them Sl H)ry uVA; 1 1 -1 IK. Vt-s Kt-f r- if Nature Made Made EUREKA SmiNGS, Oc t. 24.

Special Correspondence of the Post-Dispatch. BY the arrest of Stephen Allen, William Henderson and Richard Pennott, United States Marshal Ilammack believes he has broken up the gang of counterfeiters which has for a long time flooded this section of the country with spurious silver coins. The gang made its workshop in Bennett's cave and so long as it confined Its operations to small silver coins escaped dAtsction. however, the men undertook to counterfeit gold coin and this brought about their apprehension. It has not been possible to trace the email coins, because by the time it was discovered that they were counterfeit most persons had forgotten where they secured them.

But with the gold coin it was different ami when a saloon keeper who had accepted' a $5 gold piece one evening discovered the next morning that it was a counterfeit he had little difficulty in remembering where he had obtained it. the the MsMMl'fe -JSfeL- 1 Kk I WHO 23UJLT IOCA5l I TV I I 7 -A IN Art anddance. Many of these have been broken off and carried away, either by tourists or local lapidaries who make and sell onyx jewelry. About two years ago Bennett moved to an adjoining county, leaving Allen in THE INTELLIGENCE OF OF GOLD COINS feiters left traces which led to their discovery. This new departure appears to have been the enterprise of William Henderson, who drifted in from somewhere about a year ago and established headquarters at the cave.

In July of this year he received from Gray a Cincinnati firm, a set of machinery for gold-plating. He then made the molds by taking an impression of a genuine gold coin. The imitation coin was made by pouring lead into the molds and then gilding the counterfeit with the plating machinery. In this way a coin was produced that could be passed quite easily under artificial light. Henderson was not at the cave when the raid was made, but from information obtained through Allen he was arrested at Bentonville, having several of the spurious gold coins in his possession.

He made no defense whatever, entering the plea of g.iilty. Bennett was arrestod at Rogers, this state. Few places more adapled to the purpose could be found in which to secretly carry on the manufacture of bogus coin than Bennett's cave. It is four miles north of Ktireka Springs. Its solitude and inaccessi and the house wouldn't anyways near hold the row.

There was grudges after that. Some of the boys sided up and talked about what they was goin' to do to the other fellers, and everybody went to the dances expecting to see something bust open. One night we all went up to Bob Franklin's. That was up on the Gasconade. Bob give us a line dance, and we give Hob the biggest racket he ever heard of.

You see, anybody who was firm and wouldn't permit no monkey business could keep things quiet, but Bob and some of them fellers was bad as the rest of the boys and didn't do nothing to stop a row when somebody started it. So one way and another there was some pretty damagin' mix-ups. I didn't figure in the scraps much until one night we had a dance at Bill Seagg's. Everybody in the hills was there, and I thought there would be something a little rougher than dancing before morning. I bad been to all the dances, but I hadn't started anything.

I wasn't running when things got hot, but I wasn't forcin' anybody. Well, that night at Bill's I got up front without intendln' to. We was ail there, and Bill hod a great big wood fire and made tilings cheerful. There was two orphan kids there, little boys, and tinmen got to teasin' them and shovin' them together and tr in' to make They was game little kids, too, and when they did fight It was like a couple of wildcats. I didn't appreciate the thing at ail, and 1 kicked on it.

That got some of the Ihvs set again me, and I saw trouble comli.g. Later in the night the boys got to raising such a racket that Bill wouldn't have il, and he said to me: 'Iolph. you're a nervy one. Make them fellers stop their racket or leave the house." I did as Bill said, and that made some of the boys so sore I looked out for myself. After that I always carried a pistol where It would warn anybody lookln' for trouble.

When I rode horseback I carried the pistol ut the horn of the saddle, and Secure the Rich. BY CHARLES J. ADAMS. MR. JOHN' J.

EQUINE of Rossvllle, S. has a cat named Susan that is more than a weather-vane. Susan is a prophet. She never falls, when the wind is about to shift, to inform her master of the fact. Her method is to go to the side of the storeroom corresponding to the direction toward which the wind is about to veer, rise on her hind feet and scratch the wall, counter, shelf or whatever her forefeet happen to touch.

For instance: The wind was one day blowing violently from the southeast. Mr. Sequine said that it was about to shift to the northwest. He was laughed at. "Book at Susan," was his reply.

