Tales from the Morgue: White slavery
J. C. Traut was tried on charges of violating the Mann Act, also called the White Slave Traffic Act, which was passed in 1910.
- Johanna Eubank
- Updated
In 1916, a sensational trial was held in the United States District Court in Tucson. J. C. Traut was tried on charges of violating the Mann Act, also called the White Slave Traffic Act, which was passed in 1910.
The Mann Act made it illegal to transport a woman across state lines for "immoral purposes." Curbing prostitution was the goal of the act.
Complications about the case included a victim who didn't want to testify against her alleged trafficker and was sorry to have had him arrested, the wife of the man on trial who had several aliases and a bit of a sordid history and a defendant who managed to make himself sick enough to skip a morning of the trial by smoking a marijuana cigarette.
Some definitions that might be helpful:
A "restricted district" is the red light district of a town. Yes, Tucson had one, but in this series the one most mentioned is in Winslow.
The "machine" (why does the Morgue Lady want to put the word "infernal" in front of the term?) is an automobile. The auto was a relatively new thing in Tucson, and was perhaps a bit scary, and thus often referred to as a "machine."
Another note: The defendant's name is J. C. Traut, but this is often misspelled in the articles as Trout.
- Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Also Prayed for Fatal Auto Wreck to No Avail, Witness Reveals
Efforts of Attorney B. E. Marks, representing J. C. Traut, charged with violating the Mann act, to show that Miss Adele Carter, or “Puss” Hall, prosecuting witness, had made statements since coming to Tucson the present week showing that she regretted having Traut arrested and that she was suffering from remorse and wished to die, were sensational features of the trial in the United States district court yesterday morning and evening.
Trout is charged with bringing Puss Hall from Needles, Cal., to Arizona for improper purposes.
Mrs. Traut, the first witness for the defense, after telling of her married life with the defendant, was asked by Attorney Marks if Miss Carter had not come to the Heidel hotel where she was rooming the other night and said in substance that she felt very sorry that she had prosecuted Traut and that she had done it in a made fit and that she was going out auto riding that evening and hoped the machine would turn over and kill her. Mrs. Traut answered, “Yes.”
On cross examination by United States Attorney Flynn Mrs. Traut denied that she had been a resident of the restricted district at Winslow in December, 1915, under the name of Jessie Brown. She stated that she parted from her husband in November, 1915, at Trinidad and later joined him at Prescott and had been with him ever since.
Miss Buster Evans testified for the defense, stating that she saw Traut at Kingman at the depot when he was leaving for Oatman, and he told her that he was trying to get rid of “Queen,” meaning Miss Hall, and that he did not want her to follow him.
Adele Carter was the principal witness of the morning. She told of the trip from Needles to Kingman and state that she bought her own ticket, but that the trip was taken at the suggestion of Traut.
Questions asked her in regard to alleged conversations since coming to Tucson about remorse for prosecuting Traut, received negative answers.
Mrs. Ryan, a rooming house keeper of Phoenix, testified for both prosecution and defense, and testified to visits made to Miss Carter at her place in Phoenix.
The case will be resumed Tuesday morning. Monday is law and motion day and there will be a number of prisoners sentenced also.
- Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Mrs. Traut, Wife of Man on Trial for White Slavery, Demands Arrest of Witness for Reflections on Character
The inability of J. C. Traut to testify in his own behalf yesterday morning, said to be due to the smoking of a marijuana cigarette, and an appeal of Mrs. Traut to Judge Sawtelle to have Miss Dell Winters arrested after she had given testimony that Mrs. Traut had been a woman of the underworld in Albuquerque in 1914, were sensational features of the Traut white slave case in the United States district court yesterday morning and afternoon.
According to the report from officers at the Pima county jail, where Traut is confined, he asked a fellow prisoner for a cigarette and was given one which made him violently ill, and he was unable to control himself. It was claimed that the cigarette had marijuana or Indian hemp in it. Trout recovered and was able to go on the stand in his own behalf the first thing in the afternoon.
Traut’s story began with his departure from Trinidad in November, 1915, and included incidents of his trip until he was arrested in Phoenix the following spring on the complaint of Puss Hall, prosecuting witness.
