Mr. Pinkerton's reason for wishing to get Crawford into Spanish Honduras was not because the treaty arrangements were more favorable there than in British Honduras, but because the Pinkerton Agency enjoyed unusual personal relations with the Honduras government. Several years before, when President Bogram had in contemplation the federation of Central American States under one government, he had applied to the Pinkerton Agency for reliable detectives for secret-service work. In consequence of this the present head of the Honduras secret force was no other than a former Pinkerton employee who had been recommended by the New York office to the Honduras government, and upon whom Mr. Pinkerton knew he could rely absolutely. Another man equally disposed to favor him was Mr. Bert Cecil, a member of the cabinet, and at the head of the telegraph service, and thus in a position to render most valuable service in the apprehension of Crawford.
As soon as Mr. Pinkerton learned of Crawford's flight, he hurried in pursuit, crossing the bay to Livingston, in Guatemala. In so doing he risked his life, first by putting out to sea in a little dory, and then by trusting his safety to a treacherous Carib boatman, who, when they were several miles out, evinced a strong disposition to take possession of the detective's overcoat, in order, as he explained with a cunning look, to turn its silk lining into a pair of trousers. At this, Mr. Pinkerton carelessly produced his revolver, which had a quieting effect upon the fellow, and the voyage was completed in safety. But soon after landing Mr. Pinkerton suffered an attack of fever, and being warned by the doctors to return to a Northern latitude, he got the government machinery in motion for the apprehension of Crawford, had photographs of the former bank messenger spread broadcast through the country, and then having cabled the New York bureau to send responsible detectives to take his place, he sailed for New Orleans.
Mr. Pinkerton was succeeded in Central America by detective George H. Hotchkiss, one of the best men in the country, who arrived in Balize on the 18th of March. A telegram from Pinkerton's former employee, now chief of the secret police in Honduras, informed him that Crawford had been seen in San Pedro, Spanish Honduras, on the previous Saturday, and was being closely pursued by Spanish soldiers accompanied by Pinkerton men. Hotchkiss sailed at once for Puerto Cortés, where he learned from the American vice-consul, Dr. Ruez, that Crawford had left San Pedro hastily the previous Monday night. On further investigation the detective discovered that a San Francisco bully and former prize-fighter, "Mike" Neiland, had called at Crawford's boarding-house on Monday, and warned him that detectives were pursuing him from Puerto Cortés on a hand-car. Neiland had pretended to be Crawford's friend, and said he would keep him out of the hands of the detectives. Crawford, very much frightened, grabbed up some of his luggage and left the house with Neiland. It was generally believed that Neiland had designs on Crawford's money, and would not hesitate to kill him, if need were, in order to get it.
Hotchkiss immediately requested Mr. Bert Cecil, at Tegucigalpa, the capital, to cover all telegraphic points, and, if possible, have Crawford and his companion arrested on some trivial charge. The day after he reached San Pedro, on March 22, he received a telegram saying that Crawford and Neiland had been arrested and taken before the governor at Santa Barbara. They had been searched, and about thirty-two thousand dollars had been found on Crawford's person. The money was in old and worn bills that in every way resembled those in the stolen package. Whether they were the identical bills or not it was impossible to say, as the bank had not recorded the numbers.
On receipt of this news, Hotchkiss, accompanied by Jack Hall, a guide, set out across the country for Santa Barbara. The journey was accomplished, but only after the most terrible suffering and many privations and dangers. Moreover, the fever got its deadly clutches upon detective Hotchkiss; and when he had finally dragged himself into Santa Barbara, he cabled the New York office: "Crawford and money held for extradition. Am sick. Cannot remain. Coming on steamer Tuesday. My associate takes charge."
Before sailing for New Orleans detective Hotchkiss had an interview with Crawford, in the presence of the Spanish officials, and obtained from him a written confession of his guilt. While admitting that he had been a party to the robbery, the absconder tried to lessen his own crime by declaring that the plan to plunder the bank had been suggested to him by two men, named Brown and Bowen, whom he had met accidentally on a railway-train in New York, and with whom he had afterward become very friendly. These men had taken him to Brown's house on Thirty-eighth Street, somewhere between Eighth and Ninth avenues (Crawford could not locate the place more precisely), and introduced him to a fine-looking woman presented as Mrs. Brown, who was also in the conspiracy. They told him that he was earning very little money for a man in such a responsible position, and that he might easily make a fortune if he would put his interests in their hands and be guided by their advice.
The outcome of several conversations was a plan to get possession of a valuable money package on some day when Crawford should know a large sum was to be sent away from the bank. He claimed that on the day of the robbery one of his fellow-conspirators, Bowen, followed behind himself and Earle after they entered the Adams express offices, and managed to substitute a bogus package for the real one while the two messengers were going up the stairs. He did not make this attempt until he saw the bank detective McDougal turn back up Broadway. Crawford said that he managed it so as to precede Earle in going up the stairs, which gave Bowen, who was standing at the first turn, in the shadow, an opportunity to open the satchel and quickly make the substitution. Crawford declared that the conspirators gave him only twenty-five hundred dollars as his share of the booty, although promising him more. This sum he put in two envelops and sent to his aunt, the one to whom he afterward intrusted the package supposed to contain gloves.
Crawford stated further that Brown and Bowen, having been forced to flee the country, sent him word from Paris, some time later, in a letter written by Mrs. Brown, that the greater part of the stolen money had been buried in a flower-bed in the southeast corner of a yard on West Thirty-eighth Street, and asked him to dig it up and send it to them. A remarkable fact in this connection is that the yard referred to on West Thirty-eighth Street belonged to the house of the friend and benefactor with whom Crawford was living at the time of the robbery.
Crawford claimed to have carried out these instructions, and deposited the package of money taken from the flower-bed in the safe-deposit vaults in the Fifth Avenue Hotel building, where, as a matter of fact, he was known to have rented a box. He gave as his reason for not sending the money to Paris that he was in trouble himself, being under constant surveillance, and thought it best to keep the money secreted for the time. He admitted that he had carried this money with him to Honduras, and that it was the same found on his person by the detectives. By his description of Brown and Bowen, the former was a man about twenty-five years old, of slight build and light complexion, while the latter was ten years older, two or three inches taller, with a sandy mustache and very fat hands. Mrs. Brown Crawford described as about twenty-five years old, a blonde, with regular features. He had no idea what had become of these people since he left America, having had no further communication with them. None of the alleged conspirators has ever been found, and they are believed to be purely mythical.
Detective Hotchkiss also had an interview with "Mike" Neiland, Crawford's companion in flight, who described his first meeting with Crawford at his boarding-house in San Pedro, and acknowledged that he had deliberately frightened Crawford into running away by his story of the pursuing detectives. He described their adventures and hardships in trying to escape over the rough country, the difficulties they experienced in buying mules, their sufferings from exposure in the swamps, and finally their capture by the soldiers. Neiland said that Crawford gave him three thousand dollars in fifty-dollar bills, and also allowed him to carry, a part of the time, a large package wrapped in oil-cloth paper and sewed up tightly. Crawford had told him to throw this package away rather than let any one capture it; for, he said, it contained money which would send him to prison if found upon him.