She was scratching away for dear life In the IM IXIADILTQ PPil I MTV rtUU UN IVIAnlt-CD KJ I I DESCRIBED by one of the participants who is now CHARGED with killing a man seven years ago. JS -i'-'aN CL4t S7S- ASD In the enve have hMn ued by somebody-some time, but the law loes not know by whom. Henderson, with the bogus coin in his pockets, had no avenue of escape, ami is now in Jail, awuttlng the action of the grandjury. band and father had to leave horn on business. The wife was fearful.

The hushaiwl tried to quiet her by saying thHt he would leave I.lon to take care of her and th children. IJon evidently understood. Th master started. He was not more than a. mile and a half on his way when ho heard a hailing howl behind him.

He looked back and saw I.lon coming after him at a tremendous pace. But as soon as the dog suwr that he had the master's attention ha wheeled about and went back as rapidly as he had come. The waster followed. When he reached the cabin he found I.lon crouching on the outside and the wife and children huddled together Inside, paralysed with fear. I.lon led the way to a red oak.

In which was an Immense panther, which the man promptly tthot. ago I married Ltzxle Wilson. I hnd thought some of coming back to Missouri and stsnd-lng trial this winter, but an officer walked Into the field where I was working last week and decided It for me. I'm ready whenever everybody else Is ready. I ain't denying" that I killed Jim Cress, but I guess there will be plenty denying that Jim Cress was trying to kill me.

But I'm not worrying. When a man's In a tight place he can't fold his arms, ami I'd rather hare the thing settled up than have people looking for mo. This Is the first time they ever hioked for me without knowing Just where I could be found. Another Story. MAHANEY story of the Marle County killing Is riot the story thut comes to the I'ost-Dlspatch from Dixon, the nearest considerable town.

A correspondent at Dixon sends the follow Ing: Dixon. Oct. IS. In the arrest last week at deary, O. of Adolph Mahaney the authorities apprehended a fugitive whi had for nearly seven years eluded the mot careful and determined efforts to capture him.

Muhaney was finally run down by ex-Sherlff T. V. Imboden of Dixon. He Is un-d'-r Indictment In Maries County for murder in the first degree. Dn Nov.

23, 1S81. Mahaney shot and killed his friend. James Cress, at a country dance near Lane's) Prairie. The shouting Is ascrllwd to Jeal- iniHV fin I ne luiri ui inm RiHvrr. jidiinurr and Cress were young men and had always been on good terms.

Mahaney whs deeply enamored of a pretty country lass. Surah Iteed, the daughter of a prominent fartr-tr. Cress escorted the girl to the dance and It Is said, smarted under the belief that his friend had played him false and was trying to displace him In the girl's affections. While Cress was standing In the midst of a group of ladles Mahaney leaned over a fence a few feet away and fired the fatal shot. The bullet pierced the heart and Cres fell Into the arms of his sister and expired.

The lancers were panic-stricken and Mahaney mounted a horse and rode off. A large reward was offered for his capture. Several times the authorities bad Information of his whereabouts, but he alwaa succeeded In getting away before he could he arrested. On one occasion he waa located at Beatrice. Neb.

The sheriff was notified and found Mahaney In bed a hotel. The prisoner calmly got up. and pointing to a trunk, said: "There Is In there; give me 20 minutes to get away and It Is yours The officer appeared credulous and while he was examining the contents of the trunk Mahaney Jammed the lid down on him and held the sheriff prisoner until he had disarmed him, then made Ms esraie by Juiny in, from a avcond-stor wluduw. It Was Fair, Clean Shooting, He Says, and He Cannot Understand the Judicial System Which Condemns the Act Which Saved His Reputation. charge of the cave house, but return visits been frequent.

He insists that he knows nothing of the counterfeiting operations and no testimony could be secured against Allen except that he lived in the old house. The manv sets of old dies and molds found northwest corner of the storeroom. The change came and Mr. Sequine enjoyed the cigar, which he had risked on Susan's record for infallibility. R.

E. ShOl'GH of Defiance, has written me of a dog that apparently could understand, reason and act upon his conclusions. This Is Indicated, at least, in the manner In which he saved the Ufa of his mistress and her live children. A southerner, writes Dr. Slough, recently moved into a far western state, taking v.ilh him his wife and five children and a great bloodhound named Bion.

The family soon moved Into a log cabin In a clearing. In the heart of a thick forest, miles away from the nearest neighbors. The hus Left's cousin, and they made for me. I ran out of the house yelling at them to come out where we couldn't hurt women and children. I was waving my big 45 over my head, and the boys came right out after me.

