I omitted to say that on the night that Sam Smith arrived in Edina, from St. Louis, that the small hotel was filled to overflowing and the landlord was obliged to assign Smith to my room, which was in the front of the second story, just over the office. About ten o'clock that night, just as Smith and I had retired to our room, preparatory to turning in for the night, a shower of missiles such as rocks, stones and pistol shots were fired through the window of our room from the opposite side of the street. Upon investigation I found that Benard had enlisted the co-operation of some sympathizers, through a lawyer in the town, whom he had employed to defend him, and at the instance of whom this mob was formed with a view to frightening Smith and myself and the other witnesses, who were to appear in the case, out of town. We were so badly frightened that we did not leave town until Benard had been tried and convicted, and when we left Benard left with us.
LONG HUNT FOR A DEFAULTER.
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 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 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.