Page:Looters of the Public Domain.djvu/261

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appearance of a bundle of some sort. He agreed to do this, so I indorsed the check which he produced from his pocket, and as we had now driven to a point on the main Hne of the Boston-Worcester street car, which was surrounded by some timber and thick underbrush, I suggested that he meet me here that same evening at 9:30, when I would receive my grip and the money and settle with him for his trouble.

I selected this point for the reason that it was sparsely settled, and had more or less timber and brush which would enable me to escape in event of his being followed by detectives. There was a gulch on one side which would afford me an excellent hiding place, and as this particular side was more thickly timbered than the other, I had no fear of being captured, even if my rendezvous became known.

As the car approached in the distance, my attorney alighted, and I drove back to South Boston and when within three or four blocks of the livery stable, I engaged a man on the street to return my rig to the barn, handing him half a dollar, and offering as an excuse that I had a pressing engagement and must wait at this point for a gentleman that I was expecting at any moment.

I took this precaution for the reason that, as stated before, I had decided to take no further chances, and as I may have been observed by some one who recognized me as the much wanted Mr. "Brownell" and who also identified the rig as one belonging to a certain liveryman, I did not propose to walk into a trap. After waiting long enough to note that the rig had been safely returned, I departed immediately for Cambridge, which I reached in a roundabout way and where I engaged a room for the night. After dinner, I walked in the direction of the point where I was to meet my attorney, thinking to get a little exercise and to pass the time away. Arriving there, I made a survey of the district and examined the timber and underbrush through which I might be called upon to make good my escape, and as I had spent the greater portion of my life in the woods and timber, was very much at home and experienced little difficulty in determining upon several routes, through any one of which I could make my way, as necessity might require.

As it lacked but a few minutes of the time when my attorney should arrive, and a car was already in sight, I secreted myself where I could have a full view of the street where he would alight, but as the car did not stop, I drew a little closer to observe the faces of the passengers as it went by, and noticed that only a few ladies occupied the seats. I must now wait for another car, which would arrive fifteen minutes later. In the meantime, I trailed two men who appeared on the scene for a distance of some five or six hundred yards, when I became sitisfied that their errand did not concern me.

My attorney arrived on the next car, and after walking to a secluded pathway in the timber, he informed me that he presented the check, but the bank refused payment on the ground that I was a fugitive from justice and that, before they could turn over the money, he must receive from me a power of attorney, duly signed and attested, when he might have the cash. As to the grip, he called at the boarding house as agreed, but having noticed two men standing close by, one of whom he recognized as the same he had observed on a previous visit, he did not think it advisable to venture from the house, even with a newspaper bundle in his arms.

As he did not have a power of attorney blank with him. we could do nothing further that night, so I promised to 'phone the next day, when the matter could be arranged. I did not return to the city with him, preferring that he go his way alone and when his car was out of sight, I went to my room in Cambridge, where! remained until noon the next day, venturing out only to eat breakfast and purchase a daily paper.

After luncheon I went to the nearest telephone booth and called my attorney up, and in reply to my inquiry if there were any new developments, he asked me to hold the 'phone for about twenty minutes when he would inform me as toPage 255