The extradition treaty then in force between Great Britain and the United States was known as the Ashburton and Webster Treaty, and was passed, I believe, in 1844. This treaty only permitted the extradition of fugitives charged with one of seven crimes; murder, felonious assault with intent to murder, arson, rape, forgery, uttering of forged paper and perjury.
After I had seen No. 2 in London, I communicated the facts by wire code to Mr. Hoxie, he giving my report to ex-Governor John C. Brown, the General Solicitor for the Gould System of railroads. His headquarters were in the same building with Mr. Hoxie's at St. Louis.
Governor Brown was thoroughly conversant with this case, and had a national reputation as a lawyer, and when told by Mr. Hoxie of the whereabouts of No. 2, he at once wired me, by code, to try my best to induce No. 2 to accompany me across the line of Canada into either Michigan or New York state. If I succeeded in getting him across the boundary line I could hold him in either state until extradition papers could be secured from the Governor of Texas.
From the instructions Gov. Brown had wired me, I was satisfied that the Governor was not familiar with the statutes of Canada pertaining to extradition. If I had attempted to induce the fugitive across the Canada line for the purpose of arresting him without legal authority I would be subjecting myself to prosecution for kidnapping. If convicted of that charge under the Canadian statutes, I would have been sent to prison for a term of from two to seven years. Knowing that it was impossible for me to obey Gov. Brown's instructions, I employed a young attorney, or barrister, as they are called in Canada, whose name was McBride, and while he had been practicing law but a few years, he was recommended to me very highly for his ability and integrity.
During my consultation with him I explained to him fully that the bills of lading, which had been used in the cotton swindle, had been signed by the company's agent in blank and then turned over by the agent to No. 2 in blocks. No. 2 had then filled out each blank for various numbers of bales of cotton, setting forth the number of bales and the weight of each bale in the regular way. He then turned the bills of lading thus prepared by him over to No. 3, whom the reader will remember was a cotton buyer. No. 3 placed these bills of lading in various banks at Sherman, Dallas and other Texas towns. He drew cash from the banks for the face value, less ten per cent, for the purpose heretofore stated. After explaining all this to Mr. McBride, I asked him what crime these men had committed under the statutes of Canada. He promptly answered without even referring to the statutes, that under the Canadian law, they were all guilty of forgery and having uttered and published forged paper, including the company's agent who had signed each of these bills as agent.
I said, "Supposing these men had fled from the United States and were found in Canada, could they be arrested and extradited back to the United States for trial?"
"Yes," he said, "they surely could, under the provisions of the Ashburton and Webster Treaty, which provides for the extradition of fugitives who are legally charged with the crime of forgery, or of uttering and publishing forged paper."
"But," I said, "Mr. McBride, the company's agent signed these bills of lading."
He replied, "I understand from you that the agent had received no cotton. Am I right?"
I answered, "Yes, he received no cotton."