tragic ending of a big case on which a great deal of
real detective work had been done.
the cotton swindle occurred at sherman, texas, on the texas & pacific railroad, early in the fall of 1883. it was[pg 40] in the cotton shipping season, and sherman was a point from which a very large amount of cotton was shipped annually, it being the principal shipping point, or outlet, for one of the largest cotton producing districts in the state. for this reason the eastern cotton buyers and cotton mill owners were represented by agents at these shipping points. these agents were really brokers. it was the practice of these brokers, as soon as they had purchased cotton, to have it delivered at once to the railroad company for shipment, when they would receive from the railroad company's agent a bill of lading, setting forth the number and weight of each bale. this bill of lading, when signed by the railroad agent, was negotiable at any bank in the cotton producing district. the bank would take the bill of lading, allowing the depositor ninety per cent cash on the face value and would hold ten per cent back until the exact value of the cotton was ascertained by the proper officials. the practice of cashing these bills of lading was then general in the cotton-growing country, and, i presume, it is at the present time.
it was early in the month of january, 1884, when i was suddenly called to the office of capt. c. g. warner, who was then general auditor for the gould railway system. the texas & pacific was one of the many gould lines. i occupied the position of chief special agent for that system.
on my arrival at capt. warner's office, he informed me that he had just received from sherman, texas, a long telegraph message from one of his traveling auditors, which stated that a large amount of cotton, which had been shipped from that station, had undoubtedly been diverted in transit, as the cotton had not reached its proper destination. capt. warner instructed me to go to sherman at[pg 41] once, where i would find the traveling auditor, mr. finby, and make a thorough investigation.
i left st. louis on the first train, and arrived at sherman in due time, where i found mr. finby, who informed me that the company's agent, in charge at sherman (whom i will call no. 4) had left there on the saturday night previous, since which time not one word had been heard from him. he further stated that no. 4 had told his assistant on saturday evening, that he was going to take a run down to galveston on personal business, and expected to return on the following monday. it then being wednesday, and no. 4 not having returned, mr. finby had become aroused and wired the head of his department at st. louis, which accounted for my appearance in sherman. i at once began my investigation, with a view of locating no. 4, the missing agent. i remained in and about sherman several days, during which time the traveling auditor was busily engaged, with some of his assistants, in auditing and trying to straighten out the accounts of the station.
in the meantime, telegraph messages of inquiry were pouring into sherman from parties in new york, philadelphia, fall river, mass., and providence, rhode island. these parties had purchased and paid for large quantities of cotton, the total amount aggregating $121,000, and they wanted to know why they had not received it. messages of this kind had been pouring into sherman for a month or six weeks prior to the time mr. finby had been called there.
the officers of the railroad became alarmed, believing from the facts learned up to this time, that the cotton for which the eastern buyers were inquiring, had been shipped and had been diverted, and probably stolen. if this were true the railroad company would be responsible for the loss[pg 42] of the cotton to the buyers and would probably have to pay additional damages. thus the loss of this cotton was a serious matter for the company.
after i had worked at sherman for about ten days, as hard and earnestly as i had ever worked on a case in my life, i succeeded in obtaining information that led me to believe that there were three other men connected with no. 4, the missing agent, in this swindle. i had also succeeded in locating the family and friends of no. 4, and the other three suspects, whose names i withhold for the reason that some of them were connected with respectable families and have near relatives living today, who were in no way responsible for the wrong-doing of these men and ought not to be subjected to the humiliation which the publication of these names might inflict upon them.
during my investigation i learned that one of these men (whom in mentioning i will call no. 1) had a brother living in new orleans. (i will call the other two confederates no. 2 and no. 3, withholding their names for the reasons i have already given.) i had decided to go to new orleans direct from sherman and there quietly investigate the brother of no. 1. i had also telegraphed to my office at st. louis, mo., instructing george w. herbert, one of my assistants, to meet me in new orleans, which he did.
we located no. 1's brother in new orleans very easily, and after i had previously obtained information that no. 1's wife might be stopping temporarily with her brother-in-law's family, who were living in a large and rather pretentious mansion in that city, i began to watch the mansion for the purpose of learning, if possible, whether or not no. 1's wife was staying there. i had a photograph of no. 1 and also of his wife. she was a beautiful woman. she was born and raised in the state of tennessee, where[pg 43] her mother and other near relatives resided.
i had learned that a man answering the description of no. 1 in all respects had registered at the then leading hotel of sherman under the name of j. d. dillard, jr. this man had reached the hotel at a late hour at night, was assigned to a room and remained in it all the following day, ordering his meals sent to the room, explaining to the hotel people that he was ill. during the day no. 4 called at the hotel and quietly visited the room occupied by dillard, where he (no. 4) had remained an hour or more. he went to dillard's room without making any inquiries at the office, merely consulting the register.
