incidents connected with the arrest of e. t. simmons,
which is accomplished after much hard work—
his conviction.
in 1873, e. t. h. simmons was employed as book-keeper in the oil city savings bank, at oil city, pa. simmons was about 28 years of age, and married. he had borne a good reputation, was cultured, pleasant and mild mannered, and also was known to be very industrious, and his associates were the best young people in the community. by perseverance and his strict attention to business he had risen from a messenger boy in the bank to head book-keeper. he married a young and handsome lady, who was an adopted daughter of a prominent citizen of oil city, by the name of hiram hoag. this young woman had been raised by her adopted parents in luxury, and was stylish and naturally extravagant. after her marriage to simmons her extravagant habits seemed to increase, to the extent that her husband's salary was not large enough to supply her demands. his affection for her and his desire to satisfy her every wish led him to steal the funds from the bank. at first he took the money in small amounts, which he covered by falsifying the accounts. the authorities of the bank noticed that there was something wrong in the accounts, and immediately and quietly employed the services of an [pg 344]expert accountant, unbeknown to simmons, the head book-keeper.
on the morning that the expert accountant appeared at the bank and took charge of the books simmons suddenly feigned illness, and left the bank for his home, from which he immediately disappeared for parts unknown, his wife remaining in her home in oil city.
mr. john mulwheeney, president of the bank, promptly engaged the services of what was then considered the greatest detective agency in the united states, to locate and apprehend simmons. however, the operatives of the detective agency referred to, after a number of months had been consumed and a large amount of expense incurred by them, had failed to locate the fugitive. finally the president, mr. mulwheeney, requested me to try and locate simmons. in the meantime simmons' wife had quietly left oil city, unbeknown to any person outside of the family who had raised her, it being but natural for that family to keep her whereabouts a secret.
i undertook the case only after the earnest entreaty of president mulwheeney. as a matter of fact, i thought that the bank authorities should have applied to me in the first place, after simmons had disappeared, and before they had engaged the detective agency. by reason that the then far-famed detective agency had incurred an enormous bill of expenses and finally failed, i bent all my energy towards the task, and succeeded in a remarkably short space of time in tracing simmons' movements from the time he left oil city. i found that he had gone to new york city, found there that he had boarded a ship for panama, central america, and learned there that he had crossed the isthmus to aspewall, and again boarded a ship from there for san francisco. at san francisco he landed, i[pg 345] learned, and had gone across the bay to oakland, california, where he engaged lodgings, and a short time after having arrived there he had obtained a position on board a steamship as assistant purser. this ship was then plying between san francisco and victoria, british columbia.
i also ascertained that a wealthy old bachelor uncle of simmons resided in san francisco, and was a large stockholder and director in the steamship line by which simmons was employed as assistant purser. i afterwards learned that it was through the influence of this uncle that simmons had secured the position with the company. this uncle was about seventy years of age, and was what was known as a '49er. he was among the earliest of the mine prospectors who had gone overland to california in the year 1849.
at the conclusion of my investigation i found that the steamship on which simmons was an officer was due to arrive in san francisco a few days later. in the meantime, i ascertained that simmons' wife had joined her husband in oakland, and that they had fitted up a comfortable little cottage in the suburbs of that town, so i quietly awaited the arrival of the ship mr. simmons was employed on.
in due time the ship arrived, and i took up a position where i could plainly see every one that left the ship. finally, after all the passengers had left, the officers began to leave the ship for their homes, and among them i noticed e. t. m. simmons. simmons had changed his uniform for a suit of plain business clothes, and it being after dark in the evening i had but little trouble in following him unobserved. i shadowed him until he reached his residence on tenth street, in oakland, where he was met at the door by his wife and his mother, who appeared to be on a visit at his home. i then withdrew and learned that the ship would remain in port forty-eight hours.
