Early Life
He was born Silas Doty in St. Albans, Vermont. As a child, he stole toys from his siblings, a pen knife from his teacher, and a horseshoe from a blacksmith, not because he needed or wanted these things, but for the excitement and pleasure he took from evading detection. When Doty was about nine years old, his family moved west to Bangor, New York, a fur trapping region, where he began a lucrative three-year career of stealing animals from traps and selling their furs. About 1815, Doty joined a band of thieves and counterfeiters operating in the Bangor area. In a few years, Doty became the leader of this gang, whose depredations now extended throughout New England and the Mid-Atlantic states.
In the winter of 1818, Doty learned blacksmithing and used his new skills to outfit himself with a complete set of skeleton keys and burglary tools. Throughout his criminal career Doty specialized in making such tools and employing them with great stealth and skill. Doty typically employed disguises, false identities, misdirection, and other nonviolent means, but when directly challenged he would resort to brass knuckles or whatever was at hand. Doty learned to pass counterfeit money from Ed Cooper, a resident of New York City, who would wholesale such money to him for 30 cents on the dollar.
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