a terrier beats a pack of blood hounds on a man trail—

arrest and conviction of a pair of really bad

texans for the crime.

in 1885 an attempt was made by two masked men to hold up a passenger train on the international & great northern[pg 239] railroad, at a point south of overton, texas. it was in the month of february and about midnight, and the weather was quite cold, and the ground covered with about two inches of snow and sleet in the vicinity of overton. the train, bound south from longview to galveston and san antonio on that night, was in charge of conductor frazier.

when this train was about to pull out of the small station of overton, the colored porter, whose duty it was to see that no tramps or other intruders boarded the train when leaving stations, noticed two men climb upon what is known as the blind end of the baggage car, from the north side, and the opposite side of the train from the station. the porter, upon seeing the men, boarded the baggage car at its rear end, and, as the baggage cars of that period all had doors at each end, he entered the car by the rear door and opened the front door from the inside, he having a key. the train had not got fully under headway as yet. he peered out and ordered the tramps, as he supposed them to be, to get off the train; whereupon the men, who were on the front platform of the car turned upon him, each of them holding two large colt revolvers. he then noticed that they were wearing masks, and it is needless to say that he was frightened. slamming the door shut, he fastened it and rushed back into the car where he met conductor frazier, and informed him that there were two tramps on the front end of the baggage car, whom he had ordered off, but that they had refused to leave and had pointed guns at him. he did not tell the conductor that the men were wearing masks. the conductor, believing them to be merely tramps who had gotten onto the car for the purpose of stealing a ride, and the night being very cold for that section of the country, he concluded that he would go and bring these men into the smoking car, carry them to the next station and there put them off. they would be more comfortable in the[pg 240] smoking car than out on the front platform. he went to the front end of the car, accompanied by a brakeman by the name of powers. frazier opened the front door, and the men on the outside immediately opened fire on him. he fell forward dead, and his body rolled off the train into the ditch. they now caught sight of powers, the brakeman, who was behind the conductor, but as soon as the firing commenced he (powers) turned to run back into the coaches. they shot him in the body, wounding him seriously. the affair was promptly reported by telegram to the vice-president and general manager, mr. hoxie, whose headquarters were in st. louis, mo.

on receipt of this report mr. hoxie notified me at once, instructing me to proceed upon the first train to overton, and investigate the case. i left st. louis early the morning following the hold-up, arriving at overton eighteen hours later. here i learned, in addition to the facts before mentioned, that there was a north bound passenger train from galveston that night. there was a water tank about three miles south of overton. this north bound train was to meet and pass conductor frazier's train at the water tank, and the masked men, who later proved to be john knight and john price, intended to steal a ride on the south bound train to the water tank, and there to board the north bound train from galveston, hold it up and rob it between the water tank and overton, but owing to the fact that they had been discovered on the south bound train as it was pulling out of overton, and that they had shot and killed conductor frazier and wounded powers, they left the train, and, taking a circuitous route, made their way back to their homes in the little town of overton. owing to the coating of snow on the ground they were easily traced to overton. of course, when they reached the main street their tracks were lost among the[pg 241] numerous other tracks there. having learned all this i concluded that these men were residents of overton and not tramps. i therefore went on with my investigation, which consumed about two days of my time.

in the meantime, as soon as it became known that conductor frazier had been murdered, a special train was sent from marshall, texas, to overton with a pack of bloodhounds, which were owned and kept by the texas and pacific railroad company, and were in charge of a man by the name of mundon, who accompanied the dogs everywhere they went. mundon had a posse of several men with him, and at overton their numbers were augmented by the citizens of that place.

the dogs were taken to the spot where the masked men had left the train, which was about a mile and one-half south of overton. here the dogs went upon the tracks and followed them, in a circuitous route, to overton, where the dogs became more or less confused by the large number of tracks they found on the street. however, there was one old dog in the pack called lee. lee finally scented a track in the street, began bellowing, and continued until he arrived at a high picket fence which surrounded the home of john price. the dogs were being followed by a large crowd, and when the dogs arrived at the fence, which was too high for them to jump over, old lee kept up his howling until mundon silenced him. the dogs were then taken back to the spot at which lee had scented the first track that led him to the home of price, where, after a lot of barking and capering on the part of the dogs, old lee scented another track which he followed to the house of john knight.

knight and price were brothers-in-law, and both of them were among the crowd who were following the dogs, and by reason of their presence the crowd burst into jeers and laughter when the dogs led them to the houses mentioned.[pg 242] again the dogs were taken away and put on other tracks, which led out into the country.

while this was being done and the dogs were being followed over the country by nearly every man and boy in overton, i was quietly making the investigations, the result of which i have told before. i really feared that the dogs were liable to locate some poor unfortunate, but innocent person, who would be more than likely to be subjected by the mob to violent treatment. so i went to palestine, which is a division and headquarters of the international and great northern railroad. palestine is about forty miles south of overton. here i found the colored porter, who was a light and rather handsome mulatto. he wore short sideburns and a mustache, of which he took great care. he had previously stated that he would be able to pick out the men whom he had seen board the train at overton, and who had killed frazier, on sight, providing they were wearing the same clothing that they had worn on the night of the tragedy.