He denied that he had stopped at any towns along the Santa Fe railroad on his way to Kingman except at Gallup, N. M., where he met the Hall woman. He met her next in Needles, he said, and told of a quarrel when he charged her with stealing his watch and gun. He returned to Kingman, telling Miss Buster Evans to warn Miss Hall not to follow him, as he stated that she was getting fond of him and he feared that she would cause him trouble with officers.
Later he left Kingman for Prescott, admitting that he met Miss Hall on November 29, which was the same day that he met his wife, whom he stated he had wired to Trinidad to come and meet him. They came to Phoenix because he said that he had weak lungs and wished to have the benefit of the climate.
Trout denied that he had ever gotten any money from Miss Hall, that he had ever asked her to come with him, and stated that in cases of change of location, with the exception of Needles, she had always followed him. He stated that he visited her in Prescott after going to Phoenix, because she wrote him that she had his watch and gun and would return them.
Cross examination by United States Attorney Flynn was largely as to dates on which he had stopped at various towns.
Following testimony of Miss Dell Winters, keeper of a report at Gallup, on rebuttal, that she had known Mrs. Traut to be a prostitute in Albuquerque, Mrs. Traut suddenly rose and said, “Judge, I want that woman arrested.”
Judge Sawtelle explained to her that in case she had any complaint to make, it should be made to the state authorities or to the federal authorities after the trial, but that the trial could not be interrupted for any such purpose.
Witnesses were next introduced in rebuttal by the government to combat testimony of Mr. and Mrs. Traut that they had never been in Winslow. Miss Violet Iler, clerk at the Winslow post office, introduced a registry book and gave her testimony to show that Traut (whom she identified under the name of J. C. Miller) had sent a registered letter on December 4 to Puss Hall at Needles. She stated that she had delivered mail to Mrs. Traut, whom she identified under the name of “Jessie Brown.”
Mrs. Julia Mahoney, a pleasant faced woman with grayish hair, stated that she had been postmistress at Winslow for 18 years, which caused United States Attorney Flynn to say good-naturedly: “Politics doesn’t hurt you very much.”
She gave testimony in regard to registered letters sent from Winslow. When asked on cross examination by Attorney Marks if she knew anything about the restricted district of Winslow answered: “Yes, I have been there a few times, for whenever there is a special delivery letter I take it myself, for I don’t want one of my young women clerks to go and I would not send a young boy.”
F. G. La Pratt, an elderly man, admitted owning and renting property in the restricted district of Winslow. He identified Mrs. Traut as “Virginia Lee” who rented from him during December 1915. The last testimony will be finished this morning and the arguments completed.
- Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Attorneys Clash Over Alleged Unmasking of Defendant’s Wife as Former Woman of Demi Monde; White Slavery
After being out three hours and a half, the jury in the case of J. C. Traut, charged with violating the Mann white slave act by bringing Puss Hall, a prostitute, from Needles, Cal., to Kingman, Ariz., for immoral purposes, brought in a verdict of guilty yesterday afternoon at 6 o’clock.
Trout was only found guilty on the second count, which charged him with inducing her to come from Needles to Kingman, but not with transporting her, which was charged in the first count.
The jury returned once for instructions from Judge Sawtelle in regard to the use of the words “persuade,” “induce,” etc., in the indictment.
The case was featured by the hard legal fight made by Attorney B. E. Marks representing Traut ending in an eloquent plea before the jury yesterday morning. The feature in the work of the prosecution, represented by United States Attorney Flynn and his assistant, William J. Bryan, Jr., was the rushing of rebuttal witnesses from Winslow and Gallup Sunday and Monday to combat the testimony of Mrs. Traut that she had never been in Winslow as a resident of the restricted district and had never been a woman of the underworld.
The opening address for the government was made by William J. Bryan, Jr., assistant United States attorney, who reviewed the evidence in the case from the standpoint of the prosecution.
Juror Hypothetical Victim.
Attorney B. E. Marks, representing the defense, then made his address to the jury on behalf of Traut. In an effort to show the far-reaching effects of the Mann white slave act and how it might affect innocent persons if applied in the present case. Mr. Marks selected a member of the jury to serve in a hypothetical case of meeting a strange woman in Kansas City and telling her what a fine town Tucson was and what a good town to come to it would be. Later, Mr. Marks continued, this woman would come to the city and become a prostitute in the restricted district, and find this juror no longer would notice her, might have him arrested for inducing her to come to Tucson.
