INNOCENSE ABROAD -- WHITEY TIMMONS (Part 4)

TIMMONS, WATERHOUSE, ROBBINS, CUMMINS, STORIE, JOHNSON, MORRIS

Posted By: David (email)
Date: 12/13/2004 at 15:31:03

The Chariton Leader, Chariton, Iowa
Thursday, April 4, 1907

Last week a benevolent looking stranger came to town and put up at the Grand
Central. He was dressed to kill and his white vest glistened in the arc
light like alabaster. His patent leather shoes were faultless and the
creases in his pants could be seen a hundred yards. In face he was the envy
of all the dudes in town. He registered in a bold hand "H.F. TIMMONS, and
valet, Tom Waterhouse," as a man bearing an alligator skin suit case stepped
into the office, bowed in deference and surrendered it to his chief. The
benevolent looking stranger then threw down a $100 bill, asking the clerk to
assign him the best suite of rooms the house afforded. It soon was noised
that a rich mine owner of the west was in the city with the intention of
making some investments but this was shattered yesterday when a deputy
sheriff, from Chariton, Iowa, arrived with a warrant and took the fair
haired stranger in custody for robbing an old gentleman in that town
recently.

-- TROY (OHIO) EVENING NEWS.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'Whitey Timmons Awoke to Find Himself Famous And Infamous'

Deputy Sheriff Robbins arrived home from Troy, Ohio, Saturday night, with H
E. TIMMONS in custody. he found him in that city where he had been put in
jail awaiting the arrival of the Lucas County officer. TIMMONS and
Waterhouse had gone direct to Troy, after leaving Chicago, but as soon as
the former was arrested Waterhouse "dug out," presumably through the fear
that he would be held an accessor in the transaction for which TIMMONS was
wanted.

Taking it in its entirety the story reads like a romance. After a day or
two spent with Waterhouse's kinfolk, WHITEY began to cast about for an
occupation and a place to invest his "deposits," so well was he pleased with
his treatment and the appearance of things. So in order to prepare himself
for his business career he went and got on a good, old fashioned drunk, and
this little act may have cost him his liberty. But it was necessary that he
do it to prepare his nerves for the turmoil of trade, therefore he
contracted with a citizen of the town to purchase his billiard hall and
tobacco store, paying about $700 in cash and issuing gold interest bearing
bonds for the balance of $300. And the next day there was a flurry on Wall
Street. Hardly had "WHITEY" chalked his first cue before the descriptive
circulars arrived from Iowa with the order to arrest. This balled up things
The officials at Troy, after looking WHITEY over, decided he was not just
such a citizen as the town desired, so they arrested him and had him sent to
jail for ten days on the grounds of drunkeness, but primarily for the
purpose of making it impossible for him to get out on habeas corpus before
the requisition from the Governor could arrive. When Deputy Sheriff Robbins
arrived he went to Columbus to see the Governor and get the requisition, the
evidence and demand being forwarded by Gov. Cummins. Armed with this he
returned to Troy, but WHITEY had another chance to "table" further
proceedings under the peculiar statutes of the Buckeye State.

In fact he made another attempt to "buckeye" justice. That is a hard State
to extradite prisoners. After the requisition is granted by the Governor,
prisoners are not turned over to the office from the requesting State but in
this case TIMMONS was turned over to the Sheriff at Troy and the evidence on
which requisition was founded, reviewed and passed on by the judge of the
district court, luckily the term then being in session. The prisoner
employed one of the ablest attorneys in the city to defend him but he lost
the game. This necessitated Mr. Robbins to also employ counsel but the
Mayor of the town, a retired judge, volunteered to fight the case as a
matter of local policy and won. Another peculiar feature of Ohio law is
that an ample deposit had to be put up with the Clerk of the Court, in this
case $52, in order to return the prisoner to his original place of arrest in
case the Iowa courts failed to convict -- a matter of justice where
innocence is established. Mr. Robbins says the people there did everything
to assist him even to the extent of putting up some of the necessary funds.
MR. TIMMONS is not to be charged with one of the most serious crimes on
record but the judicial machinery employed had to be placed in operation as
though it was. It is proper to say that had E.H. Storie not been as careful
in preparing the requisition papers and evidence the scheme might have
failed. They could not be attacked from any point and to add strength he
enclosed the sworn affidavits of every county official in Lucas County,
testifying to TIMMONS' previous bad character.

While in the jail here, TIMMONS talked of where he would go if he had the
money and his freedom and when he left with AUGUST JOHNSON's money, the
Sheriff here mapped out a probable course he would take and apprised the
officers in the towns along the presumed trail to watch for him, and this
judgment proved good, and thus the campaign was directed and carried out in
neatness and dispatch.

The billiard and tobacco store was turned over in trust by TIMMONS, to a
party there, and the rights of property will be tested as soon as his trial
is held. It may be that restitution in money will have to be made by the
former owner.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'IOWAN GOES BACK'

At 9 o'clock Friday morning H.E. TIMMONS, the alleged fugitive from justice,
was brought into court to be present at the formal examination of the
requisition papers from the Governors of Iowa and Ohio by Judge Jones.
Mayor Morris presented the papers and the affidavits of the parties in
Chariton, Iowa, concerning the case. Deputy Sheriff Robbins was called to
identify the prisoner which he did, stating that he had known him for 15
years. The prisoner sat with an innocent smile playing about his mouth,
trying to have the bearing of one who would do no injury to anyone. His
attorney, T.B. Kyle, attempted to show that the requisition papers were
worded incorrectly inasmuch as the charge of larceny and embezzlement as
used could not mean one and the same thing. The technical point was not
clear, and Judge Jones ruled by a decision of the supreme court in a similar
case that the papers were correct, and the prisoner was delivered to Deputy
Sheriff Robbins. TIMMONS will be taken to Iowa Friday night. As the grand
jury will meet next Monday in Lucas County, Iowa, TIMMONS' case will soon be
heard.

-- TROY (OHIO) DAILY RECORD.

To Be Continued . . . .
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Copied by Nancee(McMurtrey)Seifert
December 10, 2004
iggy29@rnetinc.net