meanwhile, i had telegraphed to st. louis for mike mccabe, one of my men, and mccabe had arrived at palestine on the same train that i was on. i took the porter, whose name was davis, to a colored barbershop in palestine where i had the barber shave off his sideburns and elegant mustache, to which davis protested vigorously. i then had davis don the suit of a common field hand and a soft hat such as are usually worn by colored field hands in that section. after i had gotten davis shaved and decked up in his new outfit, the change in his appearance was so great that i am satisfied his own mother would not have recognized him.

i then placed him in charge of my man mccabe, who was unknown in that part of the country. i instructed mccabe to take the first train the following morning for palestine to the water tank before mentioned, near overton, and there[pg 243] davis and himself were to leave the train and walk from there into overton, and there to go around the town and look carefully over every person that came in contact with them. in case davis could recognize one or both of them he was to quietly inform mccabe and mccabe was to report to me at once. this program was carried out.

in the meantime, i had arrived at overton before mccabe and davis and watched and waited for developments from them.

a short time after mccabe and davis arrived they were passing a blacksmith shop when davis, the colored man, noticed and recognized john price, who was in the blacksmith shop, had on an apron and was shoeing a horse at the time. davis instantly recognized him as one of the men, from the opposite side of the street. it was then near noon, and the bloodhounds and the mob following them were seen coming down the hill into town, evidently for their dinner. davis caught sight of and recognized john knight among the front rank of the mob following the dogs. this fact mccabe promptly communicated to me. i then instructed mccabe to send davis back to palestine and to instruct him to await there for further orders from me.

powers, the wounded brakeman, had been taken to the railroad hospital at ft. worth, texas, where he was supposed to be lingering between life and death from the wounds he had received. i had been informed that powers could also identify the men who had assailed him. as davis had identified knight and price, and his identification of them being corroborated by strong circumstances, i concluded to arrest price and knight and immediately take them to ft. worth, so that powers might have an opportunity of seeing them. i therefore telegraphed from overton to major jos. merron, general superintendent of the international & great[pg 244] northern railroad, and located at palestine. we had a cipher code. i requested maj. merron to send a special engine with a coach to overton that night and to arrive at about eleven o'clock, which would be after the citizens had retired. i also asked him to send my man mccabe to me with this special train. maj. merron replied that he would comply with my request and that he would come himself and bring another man with him if i desired. i asked him whom he proposed to bring. he wired back that he would bring chris. rogers, who at that time was city marshal of palestine, a position he had held for a number of years, and he was a terror to the evil doers of the community, having killed no less than seven or eight men during his term of office. i wired the major "o. k.," requesting him to instruct his engineer to approach the station at overton quietly and without ringing his bell or blowing his whistle. the train arrived at eleven o'clock, bearing maj. merron, chris. rogers and mccabe. i met them and we at once went to the house of john knight, where i rapped for admission. my knock was answered by john knight himself, whom we quickly seized. cautioning him to keep quiet, which he did, we then proceeded to the house of his brother-in-law, price. here we expected to have some trouble as price bore a very bad reputation, he having been mixed up in a number of shooting scrapes, and was considered by the people of overton "the bad man of the community." arriving at the price house i sent mccabe, who, by the way, was not a very large man, but thoroughly game, to the back of the house, while rogers and myself went to the front door, rapped for admission, and were promptly answered by a man's voice from within, asking who was there and what was wanted. i stated that we were officers of the law and had a warrant for his arrest. i omitted to say that i had obtained warrants for both price and knight,[pg 245] charging them with the murder of conductor frazier. price replied that if we were officers we might call in the morning, after he had his breakfast, and that if he felt like going with us he would do so, but that if he did not feel like going he would probably not go.

price lived in a small, one-story cottage or shanty, and at one end of the sleeping room there was a large fire place, in which there was a large fire burning, which heated and at the same time illuminated the room. this fire place was built up against the outside of the house, and there was a crack extending along the chimney probably one-half inch wide. by looking through this crack, and by the light of the fire, a good view was to be had of the interior of the sleeping room. the bed was standing directly in front of the fire place and facing it. over the head of the bed was a shelf extending along the partition, and upon this shelf price kept a winchester rifle within his reach as he was lying in bed.