dillard, who was really no. 1, left his room about midnight the following night, and took a north-bound train from sherman. nobody had seen the supposed dillard during the time of his stay at sherman, except the night clerk, who had not noticed him particularly when he assigned him to his room, and a chamber-maid, a mulatto, who had charge of the room of no. 1, or dillard, as he called himself, had waited on him while he was there. she had become familiar with his features and stated to me that she would know him on sight any place. she described dillard accurately, after which i exhibited no. 1's photograph. she instantly identified it as a good picture of mr. dillard. this is what caused me to place no. 1's brother's house in new orleans under surveillance. i also traced dillard from sherman, texas, to emporia, kansas, where the photographs of himself and wife were identified by the proprietor of the hotel and the employes there, at which the dillards had stopped for a period of a month prior to dillard's recent visit to sherman. mrs. dillard had remained at emporia during her husband's absence, and he joined her at emporia on his return from sherman,[pg 44] and they departed from there immediately for parts unknown. i traced them to topeka, kansas, where the trail was lost.
my assistant and myself kept up a steady watch on the home of the brother of no. 1, in new orleans, day and night, for about three weeks. we divided the time into eight hour watches, one of us sleeping while the other was on duty. it was one of the most difficult tasks of the kind i had ever undertaken, for the reason that i was personally known to the chief of police of new orleans, who was a friend of mine. i was also known to a number of police detectives of that city, and owing to the prominence of the family and connections of no. 1 i did not deem it expedient to meet any of the police authorities, as by so doing i, of course, would feel compelled to explain to them the cause of my presence in their city. i had no doubt that some of them would render me all the assistance they could, but i was afraid that some of them might talk about my presence in the city, and the friends of no. 1 might hear of it, and thereby be the means of hindering me in my efforts to locate the whereabouts of no. 1. for this reason it required more vigilance on my part to keep out of sight of the police, who knew me, than what i was bestowing to the watching of the house in question.
during the long vigil many humorous incidents occurred. one morning, after we had been on watch several days, i hit upon a plan to find if there were any women about the big house, as we had seen none up to this time, hoping thereby to locate the wife of no. 1. a few blocks down the street a couple of good-looking young italian girls were playing a hand organ. the instrument was a fine new one and of exceedingly loud tone. i quietly bargained for their services to take up their station in front of the house i was[pg 45] watching, telling them to play there as long as the police would permit them. the music and the performance of the monkeys brought several women from the house to the veranda, but to my disappointment, the much wanted woman was not among them. the performance was repeated several mornings, with the same results. mrs. dillard was not in the house, as we afterwards learned.
meanwhile the brother, a gentleman of leisure, was in the habit of strolling each morning from his house to the postoffice, where he usually mailed several letters. he always dropped these letters in the general receptacle, which had an opening in the main corridor at least a foot in length and three inches wide, and led to a large box in the basement below the main floor. this box would hold probably a wagon load of letters and packages, and when a letter was dropped in this mass it was almost impossible to find it again.
no. 1's brother was a man middle-aged, rather slow in his movements, and very deliberate in everything that he did. he carried these letters in an inside pocket of his dress coat, and walked with a cane. he would approach the general mail box, placing his cane under his left arm and carefully removing his snug-fitting glove from his right hand, would take the letters, consisting of three or more, and in an exasperatingly deliberate and slow manner deposit them in the box with the other mail. he would watch them until they had disappeared down the chute and out of sight. this operation was repeated by him daily, except sundays, during the three weeks, and witnessed each time by either herbert or myself, and had grown very tiresome to both of us. finally i concluded that we would prepare two letters and address them to ourselves, stamp them properly and then cover the back of[pg 46] each envelope with a thick coating of mucilage. herbert was given one of the letters, i keeping the other. herbert placed himself on one side of the chute, while i took my position on the other side, each of us being some distance away from the receptacle.