They d'idn't pay no more attention to the pistol than If It had been a bean shooter, and 1 was In a bad tlx. I couldn't run and ever come back to that country, and 1 had to do something mighty quick. Two of them was right up to me, and one of them picked tip a rock. I thought it was Jim Moman. He had led oil the lights against me when I was running the dances at Scagg's.

the Wldder Went's and some other places, wanting to be the whole thing hlsself. I thought the fellow with the rock was Jim sure, and when the fool came right in on me I let him have It once. He stopped, and they all run back, him with 'em, and not saying a word. 1 saw right away that I had hit him hard, and I left. The shooting happened just before midnight and I covered the hills that night.

I ate breakfast with Old Man McKever, the sheriff's father, the next morning. It was 15 miles from Left's house. 1 first went to Arkansas, and It was three years after the shooting when 1 went back to Maries County. The man I shot had lived six days. I had hit him In the stomach.

Ami it was Jim Cress and not Moman at all. I don't want to mix the girl in It. 1 krow they say that 1 was Jealous of Cress and shot him because he was paying attention to my girl, but It Is not so. There was a fellow who was crowding me a little In my love affairs, but it wasn't Cress, and I didn't know 1 wat shooting Cress. The fact Is 1 was In such a tight place 1 didn't have time to lind out who I was shooting.

Everybody pretty much was carryln revolvers to the dances, and It wasn't healthy to get cornered. When I got back to Maries County I went to the home of my father, I'erry Newton Mahaney. better known as "ret" Mahaney. He lived close to Vlchey Spring. It was a "mountaynous" country all through there and my father and mother lived In the hills.

I was hungry for ies and I went there to g.t It. I sent for my girl to come there and see me. the hud a dunce on hand that night, but she came to me, riding alone through the woods. I saw her and talked to her. I knew that after I ha-i killed Cress I could never have the girl and I gave up all hope of having her.

She's Will Dys'Jn's wife now. The other side finally got ier. I thought I could prove self-defense and go free If I could have a fair trial, but I had so many enemies that I was afraid to risk It. I stayed around there a meek and then went away. Several we-ks later I went bark and that was the last visit I made around the place where I was raised.

I went down to Oklahoma and three years bility, the numberless recesses "pockets" it contains, together with watchful vigilance with which it has guarded by the owner Xornearry, a quarter of a century, all join in accounting for the success with which counterfeiters have worked there for years until discovered from the very boldness of their operations. Bennett's cave is located on a hillside covered by a heavy growth of timber and is accessible only by footpath. It Is one of several caves In the vicinity, all of which are objects of special interest to the hundreds of sightseers who visit them each year. About 25 years ago, when Eureka Springs began to be advertised as a health and pleasure resort, Richard Bennett saw in the cave a chance for speculation. He took possession of the land upon which it is located, built a rough frame house across the entrance so that none could enter without his knowledge and exacted a tribul of 25 cents on all comers.

The price was readily paid, for the interior was beautifully decorated by nature's inimitable work. For feet, the entire length of the cavern, is walls were covered with calcareous incrustations, including fine specimens of stalacite and stalagmite in abun- when I went in the wagon I carried It laying on the seat aside me. I didn't want anybody to start something thinkirf I was asleep. Soon after we was at Bill's the Wldder Went come to me and asked me If me and my brother George and my cousin, Scott Brown, would make the boys behave 1 hem-selves if she would give a dance to them at her house. Wo told her we would, and we did.

but it was one of the roughest houses I ever saw. and some of the boys was handled awkward and tedious afore we got 'em out. This was the first time I had paid any attention to Jim Cress. I had my side and som of the other boys had their side, and I never supposed there was anything doing between Cress and me until the dance at the Wldder Went's. Cress took sides against me there and put In some licks with the other side, but I still didn't think much of it, because we was having times of that sort, and a man couldn't hold his head up and not lend a hnn.l somewhere.

On the night of Nov. 3. In IMC. we had a dance at Left Joyce's. I'ft was a good fellow, but he didn't have much control when a racket started, and It was a good uess there would be something at his dance.

I was going with Sarah Heed. I had been the The matter was placed in the hands of Marshal Ilammack, who, by putting two and two together, concluded that it would be a wise thing to search Bennett's cave. At the cave he found Stephen Allen, an old man who claims to have discovered the cave in S75 and win has lived th-re intermittently ever since. Surprised and confronted by the officers, Allen confessed that some "queer" operations had been carried on there. Tie also assisted in locating the tools, which in their own silent way tell a long story of tha swindle that has been perpetrated against Uncle Sam.