when price made the above reply, i left rogers at the door and went to the crack near the chimney, where i got a view of the inside of the room, as above described. i saw price sitting up in bed with his winchester in his hand, and while he was still talking i went back to the door and hurriedly told rogers of conditions on the inside. whereupon rogers said, "price, your house is surrounded and you had better put that winchester you have in your hands back on the shelf. come to this door and open it at once or let your wife and babies come out before we set fire to the place and burn you out. you have been bluffing the people of overton, but you cannot bluff us. we are officers and if you come to the door and surrender we will protect you. if you do not we will get you, if we have to burn you out." his wife pleaded with him to open the door, which he did. we took our prisoners to the special car and immediately started for fort worth, arriving[pg 246] there late that evening. we went to the railroad hospital, where i arranged with the surgeon in charge to have powers brought out of his room, which was small, and placed in a larger room. we then had a party of probably twenty-five or thirty railroad men, and other men who lived near the hospital, file into the room and form a semicircle around powers' cot. he was placed so that by merely turning his head he could have a good view of the people who were lined up in single file, forming the circle before described. knight was standing in the circle near one end of the line and price was stationed in the line about midway between the center and the other end of the line. their dress and general appearance was very similar to many of the others present. after everything was arranged the doctor in charge told powers to look over the line and see if he could recognize any persons there. powers at once pointed his finger at price and said, "that is one of the men who was on that train." he then turned his head and looked along the line, and without hesitation pointed to knight, saying, "there's the other."

we then took knight and price to tyler, texas, where they were both locked up in default of bail, to await their trials on the charge of murder. the knights were an old respected family of russ county, texas, and price had married john knight's sister a few years before the occurrence heretofore related.

col. spivey, a prominent criminal attorney, was employed by the defense. the railroad company employed capt. jas. hogg and his law partner, john m. duncan, to assist in the prosecution.

in due time the day of the trial arrived, circuit judge mccord presiding. the defendants demanded separate trials. col. spivey proposed to try knight first for the reason that it was generally understood that knight being the younger[pg 247] man of the two had been influenced by his brother-in-law, price, and also that he had always borne a good reputation prior to that time. knight's trial lasted about two days, when the jury returned a verdict of guilty of manslaughter. his punishment was fixed at ten years in state prison. his counsel immediately served notice that he would apply for a new trial, and also asked the continuance of price's trial until the next term of court. the continuance motion was granted and price was released on bail.

while the question of price's bond was being arranged by the lawyer and the court, i, in company with master of transportation, wm. boyd, left the court room and walked out into the grounds in front of the courthouse, where we stood conversing for a few moments relative to the result of the knight case. i had noticed a rather singular looking young man who had been apparently following me almost continuously during the trial. he was a good sized man, probably thirty years of age, in his shirt sleeves, and was wearing an extra wide-brimmed texas hat, no collar, and had the appearance of being slightly under the influence of liquor, all through the trial. he promptly followed boyd and myself from the court house into the grounds, and appeared to be trying to hear our conversation. i noticed him so often that i had become accustomed to looking for him myself. i did not know him. he looked to me as if he were looking for trouble.

after standing within a few feet of where boyd and myself were talking he approached us and said, in rather a gruff manner, "furlong, i know you, and i want to tell you all dat you will never convict john price, and i am mighty glad he is going out on a bond."

i replied to him that it did not make any difference to me whether price was ever convicted or not; that i had only[pg 248] done my duty in causing his arrest and having him prosecuted; that the matter was now in the hands of the court and that whatever the court saw fit to do with mr. price would be satisfactory to me.

he then said, "i was afraid that price would have to stay in jail until the next term of court. now that he is going to be let out on bail i intend to kill him before that time comes. he shot my brother some time ago, in a very cowardly manner and without any cause. my brother will die from the effects of the wound before long and i intend to kill him."

i said to him, "if i were in your place i do not believe i would talk about what you intend to do, as you are liable to get into trouble."

"well," he said, "i am just telling you this, and i don't propose to talk any more about it. i just want you all to know how i feel in the matter."

as a matter of fact i felt greatly relieved when this man told me what he did, as i had feared that he contemplated making trouble for me. as he concluded his remarks he extended his hand to me, and as he was departing said, "watch out now, and remember what i have told you." about four or five weeks later price came out of his house. it was early in the morning, and he was standing on a platform, that extended from the rear of his house, washing his face. this platform stood about three feet above the surface of the ground, and a man who was under the platform crawled from his concealment and with a gun shot price through the head. he fell dead where he stood. a party was arrested for the shooting but there was no conviction, and up to the present time no one has been convicted for the shooting of price.

after the arrest of knight and price, i returned to st.[pg 249] louis, mo., where i reported in person to mr. h. m. hoxie, vice-president and general manager of the gould system. when i entered mr. hoxie's office to make my report of the knight and price affair, the hon. john c. brown, then general solicitor of the gould railway system, was in his office, and he remained there by invitation to listen to my report of the case. at the conclusion of my report mr. hoxie turned to ex-governor brown and said, "governor, this is a remarkable case, and the only case that i know of where a terrier had beaten a pack of blood hounds on a man-trail."

i, being irish, presumed that i was the terrier referred to by mr. hoxie, in his joking, but complimentary manner.

all this occurred while i was chief special agent for the gould railway system.