the main corridor of the postoffice, in the forenoon, was generally crowded with people passing to and fro, between the hours of ten and twelve o'clock; for this reason we attracted no special attention. we knew about the time that no. 1's brother was in the habit of visiting the postoffice, and, therefore, we were not kept waiting but a few moments for his appearance. he approached the mail box in his usual manner, and was as painfully deliberate as he had been on previous occasions, and after he had gone through the customary maneuvers, but before he had time to drop the three letters from his hand, herbert rushed up to the receptacle from the left side and i from the right, and we both reached out our hands at the same time with the letters we held having the mucilaged surface, in such a way that they came in contact with the three letters he had in his hand, and forcing the letters into the chute with ours, the mucilage sticking the bunch of five letters together. all slid into the chute. no. 1's brother became very indignant and muttered something about rudeness and awkwardness. i attempted a hasty apology and disappeared around the corner to the office of the assistant postmaster, whose acquaintance i had previously formed. i told him that i had just deposited two letters in the main repository and that i had discovered that i had placed the letters in the wrong envelopes, and wished to get them so that i might rectify my mistake. he at once conducted me to the main mail box below, where there were at least a half a wagon load of letters and general mail matter. i at once found the bunch[pg 47] of five letters which were stuck together with the mucilage, and in separating them had ample time to note the different addresses on the three envelopes mailed by no. 1's brother. one of these was addressed to a relative of mrs. dillard, to her home in tennessee. another was addressed to another brother of no. 1, who resided in atlanta, georgia. the third letter was addressed to j. d. dillard, jr., ocean springs, mississippi. i knew of the relatives in tennessee and of the brother in atlanta, georgia, and also that j. d. dillard, jr., was the man i wanted to locate, and for the first time learned that he was at ocean springs, mississippi. ocean springs was then a small winter resort located on the louisville & nashville railroad, between montgomery and new orleans. it was also an harbor on mobile bay and near biloxi, mississippi.
upon the receipt of this information i went to ocean springs, miss., arriving there about midnight on the night that i had seen the letter addressed by no. 1's brother to this place. there i found that the postoffice of the town was kept in a grocery store, which was part of the principal hotel of the town. i learned that the landlord, who was a very genial, clever man, and proprietor of the grocery store, was postmaster. i quietly showed him the photograph of no. 1 and his wife, and he immediately identified them as mr. and mrs. dillard, jr. he told me that dillard had represented himself to him as a rich iron manufacturer from chattanooga, tenn., that his wife was in ill health and that they had been there for the past month or more and had rented a beautiful cottage known as the montgomery cottage, where they were living. this cottage was situated on a small peninsula, which extended from the main land, dividing biloxi bay from mobile bay. it was about two miles from the postoffice at ocean[pg 48] springs. the positive and ready manner in which the postmaster identified the photographs satisfied me beyond any doubt that i had succeeded in locating no. 1. i gave the postmaster to understand that no. 1 had fallen heir to a sum of money and property, and that neither he nor his wife had become aware of the fact, and that i was very desirous of apprising him of his good fortune as a surprise, and before doing so, i desired to have all necessary papers prepared, which would require a week or ten days, and, therefore, i was anxious to have the matter kept a profound secret until everything was ready. the postmaster readily promised me that he would not mention the matter to any person until i gave him permission to do so, and after making these arrangements i felt perfectly safe in not arresting no. 1 until i had secured the proper papers authorizing the same.
it was necessary for me to obtain requisition papers from the governors of mississippi and texas. it would take about eight or ten days to accomplish this, as proper complaint had to be lodged at sherman, texas, request for the requisition had to be sent from sherman to austin, texas, and the request of the governor of texas to the governor of mississippi for the extradition papers, at jackson, miss., where the agent for the state of texas had to appear in person to receive the papers. i had myself appointed as the agent for the state of texas.
at the conclusion of my understanding with the postmaster of ocean springs, i took a night train to new orleans, where i met george herbert, and instructed him to go on the first train to ocean springs, and on arriving there to represent himself as an invalid and to act the part. he was naturally thin and had a sallow complexion, usually without any color.
[pg 49]
he represented himself as having just passed through a severe attack of rheumatism, and claimed that he had been advised by his physician to come to ocean springs, where he should spend at least a month during his convalescence. he equipped himself with two heavy walking canes, which he carried continuously during his stay at ocean springs, and while he made good progress walking, he seemed to bystanders to do so with some difficulty, but the balmy climate of the resort seemed to benefit him greatly, and he appeared to improve daily while there. he was instructed by me to meander around and to get to the montgomery cottage, providing, of course, if he could succeed in so doing without arousing any suspicion, and if he did succeed in getting inside of the cottage, that he was to make a diagram of the place and surroundings, which herbert could do nicely, as he was a good draftsman. he succeeded admirably. he formed the acquaintance of no. 1, whom he met at the postoffice on the second day after his arrival. he also met him again the following day at the same place, when no. 1 gave him an invitation to come over to the cottage and take a sail on the bay, as he (no. 1) had a very nice sailing yacht, which he kept anchored in front of the cottage. herbert accepted the invitation and visited the cottage the following day, when no. 1 introduced him to his wife, mother-in-law and brother-in-law, who happened to be at the cottage making a visit. he belonged in tennessee. herbert was also introduced to a young woman, about thirty years of age, who was rather good-looking, a brunette and of medium size. this woman was introduced to him under an assumed name, as we learned within a few days thereafter that she was really the wife of the missing agent.
