Sacramento daily record-union., 1888-10-13

came 10 Becks house IN December anC
had remained there in that neighborhooC
under the name of Bob James until the Isl
OF May, at which time he left for the south
again, assuming the name of Short.
Beck stated, in addition, that when he
had last seen Sykes, the latter was wearing
a coat and pantaloons of the same material
as vest worn by Beck when arrested
Hume afterwards cut this vest into pieces
and distributed it to the officers in Kern
county, as a means Of identifying or dis
covering Sykes Alter learning every
thing possible from Beck. Hume at once
telegraphed to r. G. Dunn, agent OF
Wells, Fargo q Co. at Redding, to inter-
view the District Attorney, and swear out
a complaint charging Sykes with the mur-
der OF henderson, and to send the warrant
Tor his arrest to Hume at Sacramento bv
that nights express. r. G. Dunn replied
by telegraph that the District Attorney
declined to prepare the complaint; that
one Curtis was to be arraigned the follow
ing day for the same offense; that the
evidence was very strong against him, and
that to institute any other proceedings
would only tend to compl:cate matters in
the Curtis case.
Upon receipt of this, Hume decided to
take Beck direct to Redding and afford
the District Attorney an opportunity to
hear from Beck's own lips the story of the
crime, and who was the murderer. and
where and how corroborating testimony
could be procured. Fraser thereupon left
on the first train for Bakersfield, and
Hume, with Beck in custody, proceeded
that same evening to Redding. Upon
reaching Redding with Beck the morning
/ OF June 18th, Hume learned that an in
dictment had been found against John
! Curtis for the murder of Henderson, and
that the prevailing sentiment in the COM
munity was that Curtis was guilty
Edward Sweeney, the District Attorney.
and Sheriff W. E. Hopping, however, after
hearing the statements of Beck, and after
being taken on to the ground by Hume,
and shown by Beck the strongest of cor
roboration of his statements, then accepted
Hume's theory of the guilt of Sykes and
the entire innocence of Curtis of the
crime with which he was charged
Fraser returned to Fresno on the Goth,
having failed to obtain any clue to Sykes
whereabouts. On the 23d Hume pro-
ceeded to Bakersfield and in an interview
with Sheriff McCord, Constable Tibbitts
and Alonzo Coons agent of Wells, Fargo
4 Co., talked fully of the description
of Sykes, and gave them each patch of
Beck's vest, which corresponded with the
material Of the coat and trousers worn
| by Sykes. Hume found that the letters
written by Beck and addressed to w. K.
Short had been taken from the Postoffice,
which showed conclusively that Sykes
must have been in town on the 9TH or Sth.
or had sent in from some ranch in the
vicinity and obtained his mail The Kern
county officers promised to keep a vigilant
lookout for Sykes, and to make diligent
inquiry of the ranchmen as they came in
to town from time to time.
| The citizens of Kern were preparing for
grand celebration on the 4th of July,
and Hume was confident that if Sykes was
in the county he would be present on that
occasion and partake in the festivities, and
| Hume determined to attend, and, if posi-
BILE, take hand himself On the first day
of July, however, Hume was compelled to
leave hastily for Chicago to attend to i'm
portant business for the company by
which he is employed, and he accordingly
| telegraphed Fraser to meet him at the
station as he passed Fresno. Fraser did
meet Hume, and agreed to go to Bakers
field on the 4th and to spend the day in
looking for Sykes. He failed, however, to
do this, though it was afterward reported
! that Sykes was in Bakersfield, parading
the streets in drunken condition, but the
officers were so p,uch absorbed in the cele-
bration that b. was never noticed nor sus-
pected Of being present.
On the I'd day of July the Hildreth and
MADEIRA stage was robbed of $500 about
three-quarters of mile from Hildreth.
On the 23d of July young man entered
the Bakersfield express office with saddle
and valise, which he wished to ship to
Hldreth. The fellow was without coat
and was wearing Misunderstanding six
shooter bucsied to his person, and Alonzo
Coons at once suspected him of being the
Hildreth stage robber. but received and
receipted for the articles in the usual man
ner. Before leaving the office the fellow
| asked permission tC open the valise, which
being given, he took from it coat which
Coons at once recognized as corresponding
exactly with the patch he had in his pos
session cut from Beck's vest
! As soon as the fellow left the office.
/ Coons sought and soon found Sheriff Nc
| Cord and Constable Tibbitts, and together
started in pursuit OF Sykes. They shortly
found him in a livery stable, where he
was preparing to leave town. He was i'm
mediately disarmed and lodged in Jail, and
Hume, who was in Chicago, was informed
/ by telegram of the arrest and asked for
further instructions, which he sent. Sheriff
hopping, of Shasta, immediately pro-
ceeded to Bakersfield with warrant for
Sykes and took him to Redding.
1t was thought unadvisable to keep
Sykes, and Beck, who was to be a witness
against him face to face in the same Jail,
and Beck was therefore removed to the
Tehama County Jail at Red Bluff, to be
detained until Hume should have returned
from the East, at which time the prelim-
mary examination would be held. Hume
reached San Francisco August 9th and
that same night Beck escaped from the Jail
at Red Bluff.
The preliminary examination of Sykes
was held, however, on the 23d, and Hume
was in attendance with sufficiently testi-
mony to warrant Sykes being held to
answer, without Beck's testimony In due
! time an information was filed by the Dis
trict Attorney charging Sykes with the
murder of Henderson.
On the 18th of September Beck was
again taken into custody by Hume, and on
the 18th placed in the Sacramento JAIL to
be there detained until such time as he
should be required to testify at the trial of
Sykes. On the 9th of October Sykes, for
reasons known only to himself and his at
torn .ys, pleaded guilty as charged in the in
form; !, and Judge Bell, of the Superior
Court of Shasta county, fixed Wednesday,
the 10th inst, as the day for taking testi-
mony to enable him to intelligently de-
termine the character of sentence to be
pronounced. Pleas of this character are
SO exceedingly rare that there can be no
question that Sykes attorneys deemed
this his only chance of escaping the death
penalty, for evident contrition and con-
fession will always carry great weight with
a Judge and community.
The case it will be seen, was a very in
tricate one, aud in working it up and pre-
pairing it Mr.. Hume states that he has de-
voted more than forty days time exclu-
sively to it; has travelled over six thou
sand miles and expended upwards of three
hundred dollars beyond his own personal
expenses. While the primary reward will
be paid to Others, Mr. Hume alone is en-