I was angered at his words, and said, "Col. Lawrence, if you did not want that man arrested Mr. King should not have ordered me to get him. I believe I am entitled to some little credit for the capture of this man, in view of the fact that the feat is so far unparalleled. So far as discharging me goes, that will be unnecessary, for I have already quit the service of a company which does not approve of my work."
To this Col. Lawrence replied, "Furlong, I beg your pardon, and want to compliment you on your good work on this and other cases, but when this case comes to trial all the facts of Chalfont's incompetency will be laid bare, and it will cost us a lot of money."
I then said, "Oh, I can fix that."
"What can you suggest?" he asked me.
"I will get some prominent lawyer," I said, "to sign his bond; he will be released, and as the quarterly session is nearly three months away it will be hard to find him in three months."
Col. Lawrence said, "See that that is done and I will greatly appreciate it."
A few days later a prominent lawyer of Katanning signed a bond for Chalfont's appearance in court. He was released and at once set out for parts unknown. Of course, he did not appear for trial and the bond was declared forfeited. Through professional courtesy the bond was never collected.
Chalfont was not heard from until the railroad strike at Pittsburg in 1877, when he again appeared in Pittsburg under an alias, and got a job on the Panhandle Ry., running a passenger engine on the MacDonald Accommodation. He got partly over the road on his first trip, and failing to get the proper amount of water in the boiler the crown-sheet blew out of the locomotive, scalding his fireman badly. He again took to the woods and disappeared, and to my knowledge has not been heard of since.