herbert was invited to luncheon at the cottage, and took[pg 50] a short sail with no. 1, no. 1's wife and the brunette lady before mentioned. the yacht was a schooner-rigged, of about twenty tons burden, and was skillfully manned by a man about thirty-five years of age, black curly hair, a little bald, about five feet, five or six inches in height, weighing probably one hundred and thirty or thirty-five pounds, dark complexioned, and inclined to be slender, hollow cheeked, and had somewhat of a consumptive appearance. herbert was not introduced to this man by his host, but thought nothing of the matter, believing the sailing master, who was always in uniform, to be simply an employe of no. 1.
herbert made a good diagram of the interior of the cottage, as well as the entrances and the grounds and outbuildings. after that he made daily visits to the cottage, when the weather permitted, the occupants seeming to enjoy and encourage his visits. he had made arrangements with the livery stable for the services of an old, but gentle horse, and an old-fashioned buggy, in which he drove around every day.
herbert forwarded the diagram to me along with his daily reports during my absence from ocean springs. all this time i was busily engaged in procuring the necessary papers and making arrangements to effect the arrest of both no. 1 and no. 4, as upon receipt of herbert's accurate description of the sailing master of the yacht, i had become satisfied that the sailing-master was none other than no. 4, the much wanted agent.
in due time i procured the papers and proceeded to canton, miss., which was the county seat for ocean springs. i there found sheriff clark of that county. as sheriff he was commanded in the requisition papers to render me, as agent for the state of texas, all assistance i needed in [pg 51]making the arrests. i found sheriff clark to be a fine, affable gentleman of the "old school." he was an ex-confederate captain, having served through the civil war, had been elected sheriff of his county at the close of that conflict, and had succeeded himself in office up to the time of which i write. i requested the sheriff to go with me himself and furnish one of his deputies.
we left canton, which was about twenty miles north of ocean springs, about ten o'clock at night, and arrived at a station five miles north of the springs an hour later, where we left the train, as we did not deem it safe to get off the train at ocean springs. i had been informed by herbert, with whom i was in daily communication, that no. 1's brother-in-law visited the depot at ocean springs at night so as to see everybody who got off the night trains at that station. he also stated that all passenger trains passing that station were seen by some person connected with the cottage.
i omitted stating heretofore that both no. 1 and no. 4 were good telegraph operators, and herbert, while inspecting the premises, had noticed two tiny copper wires running into the cottage, and had followed them from the cottage to the louisville and nashville railroad, and later discovered that these wires were connected with the commercial wire of the western union telegraph co., that ran between new orleans and the north. he also found that they had a telegraph office fixed up in one of the rooms of the cottage where they could find out all that was passing over the wires of the western union co., and take their ease.
the peninsular upon which the cottage was situated was thickly covered with pine and cedar trees, and the wires were entirely hidden and could not have been discovered by[pg 52] any person unless one who was engaged as herbert was, so that these gentlemen could while away their time listening to what was going over the wires.
after leaving the train, sheriff clark, his deputy and myself leisurely walked down the tracks to within a quarter of a mile of ocean springs, and then making a detour around the station, we reached the peninsula south from ocean springs, at which point i had arranged to meet herbert.
it began raining the evening before we had left canton, and continued to rain all night. it was in the month of february, and was a cold and chilly rain. the night was inky dark.
when we reached the peninsula we were sheltered by the dense foliage of the trees, and we approached the cottage to within about one thousand feet, and then decided to remain quietly among the trees until we could see daylight begin to appear in the east. at the first appearance of daylight herbert and myself reconnoitered, circling the cottage, he going one way and i the other. we found that every one was apparently asleep. we then went back and reported to sheriff clark and his deputy. we surrounded the place, herbert and the deputy covering the rear of the cottage, and the sheriff and myself going to the front door and rapping for admission, which was denied. after we had rapped for admission we could hear the window shutters being pushed open and the inmates peered out of the windows and discovered that the place was surrounded, or rather guarded, on each side. finally sheriff clark told the occupants that unless they opened the door that we would force it. after some parleying the front door was opened. the door was a double door and only one-half of it was opened, and very suddenly no. 1's brother-in-law, a very tall and slender individual, appeared in[pg 53] the open door with a double-barreled shotgun in his hands, but before he had time to raise the gun to a shooting position, he found himself covered with two double-barreled guns, one in the hands of the sheriff and the other in my hand. upon being ordered to drop the gun he did so promptly. the sheriff took possession of him and i started down the wide hall, which ran directly through the center of the cottage. as i was passing the second door from the front door no. 1 stepped out of the room into the hall with a pistol in his hand. i recognized him and promptly arrested him.
