Arizona republican., 1894-12-11
HE WAS HIMSELF HerndOn Proves That He
 Is Not HiIlman. The Arrest Was aPurely Private Enterprise. The Insurance Companies Took Little Interest In 1t. They Believe HilIman is Dead and At any Rate do Not Need Him
 in Their Business.

It transpires that the officers who thought they had arrested J. W. Hill man who the insurance com panies say is the most monumental insurance dead beat on record have simply rob- bed a mare's nest. L. B. Herndon ho was really the man arrested has satls- fled the authorities that he is himself and no other person, has been dis charged and the reward offered for the mythical Hillman variously re- ported at from 5000 to $15,000 has vanished in the distance.
 The following communication was received yesterday from Hon. H. C.. Herrick representative elect from Cochise county:
 M FAIRBANKS. Arizona, Dec. 7, 1891. "EDIToR OF ARIZONA REPUBLICAN:
 "DEAR SIR: Having been guest at the Copper Glance mine, where L. B. Herndon was arrested on Thanksgiving day, deem it proper to give you the facts concerning the arrest, and the subsequent detention of the prisoner in Tom bstone. L. B. Herndon was ar rested as J. w. Hillman, without a warrant. After the officers left the camp with the prisoner, a comparison of their diverse statements led to the suspicion that it was case of kidnap- ing. It also transpired that the man really wanted should be about 50 years old, while no one present estimated Herndon's age at over 35 years. Con- sequently, Thes. Duncan and my son James L. promptly adopted the sugges- tion to trail and locate the officers, and then go to Tom bstone for writ of habeas corpus, thereby defending the peace and dignity of Cochise county and relieving an inoffensive man from grave contingencies Sheriff White found the party at Fairbanks waiting for the outgoing train. Today the com pany witnesses agreed that Herndon Is not Hillman and the court dismissed the case.
 HI. c. HERRICK."
 It also turns out that the random ar rest of Herndon WAS purely private enterprise, made solely on the responsi- bility of the officers and entirely with out the instigation of the insurance companies.
 A member of Topeka firm of legal representatives of the insurance com panies interviewed by a newspaper re- porter concerning the arrest, said:
 ''We dislike to give any information upon the subject and have kept out oF the newspapers upon this Hillman mat ter. There is so much said on the sub iect and so much untruthful, sensational matter printed it embarrasses the litiga tion which is pending upon the policies. Concerning the matter of which you speak, all we can say is this: There have been rewards offered at different times and it is not strange that var1ous persons from time to time have thought that they had found Mir. Hill man. More than once persons sup posed to be MT. Hlllman have been ar rested, and have escaped custody, so that absolute identification has failed, although there is some reason for thinking that the right man was de- tained few days at one time and es- capped.
 "We, as attorneys, have nothing to do with this matter. We have lately re- ceived several telegrams from a person saying that he had located HiIlman. This person is not working under our orders or directions, nor. as far as we know, under the orders or directions of the insurance companies. He is work ing on his own hook, as we understand it, to obtain the reward which would be paid for the arrest of MT. Hillman as a murderer. Our messages are from neither MT. Gemmell nor Mir. Finley.
 "Nogales is on the Mexican line. We have been advised that Mir. Hill man was on the border, but the state ments have been so brief and unsatis- factory that we have paid no attention to them. A man IS now arrested, but whether he is Hillman or not, we have