ARTHUR.T Stories ----A Flight Into Texas ----X---Page 53

On Sunset Limited with friend. He has transportation to the City of

Mexico, via Eagle Pass, where I am now journeying with him. Answer

to Beaumont, Texas.

Later in the afternoon he sent an additional message from Lafayette, Louisiana:

Have seen transportation of friend and am positive of destination.

Dodge was occupying Section 3 of the sleeping car "Capitola," and, as became an invalid, retired early.

At Beaumont Jesse failed to receive any reply to his various messages,
and when the train arrived at Houston no word came from New York until
it was almost the time of departure. Waiting until practically the last
moment Jesse hurried through the gates of the Union Station at Houston
and bought a ticket to San Antonio. As he was leaving the ticket window
Night Chief of Police John Howard and two officers came hurrying up
inquiring anxiously for "Mr. Jesse." The reinforcements had arrived.

Outside on the track "The Sunset Limited" was just getting under way.

The first frantic puffs were being vomited from the funnel. Inside

Dodge was sleeping peacefully in his berth. Jesse, accompanied by Chief
Howard, hurried up to the conductor who was about to swing on to the
steps of the sleeper, and ordered him to hold the train till the
fugitive could be removed. After some argument the conductor grumblingly
complied and Dodge was aroused from pleasant dreams of the "Creole
Quarter" to the cold reality of being dragged out of bed by a policeman.
He was unceremoniously hustled out of the sleeping car into a carriage
and taken to Head-quarters where he admitted his identity and remarked:

"I know what I am wanted for, but I will never return to New York."

In his grip was found the sum of $1,563.15 as well as numerous letters from the law firm of Howe and Hummel and a quantity of newspaper clippings relative to his case.

Dodge pleaded with Chief Howard not to lock him up, urging that he was a
sick man and offering a goodly sum if he might be taken to a hotel and
guarded for the remainder of the night. But what "went" in New Orleans,
did not "go" in Houston, and the best that Dodge could get for himself
was a cot in the "Ladies Detention Room" on the second floor of the
jail.

Early the following morning Jesse visited Police Head-quarters and for
the first time met George Ellis, Chief of Police of Houston, for whom he
will always have a feeling of deep gratitude for his enthusiastic
cooperation and loyalty in the many stirring events that followed. Dodge
now received a telegram from New York, which was submitted to Jesse
before reaching the prisoner, to the effect that Howe and Hummel were

sending on an attorney to aid the fugitive in resisting extradition, and informing him that they had employed Messrs. Hunt and Meyers as attorneys to look out for his welfare. These last immediately jumped _in medias res_ and on the afternoon of the same day secured a writ of habeas corpus from Norman J. Kitrell, District Judge of Harris County, Texas, returnable the following morning.

The next day, January 28th, Kitrell released Dodge from custody.

Jesse had anticipated this and immediately swore out another warrant with the result that the prisoner was rearrested before he left the
court room.

Meantime the Dodge interests retained another firm of lawyers, Messrs. Andrews and Ball, who, on the following day, secured a second writ of habeas corpus from Judge Ashe.

The result of the first engagement thus being a draw, counsel on both

sides agreed that this writ should not be returnable for six days.

During this period District Attorney Jerome employed Messrs. Baker

Botts, Parker and Garwood to represent him and secured from Governor

Odell at Albany a requisition on Governor Lanham of Texas for the

extradition of the prisoner, which he entrusted to Detective Sergeant

Herlihy of the New York Police. Herlihy reached Houston with the papers

on the evening of January 30th, and on the same train with him came

Abraham Kaffenburgh, a member of the law firm of Howe and Hummel and a nephew of the latter. Likewise also came Bracken, still styling himself
"E. M. Bradley," and from now on Bracken was the inseparable companion, guide, philosopher and friend (?) of the unfortunate Dodge whose
continued existence upon this earth had become such a menace to the
little lawyer in New York.

Herlihy, accompanied by Judge Garwood, proceeded direct to Austin where
they found Dodge already represented by Messrs. Andrews and Ball who, at
the hearing before Governor Lanham, made a strong effort to induce that
executive to refuse to honor the requisition of the Governor of New
York. This effort failed and Governor Lanham issued his warrant, but
Herlihy had no sooner returned to Houston for the purpose of taking
possession of the prisoner than he was served with an injunction
enjoining him, together with Chief of Police Ellis, from taking Dodge
into custody, pending a hearing upon a new habeas corpus which had been
issued by Judge Waller T. Burns of the United States District Court for
the Southern District of Texas. This new writ was returnable February
9th.

After exhaustive but futile argument by the counsel for Dodge, Judge

Burns remanded the prisoner to Herlihy's custody to be returned to the

State of New York, but this decision had no sooner been rendered than an

appeal was taken therefrom by Dodge's lawyers, and the prisoner released upon bail fixed at twenty thousand dollars.

During this period Dodge was quartered under guard at the Rice Hotel in Houston, and the day following the argument the twenty-thousand-dollars bail was put up in cash and Dodge released from custody.

In the meantime, however, Jesse, knowing that no sum, however large,

would deter Hummel from spiriting Dodge out of the country, had made his arrangements to secure a new extradition warrant from the Governor of
Texas, so that if the prisoner did succeed in getting beyond the
Southern District of the Federal Court of Texas, he could be seized and
conveyed to New York.

Of course some one had to keep watch over Dodge while Jesse hurried to
Austin to see the Governor, and it was decided to leave Sergeant
Herlihy, reinforced by a number of local detectives for that purpose.
But while the watchful Jesse was away, Bracken proceeded to get busy in
the good old Howe and Hummel fashion. Lots of people that Herlihy had
never seen before turned up and protested that he was the finest fellow
they had ever met. And as Herlihy was, in fact, a good fellow, he made
them welcome and dined and wined at their expense until he woke up in
the Menger Hotel in San Antonio and inquired where he was.

Jesse meantime had returned from Austin to discover that Dodge with his
companions, Kaffenburgh and Bracken, had slipped out of Houston early in
the morning of February 11th, after disposing of Herlihy and eluding the
watchfulness of Herlihy's assistants. Hummel was leading and by ten
o'clock the next morning Dodge and his comrades were on board an English
merchantman lying in the harbor of Galveston. Later in the same day the
Hummel interests chartered from the Southern Pacific Railroad for the
sum of three thousand dollars the sea-going tug _Hughes_, to which Dodge
was now transferred for the purpose of being conveyed to the port of
Tampico in the Republic of Mexico.

But here Hummel's wires became crossed with Jerome's, and unfortunately
for the little lawyer, the persons from whom the tug had been leased
turned out to be closely allied with the prosecution's interests, with
the result that the captain of the tug was instructed by his superiors
under no consideration to put into any Mexican port, but on the
contrary, to delay his departure from the harbor of Galveston for a
period of two days and then to proceed only as far as Brownsville,
Texas, where he should compel the debarkation of the fugitive. The
captain, who was a good sport as well as a good officer, promptly threw
himself into the part and told Bracken and Kaffenburgh that it was
evident from the barometer that a severe storm was approaching (which
must have had a sinister implication to these two unfortunate
gentlemen), and that he could not think of putting to sea. Once the