i said to him, "where is no. 4?"
he answered, "in the room across the hall."
i went to the room indicated and rapped, but was refused admission. i then forced the door and found no. 4 standing in the middle of the room partly dressed. after some trouble with no. 4 and his wife, we took them all to ocean springs. we walked over there, a distance of about two miles. it was breakfast time when we reached there, and the rain had stopped. we went to the hotel and got something to eat, and the landlord learned for the first time the true nature of the surprise that i had in store for no. 1.
there was an early train to new orleans, and herbert and i took the two prisoners and left on this train for that city. i telegraphed ahead to have a carriage meet us outside of new orleans, and we left the train a short distance from that city. here we entered the carriage, which conveyed us to the ferry boat at new orleans. we took the ferry and went across to algiers. our object in doing this was that i wished to avoid newspaper notoriety. the newspaper men we were sure to meet in the main station at new orleans had we gone there.
[pg 54]
at algiers we boarded a southern pacific train for houston, texas. at houston we took a houston & texas central train, which took us through to dallas, texas.
the prisoners were lodged in jail before the newspapers had mentioned the capture or arrest, for the reason that i knew that there were two others connected with the swindle, who resided in dallas, and had not yet been arrested, who were not even suspected of having any connection with the swindle or any other crime by the people of dallas.
we arrived at dallas at night with the prisoners. the following morning the chief of police, jim arnold, and myself picked up and arrested the other two accomplices. these men were hebrews. one of them had been a respectable and prominent cotton buyer up to his connection with the swindle. the other was an educated man and somewhat noted for having been mixed up in crooked dealings. he was a lawyer, but was not practicing law for a livelihood.
the reader should remember that no. 1 was an ex-railroad agent and telegraph operator, and had been employed as such up to about one year and a half before he became engaged in this cotton swindle. he had become thoroughly familiar with the railroad system of receiving and handling cotton.
no. 2, who lived in dallas, was also familiar with the buying and selling, and value of cotton, as well as the customary way of obtaining cash from the banks on bills of lading for the same.
no. 3 was the reputable cotton buyer, or broker, before mentioned in this story. he also lived in dallas.
the arrests at dallas added greatly to the excitement which was caused by the incarceration of no. 4 and no. 1 the night before.
[pg 55]
the prisoners all waived preliminary hearings and were committed to jail in default of bail to wait the action of the grand jury, which convened a month or six weeks later. in the meantime, three of the defendants succeeded in getting bonds and were released from jail. my recollection now is that the bonds were fixed at $10,000 each.
no. 3 was taken sick immediately after his arrest and continued to steadily grow worse until he died, which was about two months after he was arrested.
no. 1 and no. 2 almost immediately after they had been released on bonds fled the country, no. 1 going to old mexico, and no. 2 seeking refuge in london, ontario, canada.
when the cases were called for trial in court at dallas, texas, no. 1 and no. 2 failed to appear, and their bonds were declared forfeited. no. 3, having died, his bond, of course, was not forfeited.
no. 4, it appears either did not try to procure bail, or if so, did not succeed, as he remained in jail. meanwhile i was employed in procuring duplicates of the bills of lading, which had been issued and sold to the purchasers of the cotton, which caused me to visit the cities of philadelphia, new york, providence, rhode island and fall river, mass. the procuring of these duplicates proved no easy task, but i finally obtained certified copies of all of them. these duplicates were to be used as evidence at the trial.
i was at dallas on the date set for the trial, and, on learning of the absence of the defendants, and that the court had postponed the trial of no. 4, he being the only one within the reach of the court, i at once reported the situation to the railroad officials at st. louis, in reply to which i received instructions by wire from vice-president hoxie, of the missouri pacific to proceed at once to locate and arrest[pg 56] the fugitives and take them back to dallas, and there to turn them over to the proper authorities, so that they might be dealt with according to law.
upon receipt of these instructions, i detailed operatives bailey and herbert of my staff to locate and arrest no. 1, which they succeeded in doing after a lot of hard and good work. they arrested him at guymas, old mexico. this city is located on the pacific coast. they brought their prisoner back to dallas and lodged him in jail.