From a crevice in the rocks the tools were brought forth. There were a full dozen sets of dies for making fractional coins, some of them worn with years of use! there were molds, a vise, a screw-press, a set of blacksmith tools, a gold-plating outfit, a box of gold leaf, a baser metal in considerable quantity. The gold-plating machinery is new and was a part of a scheme to enlarge the business to the dignity of turning out imitation $5 gold pieces. It was here that folly was indulged in, for In passing some of these bogus coins in Eureka Springs the counter In wild cats. He Is a perfect type of the hillside people of the central west who delight in family feuds and would rather sacrifice his own life starting something than let the community rot with the ennui of profound peace.

A reckless man laughs when a careful man thinks. Mahaney laughs as he tells of what lie calls "the scraps wc had in Maries County." He probably laughed as heartily in the heat of the "scrap," and the hotter it waxed the harder he laughed. This is his story: BY ADOLPHUS F. MAHANEY A DEPUTY sheriff named Richardson arrested me last week while I was ploughing on my farm near (. T.

I was slightly surprised. It had been so long since I had my trouble in Maries County that I thought they didn't want me. They've brought me here to St. Louis, ami they tell me I've got to stay here until December, when I can hae a trial down in Maries County. I don't know why they don't keep me In the Jail down home, but 1 suppose they think It ain't stout enough.

It can't be much of a pen if It won't hold a little steer like me. Yes, 1 killed a man. He was Jim Cress, a sort of newcomer In our neighborhood. He'd come down there from some place in Kansas, lie was about a year younger than me. Things was pretty lively in our part of the county then.

Some of the boys was scrappin' every time they run against each other, and a fellow couldn't keep out of it and get along any. We was haviu' a lot of dances regular old hoe-downs, with tiddlin" and callin' and fightln', and mare fun than anybody ever had In the hills. The dances come pretty close together, and we kind a got divided Into two gangs. It started at a dunce near Vichy Springs. We nil went there one night to have a big time, girls and everybody, anil the thing busted up into one of the biggest rackets that ever happenej.

There was scrappin' ami plug-ln' and putliu' out around there all night. IT Is a far cry from the wooded hills or Maries County, Missouri, where the fresh airs of freedom like sweet perfumes of Araby blow, to the dark, cellar-. Ilka St. Louis hold-over, where the air smells of captivity and wretched restraint such a far cry that Adolphus Franklin Mahaney, who was in the Maries County hills 23 years and has now been in the St. Louis holdover It) days, looks around him wonderingly these autumn days with an expression of countenance that claims plain enough: "What a of a big fox hole I've rolled into, any way!" Mahaney is in hard luck.

He has been arrested for killing a man with a pistol. This Is hard luck firstly becauso It Is poor reward for the isklll necessary to kill a man in combat in the Maries Count hills; and it is hard luck secondly Hecuuse the whole affair happened seven years ago so long ago Mahaney had almost forgotten it himself and had married and settled down to an Isolation In which he was well content. If he hud missed his man, or say wounded him, broken a Kg or an arm or something like that. Mahaney could see some sense In dragging him across a territory and two states and locking him up Just when the squirrel shooting its prime. Hut he shot quick and clean, and Jhat Is something out In the hills.

Hut one sees these things on seeing haney. Mahaney does not ti ll them. He isn't that sort of a fellow, and people where ho came from do not have that sort of an upper lip. Jle was apparently In a bad fix when the Sunday l'ost-lilspatch found blm in the glooru of fhc holdover, but he was not In tears, pulling his hair or cursing his luck. He was smiling like he was going out of the place in a minute to get back In the hilis as free as the loose end of a flag.

Ho is slight, weighs 135 pounds, is tret Inches toll. It a blond, wears a huge slouch hat and Is supposed to be able to whip his weight going with her five years. The night of left's dance I went to her house for her. She didn't want to go. She said: "See here.

Iolph. I don't want you to go to left's dance. You've been havln' trouble with some of the boys, and like as not somebody will get hurt if it goes on." I told her I had to go. I wasn't afraid of them, and I had to Ik; there counted missing and a coward. She lagged me to stay home, but It wouldn't do.

I couldn't stay and have the boys think I was afraid to go to a little harmless thing like a dance. It was a fine night. The moon made It light as day. and It was Just cool enough to make Left's fire f'-el good. About 2'1 of us went.

We had dancing, cider and apples, and were having no end of fun when somebody begun a racket. It wasn't long afore they was scrapping, and the fellows who had it In for me picked a row with my brother. My cousin and mo pulled them away from him and told them that If one of them had anything to settle with my brother they cou'd fight it out right then, man to man, and not have eight men piling on one. They didn't want to do that. There was a gang of cousins had It In for me pretty good.

Jim. Charlie and Hall Mo-man, Will and John Dyson and John Joyce,.