[pg 346]
the following morning i took a train from oakland for sacramento, california, for the purpose of procuring the necessary requisition papers, which would authorize me to arrest and convey simmons from california back to venango county, pennsylvania, as the authorized agent for the state of pennsylvania. this i accomplished in a few moments, having already procured all the necessary papers with the exception of the signature of the governor of california. i returned to oakland the same day, and about ten o'clock, after first having ascertained that simmons was at his home, i, accompanied by detective james coffee, of san francisco, whom i had requested to assist me, approached simmons' cottage. i requested officer coffee to ring the front door bell while i took up a position on the porch at the back door. coffee, as instructed, vigorously rang the front door bell. when simmons, who had gone to bed, heard the bell he at once sprang from his bed, and wrapping his clothes in a bundle, not waiting to put them on, ran to the back door, hastily opened it, and ran headlong into my arms. i heard him instructing his wife, or mother, as he left his room, not to open the front door until he had time to get out of the back door.
this cottage, being in the suburbs, there was a large open space of ground at the rear of the cottage, which was thickly covered with live-oak trees, and if simmons had succeeded in getting away from the cottage and among the live oaks he would have effectually been hidden by the dense foliage, and would, in all probability, have made his escape.
we at once took him to san francisco, and by reason of my having known him so well and favorably, i did not lock him up, but instead took him to my room, where i kept him until train time, when we took the overland[pg 347] train for omaha, pittsburg and oil city, where we arrived in due time and safe, with but a single incident of importance on the trip. before leaving san francisco i told simmons that if he would stay close to me during our trip homeward i would not place him in irons, and that no person on the train, not even the crew, would know that he was a prisoner. he agreed to this and everything went along swimmingly until after midnight on the second night out of san francisco. simmons and i occupied a lower single berth in the pullman. simmons was sleeping next to the window, and i occupied the side next to the aisle. i had made it a rule not to let simmons go to sleep, and kept talking to him just as long as i could keep awake myself. the result was that simmons got to the point that he was ready to drop into slumber as soon as i would allow him to do so by stopping talking to him. in those days i could stand the loss of sleep if it was necessary. on the second night, as i said, while i was feigning sleep i noticed simmons was also playing "possum." finally he quietly turned the bed-spread down off of himself and then noiselessly took his wearing apparel from the hammock, which was above him, and proceeded to creep over me into the aisle with his clothes under one arm. i lay perfectly quiet and did not disturb him until he had succeeded in reaching the aisle, when i suddenly grabbed him by one of his limbs and threw him back into the berth. he strenuously denied that he was trying to escape, and protested that he was merely restless, and thought he would sit up a while and not disturb me, but, as a matter of fact, he was really attempting to escape from the train. this occurred in a desert in utah, but after that he behaved himself and made me no further trouble.
after we arrived in oil city he was locked in the[pg 348] county jail, in default of bail, and when his case was called he pleaded guilty to the charge of embezzlement and was sentenced, by the hon. john m. trunkey, at franklin, pa., to a term of ten years in the western penitentiary of pennsylvania, which is at allegheny city.
however, after he had pleaded guilty and received his sentence, and before he had been taken to the penitentiary, he received a letter from his wife, written from oakland, california, in which she coolly and heartlessly informed him that as he had pleaded guilty to a charge of felony, and had been sentenced to a term in prison, that she had decided to avail herself of her legal privilege, under the existing conditions, and apply for a divorce from him, which the law would grant her on the ground that he was a convicted felon, and that she had made up her mind to marry his wealthy old uncle, the "forty-niner" who had procured simmons his position on the steamship. she immediately proceeded to carry out her plans. she wound up her letter by saying that she would rather be an old man's darling than a felon's slave.
the contents of this letter almost broke poor simmons' heart. every person in and about oil city, who knew him, knew that it was through her extravagance and love of luxury that he had committed the crime, and when the contents of this letter became known the sympathy of all who knew simmons was aroused in his favor, and the best people in the community, including the officers of the bank whose funds he had embezzled, filed a petition with the governor of the state for a pardon for him. this petition was later signed by the prosecuting attorney and by judge trunkey, himself.
meanwhile simmons had been taken to the penitentiary, but he only remained there a short time until the[pg 349] governor of the state pardoned him. on his release he went immediately to california to find his former wife, now the wife of his old uncle, and at once instituted proceedings for the custody of their child, which he easily obtained. the child was born a short time after his father's arrest, and simmons had never seen his son. simmons obtained employment in the passenger department of a large railroad company. this position he filled creditably for a number of years.
his former wife visited oil city about two years after her marriage to the second husband. she was accompanied by a couple of maids and a number of trunks, which contained many costly robes and gowns. during her stay in oil city she called on a number of her girlhood friends and acquaintances, but it so happened that they were all out when she called and finding it impossible to meet them she, as the soldiers say, "hiked" from oil city, and so far as the writer knows has never been heard of in that city since.