i had assumed the task of locating no. 2. after considerable work i discovered that he was in london, canada, which is just one hundred miles east of detroit, michigan. i visited london, where i saw no. 2, without being seen by him. he would have known me at sight, as it was i who had arrested him in dallas.
i found that he had surrounded himself with a number of sympathizing friends in london, many of whom were fugitives from justice from the united states, as he was. many of them, he among them, had money and felt safe while on canadian soil.
the extradition treaty then in force between great britain and the united states was known as the ashburton and webster treaty, and was passed, i believe, in 1844. this treaty only permitted the extradition of fugitives charged with one of seven crimes; murder, felonious assault with intent to murder, arson, rape, forgery, uttering of forged paper and perjury.
after i had seen no. 2 in london, i communicated the facts by wire code to mr. hoxie, he giving my report to ex-governor john c. brown, the general solicitor for the gould system of railroads. his headquarters were in the same building with mr. hoxie's at st. louis.
governor brown was thoroughly conversant with this[pg 57] case, and had a national reputation as a lawyer, and when told by mr. hoxie of the whereabouts of no. 2, he at once wired me, by code, to try my best to induce no. 2 to accompany me across the line of canada into either michigan or new york state. if i succeeded in getting him across the boundary line i could hold him in either state until extradition papers could be secured from the governor of texas.
from the instructions gov. brown had wired me, i was satisfied that the governor was not familiar with the statutes of canada pertaining to extradition. if i had attempted to induce the fugitive across the canada line for the purpose of arresting him without legal authority i would be subjecting myself to prosecution for kidnapping. if convicted of that charge under the canadian statutes, i would have been sent to prison for a term of from two to seven years. knowing that it was impossible for me to obey gov. brown's instructions, i employed a young attorney, or barrister, as they are called in canada, whose name was mcbride, and while he had been practicing law but a few years, he was recommended to me very highly for his ability and integrity.
during my consultation with him i explained to him fully that the bills of lading, which had been used in the cotton swindle, had been signed by the company's agent in blank and then turned over by the agent to no. 2 in blocks. no. 2 had then filled out each blank for various numbers of bales of cotton, setting forth the number of bales and the weight of each bale in the regular way. he then turned the bills of lading thus prepared by him over to no. 3, whom the reader will remember was a cotton buyer. no. 3 placed these bills of lading in various banks at sherman, dallas and other texas towns. he drew cash from the banks for the face value, less ten per cent, for the purpose heretofore [pg 58]stated. after explaining all this to mr. mcbride, i asked him what crime these men had committed under the statutes of canada. he promptly answered without even referring to the statutes, that under the canadian law, they were all guilty of forgery and having uttered and published forged paper, including the company's agent who had signed each of these bills as agent.
i said, "supposing these men had fled from the united states and were found in canada, could they be arrested and extradited back to the united states for trial?"
"yes," he said, "they surely could, under the provisions of the ashburton and webster treaty, which provides for the extradition of fugitives who are legally charged with the crime of forgery, or of uttering and publishing forged paper."
"but," i said, "mr. mcbride, the company's agent signed these bills of lading."
he replied, "i understand from you that the agent had received no cotton. am i right?"
i answered, "yes, he received no cotton."
"then," said mr. mcbride, "the agent signed the bills of lading for fraudulent purposes, and therefore his signature was unauthorized by the company who employed him, and under the canadian law he is a forger, while the other conspirators would be guilty of uttering and publishing forged paper. the penalty would be just as severe for the latter offense, under the canadian law, as it would be for forgery."
i neglected to state that after i had located no. 2, at london, ontario, the railroad company's attorneys were informed by the judge who presided over the criminal court at dallas, texas, that in his opinion the fraudulent bills of lading heretofore described were not forgeries, as they had been signed by the company's agent, and for this reason, i[pg 59] presume, gov. brown instructed me as he did, he knowing that the fugitive, no. 2, could not be extradited from canada unless we could substantiate a charge for forgery against him. no doubt, at the time, gov. brown believed the ruling of the texas judge was correct. all of which i fully explained to mr. mcbride, to which he replied, "a texas judge has no jurisdiction in canada, and his opinion or construction of our law would amount to nothing here. and if you find any fugitive from the united states in canada, who has been connected with the swindle, you will have to identify them as being the right parties, and then set forth the manner in which the swindle was enacted and the amount of money or property secured by the swindlers, and it does not make any difference what name the texas statutes or the texas judge gives the crime committed in the manner you have described to me, it would be forgery here. you must understand that you must comply with the requirements of the canadian laws in order to extradite a fugitive from canada. if you should find your fugitive here in london you can, if you desire, go to any other county or city in the province of ontario and make your complaint, have a warrant issued for the arrest of the fugitive, bring an officer from that county or city to serve the warrant, arrest him here and take him immediately before the magistrate who issued the warrant, and have the prisoner committed to jail for two weeks without bail. at the expiration of the two weeks, should you desire an additional two weeks, you can secure same by convincing the magistrate that you were unable to secure the presence of the necessary witnesses to substantiate the identity of the prisoner, and his connection with the swindle; our law will allow you these continuances. after the prisoner had had his preliminary hearing, if the testimony offered should be sufficient to [pg 60]satisfy the magistrate, he would then fix the bond at the amount of four times the amount involved in the swindle, which would be in this case nearly one-half million dollars."
