The Chief of Police insisted on a prosecution in the Erfert case. Erfert was out on bond, and in due time appeared in court, pleaded guilty and received a minimum sentence, which, if I remember correctly was two years in the penitentiary. I understand that he was a model prisoner and was released under the two-third rule.
The stolen property that had been recovered amounted to several thousand dollars. I have learned that since Erfert was released from prison he has been leading an exemplary life and is respected in the neighborhood where he resides. His confederate was a mere boy and was not prosecuted, it being understood that he had simply been a tool for Erfert, and he had not been concerned in many of the numerous thefts.
BATTLE WITH WOULD-BE BANDITS.
HOLD-UP OF A MISSOURI PACIFIC TRAIN FRUSTRATED—JAMES
WEST, ENGINEER, AND ELI STUBBLEFIELD, EX-
CONDUCTOR, CAUGHT WITH THE GOODS
ON THEM.
With the assistance of Joseph S. Manning, of my St. Louis office, and three special agents regularly in the employ of the Missouri Pacific Railroad, I prevented the holding up of a passenger train on the Lexington Branch near Sedalia, on the night of November 29, 1898. This was only done after quite a revolver battle between my posse and the robbers, resulting in the wounding of one of the latter.
A few days before the attempted train robbery occurred, Horace G. Clark, then General Superintendent of the Missouri Pacific, with headquarters at St. Louis, summoned me to his office. On arriving there Mr. Clark told me that a former employee of the company, who resided at Sedalia, had just informed him that a plot had been formed by six railroad men, including himself, James West and Eli Stubblefield, to hold up and rob one of the company's trains at some point near Sedalia, Missouri. The exact date and point had not been definitely fixed, but the informant was to furnish a team and conveyance with which to take the would-be train robbers to the point at which the holdup was to be made, and after they had succeeded in robbing the train he was to take them back to the city of Sedalia. He further informed Mr. Clark that when the date and point of attack had been settled on he would at once advise him, as he, the informant, had only agreed to furnish the conveyance and assist in the robbery so that he might have the guilty parties caught and handed over to the officers of the law.
I listened to the foregoing statement and called Mr. Clark's attention to the fact that I never placed much credence in the information given by any man who would deliberately enter into a scheme of this kind with his former comrades.
Mr. Clark replied that he had known his informant, who was an ex-engineer named Adams, as a faithful employee of the road for a number of years, and he was in good standing with the company. Adams had met with a serious accident, having lost one of his arms while in the company's service, and since the accident he had engaged in a legitimate business in which he had succeeded and had accumulated considerable property within a few years. I had known Mr. Clark for a number of years, and had done considerable business with him while I was chief special agent for the Missouri Pacific road, with which company he also held an official position. It was on account of our close friendship that Mr. Clark had sent for me, for at this time I had severed my connection with the Missouri Pacific road and was conducting a secret service company in St. Louis.
Mr. Clark said to me, "Furlong, just as soon as the time and place for this holdup has been fixed I will notify you and I want you to take measures to prevent that train from being robbed, and catch the guilty parties."