with flushed faces and laboring under much excitement. It was not intended that the boy should return, but in pleading his own cause at the time, he said: "Papa, I couldn't stay away." In this case, there was no evidence to olffr in rebuttal.
Needless to say that I was delighted to meet my wife once more, as she was also to see me. My business had often kept me from home a great deal, but this was the longest time I had ever been away from my family, and it made the reunion a doubly happy one, more especially as it established the fact that every member of the family was in good health and that the appealing disaster of a few weeks before had not materially affected their surroundings.
After briefly relating my experiences. 1 informed my wife that I had returned for the purpose of seeing and talking with Mr. Heney, although for the present, I must keep in the background. I told her where I was stopping and said that I would 'phone her every day, but that she must not call me up. It was also understood that nothing should be said to the other children, or to those who were stopping at the house, some ten persons in all.
I explained, of course, that it might be several days before I could locate Mr. Heney and arrange for an interview. In the meantime, I must busy myself in an effort to find someone worthy the task of adjusting matters for me with him.
I informed Mrs. Puter that it was my intention to try and locate Mrs. Marie Ware McKinley, Horace's wife, and also Mrs. Emma L. Watson, through one of whom, I believed it possible to arrange for a meeting with Mr. Heney.
She stated that Mrs. McKinley and Albert ("Allie") McKinley, Horace's cousin, had called at the house several times during the past few weeks, and that the latter had told her that he had been in communication with the La Crosse people with whom Horace had difficulty and they had expressed a desire for Horace to return, as it was not their intention to prosecute him, but would give him all the time necessary to square matters with them. Allie McKinley, declared my wife, seemed to take a great interest in the personal welfare of myself and his cousin Horace. In speaking of the trouble, he suggested that, if it were impossible for Mrs. Puter to reach me by letter or wire, it would be. well to advertise through the columns of the papers in the larger cities of the East, requesting that I communicate with him, (Allie McKinley), for valuable information. Should a reply be received, he would then advise that I return to San Francisco and see him. My wife consented to the plan, so McKinley had the advertisements inserted in the New York and Boston papers, as he thought 1 would be in either one of the two places. After assuring my wife that I would call her up the very first opportunity, I bade her good night and returned to my hotel. On the following morning, I decided to ring up Mrs. Watson first, for the reason that I knew that she lived with her mother in San Francisco, and within a few blocks of Mr. Heney's residence. Mrs. Watson had been convicted with me in the 11-7 case and it was reasonable to believe that she had talked frequently w^ith him and would probably know how he felt toward me. In an}- event, she would be in touch with his whereabouts.
I experienced some difficulty in locating Mrs. Watson over the 'phone, as she had moved from her former residence, immediately after the fire and was now living in Oakland, across the bay. However, through her friends I learned where she was living, and about 1 o'clock on Thursday afternoon, talked with her over the 'phone, requesting that she come to Alameda and meet me in the park at 3 o'clock.
Upon meeting Mrs. Watson, she expressed great surprise, and remarked that she supposed that I, too, had gone to China, as she had read several accounts in the San Francisco papers of my escape from Detective Burns and did not think that I would stop short of some foreign country in my anxiety to escape the eagle eye of "Foxy Quiller."
Assuring her that the United States was good enough for me, and that I was still here and in the flesh, I proceeded by informing her that I returned to Page 270