after mcbride had finished the foregoing advice to me, i thanked him and paid him his fee, which was only $10.00, and went to chatham, ontario. chatham is the county seat, about fifty miles west of london, and just half way between london and detroit, michigan.
i found the queen's counsel at chatham, to whom i fully explained my case. whereupon, he verified and approved the advice i had received from mr. mcbride of london. i at once filed the necessary complaint, and procured a warrant for the arrest of no. 2. the warrant was addressed and given to the chief of police of chatham, who accompanied me back to london, where i pointed out the fugitive to him.
we arrested him immediately and took him to chatham, where he was locked up as a fugitive, and his hearing set for two weeks later in accordance with the canadian law.
the reader will remember that when i first located no. 2 in london he was surrounded by newly found friends there, a number of whom were fugitives like himself. for this reason i felt it prudent to begin legal proceedings against him in a country where both he and i were strangers and avoid the annoyance and trouble which his sympathizing fugitive friends were sure to cause.
as soon as no. 2 was safely lodged in jail i wired gov. brown at st. louis, missouri, stating that i had arrested and locked up no. 2 on the charge of being a fugitive from the state of texas, united states of america, that the hearing was set for two weeks later and that while passing through st. louis on my way to texas, i would stop over long enough to report in person to him. in about two[pg 61] hours i received his reply, which was a severe reprimand, and read as follows: "why did you disobey my instructions when you knew that i had instructed you as to what the texas judge had decided, and therefore, the fugitive could not be extradited from canada under the existing treaty, nor in accordance with the act of congress, which provides for said treaty. answer." (signed) john c. brown.
to which i answered as follows:
"hon. john c. brown, general solicitor, missouri pacific railroad co., st. louis, missouri:—i disregarded your instructions, finding them erroneous, and that you did not understand the law pertaining to this case. have also learned that a texas judge's ruling are not considered in canada, as i find that i can legally extradite the fugitive from canada under the present law." (signed) thomas furlong.
after sending the above message, i borrowed a copy of the revised statutes of canada from the crown counsel, who would be called prosecuting attorney in the united states. he marked each section of the statutes which pertained to our case. i at once put the law book in my grip, and started for st. louis, arriving there the following morning.
i immediately reported to vice-president hoxie, whom i found in his office. after the usual greeting mr. hoxie said to me, "tom, gov. brown showed me a message that he had received from you yesterday. he appeared to be quite angry."
to which i replied, "i am here to explain my actions fully, and i wish you would kindly request gov. brown to come to your office at his convenience, as i think my explanation should be made to him in your presence so that[pg 62] one explanation may serve both. my time is limited, as i must go to texas and procure certain witnesses and return with them to chatham, ontario, within two weeks, the time set for the hearing."
whereupon, mr. hoxie sent for gov. brown, who appeared in a few moments. after the usual salutation, i repeated the instructions i received from him. i then stated that i had found it impossible for me to have carried out the instructions in canada without subjecting myself to prosecution, and probably a sentence to the penitentiary, and i, therefore, concluded to do the next best thing, which was to employ a competent attorney, who advised me as to my rights and how to proceed legally under the laws of that country. i then produced the copy of the statutes, which i had borrowed from the crown counsel, and directed gov. brown's attention to the marked sections before mentioned, which he carefully read. after he had finished i produced and read the telegram i had received from him, at the same time calling his attention to the question he had asked me to answer in his message.
he then compared his message with the one he had received from me in dignified silence, and then without a word handed the two messages to mr. hoxie, near whose chair he was standing. mr. hoxie read them and then looked up at the governor and said, "governor, what do you think of this matter?"
for answer gov. brown deliberately walked around the table to where i was sitting and extended his hand to me, and i arose and took it. he turned to mr. hoxie and said in a pleasant manner, "furlong was right all the way through." then turning to me he said, "furlong, you ought to have been a lawyer. i was a little angry when i received your message yesterday, but i see that it was all right, as[pg 63] you only answered the questions i had asked you."
i left st. louis for dallas that night, and while there i arranged with the chief of police, jim arnold, and other well-known citizens, to accompany me to chatham, ontario, as witnesses in the case pending against no. 2. these witnesses had all known no. 2 for years, and were familiar with his reputation as to truth and veracity, his business connections, etc. the witnesses and myself arrived in chatham in time for the hearing of no. 2.
the judge, after hearing the evidence, committed no. 2 to jail without bail to await extradition papers from the president of the united states and the governor general of canada. no. 2 was defended in the hearing by two noted barristers, who at once appealed to a higher court. in due time the appeal was argued and the action of the lower court sustained; whereupon no. 2's counsel had the case taken up to the privy court at toronto. this court affirmed the action of the lower courts, and it being the highest tribunal in canada its decision was final and no. 2 was committed without bail for extradition.
i immediately left toronto for washington, d. c., having already received the necessary papers from the state of texas. i presented these to the department of justice in washington, on the evening of my arrival there, and they were promptly approved and sent to president cleveland for his signature. by the way, these papers were the first of their kind ever signed by president cleveland, it being but four days after his inauguration for his first term as president of the united states. the papers were delivered to me and i left for chatham, ontario, for the purpose of taking no. 2 back to dallas, texas, for trial and bearing the commission of president cleveland to do so.
the following day the train on which i was riding stopped[pg 64] twenty minutes at canandaigua, new york, for dinner. as i was eating my dinner a messenger boy called out my name at the dining room door. i answered and he handed me a telegram, which was from the high sheriff of chatham, and read as follows:
"when my jailor went to the cell occupied by no. 2 at twelve o'clock to day he found him dead. had apparently been dead an hour. cause of death yet unknown. probably heart failure."
i wired him that i would be in chatham on the following morning. on my arrival there a post-mortem autopsy was made of the body of no. 2, and it developed that he had committed suicide by taking laudanum. the sheriff and the jailor have never been able to satisfy themselves as to how no. 2 got possession of the poison. he had friends and relatives who lived at jackson, michigan, who called at chatham and identified the body, and took it to jackson for burial.
i then returned to dallas, texas, so as to be present at the trial of no. 1 and no. 4, they being the only two of the swindlers left for trial.
when i had first arrested the swindlers and placed them in jail at dallas, the prosecuting attorney called me to his office and told me that the defendants had employed a number of the most able attorneys at that bar to defend them, and he said that he thought that the railroad company ought to permit him to select an attorney to assist him in the prosecution of the defendants. i told him that i had no doubt but that general solicitor brown would do so if he would make the request of him.
he replied that as i was going direct to st. louis that he wished me to make the request for him, which i did. when i delivered his request to gov. brown, he replied that capt.[pg 65] tom brown, of sherman, texas, was the railroad company's attorney in that district, an able lawyer, and he would be glad to instruct him to assist the prosecuting attorney in every way that he could, or, he would furnish him any other of the company's attorneys in texas, should he believe their assistance necessary, and that he would take it up with the prosecuting attorney at dallas and make all the necessary arrangements.
i communicated these facts to the prosecuting attorney. later gov. brown informed me that he (the prosecuting attorney) had selected a lawyer to assist him who was not in any way connected with the railroad service, and that he had suggested that this assistant should be paid a fee of five or six thousand dollars by the railroad company for his services. gov. brown further stated that the attorney selected for an assistant was not looked upon with favor by either himself or any of his assistants. some of the assistants connected with the legal department of the railroad company, under general solicitor brown, refused to associate themselves with the cases if the man selected by the prosecuting attorney was connected in any way with them. his services were refused and capt. tom brown went to dallas for the purpose of assisting in the prosecution of the two remaining accused swindlers.
i had turned the duplicate bills of lading over to capt. brown and on the morning of the trial of no. 1 and no. 4, he placed these papers in his overcoat pocket with other documentary evidence. he was a little late and hastened into the dining room, leaving his coat and hat on a rack in the corridor of the hotel. when he finished his breakfast and returned to his overcoat he discovered the papers had been stolen. when the cases were called into court, the prosecuting attorney asked that a nolle prosequi be [pg 66]entered in the cases, thus letting two of the principals in the swindle go free.
thus ended the cotton swindle, the most gigantic swindle of this kind that had ever taken place in the united states, or, i believe, in any other country up to that time.
capt. tom brown was afterwards elected as judge of the supreme bench of texas, and was always esteemed as an able jurist and a thorough gentleman.