He attacked the attitude of United States Attorney Flynn in uncovering the past of Mrs. Traut as a woman of the underworld after she had denied living in the restricted district in Winslow. He declared that Mr. Flynn should have considered the wish of the woman to reform before he introduced evidence attacking her character. In closing he declared that the only real evidence was the testimony of Puss Hall, and that this was unworthy of credence. He paid an eloquent tribute to Mrs. Traut’s devotion in standing by her husband to the “brink of the penitentiary.”
A Lucky Chance.
United States Attorney Flynn in the closing argument spoke briefly, paying special attention to the attack made by Mr. Marks in regard to the unmasking of Mrs. Traut. He declared that it was his sworn duty to see that witnesses did not mislead judge, jury and attorneys, and he states that it was the lucky chance of a two-day intermission that gave him the chance to bring witnesses to Tucson from Winslow to show that Mrs. Traut had lived in Winslow as “Jessie Brown” or “Virginia Lee,” in the restricted district. He referred to Mrs. Traut as an “alleged wife,” which brought forth an objection from Attorney Marks. Mr. Flynn stated that he would refuse to base his argument on a personal attack on Traut’s character. He stated that he thought less of Traut, not on account of his past life as a character among prostitutes, but because he had lied on the witness stand. He closed with a plea to the jury to rely in main on the story told by Puss Hall, which he said, had been shown to be a truthful story.
- Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
White Slaver Sentenced to Two Years in Penitentiary and Fine of $100; Bisbee Miner Also Gets a Prison Term
Twenty-four months in the state penitentiary at Santa Fe, New Mexico, and a fine of $100 was the sentence passed on J. C. Traut, convicted of violating the Mann white slave act by inducing Puss Hall to come from Needles, Cal., to Kingman, Ariz., for immoral purposes, in the United States district court yesterday by Judge Sawtelle.
When Traut was called before the judge he was asked if he had anything to say why he should not be sentenced. He stated that he had had lung trouble and asked for leniency on that account. In response, Judge Sawtelle stated that Traut had not shown much consideration for his health in frequenting sporting houses, according to his testimony. He stated that he was satisfied that Traut not only had bad lungs but that his heart was also afflicted, but not physically, referring to his going to sporting houses immediately after he had telegraphed his wife to meet him.
Judge Sawtelle stated also that it appeared in the trial that Traut did not have a high regard for his word and that evidently the jury took this view.
Judge Sawtelle asked Traut if he was addicted to the drug habit, and he answered “No.” He admitted that his wife had given him chloral during the trial, but stated that some tablets which she had given him at the jail had been inspected by a jailer and pronounced to be “all right.”
“The jailer is hardly a proper judge,” Judge Sawtelle said afterwards, announcing that he would send Traut to Santa Fe for 24 months.
Griffith Sentenced
In the case of Joseph Griffith, Bisbee miner, convicted of violating the immigration law by bringing Miss Susie Ferrell to the United States for immoral purposes, Judge Sawtelle gave a sentence of fifteen months in the state penitentiary at Santa Fe and a fine of $100. Griffith still protested his innocence. Judge Sawtelle stated that he regretted sentient Griffith on account of his family, who were in want and needed his wages. John Reynolds, who was convicted Friday evening of bringing a girl from Mexico for immoral purposes, still asserted his innocence and his belief that the girl, Minnie Fernandez, whose name he had tattooed on his arm, was a good girl.
Reynolds a Mystery
“I can’t understand why it is,” Judge Sawtelle stated, “that a young man of your bringing up should associate with such a person after you had been told of her character.” He reminded Reynolds that he had already been convicted by the court and that the present was his second offense. He was given a sentence of 15 months in the state penitentiary at Santa Fe and fined $100.
- Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Arrest of Mrs. J. C. Traut Follows Escape of Husband and Seven Other Federal Prisoners From Phoenix Jail
The devotion of Mrs. J. C. Traut for her husband, who was convicted two weeks ago in the local United States district court on a charge of violating the white slave law, did not stop with his sentence, if the views of Phoenix officers are correct, for she was locked up yesterday at that city on the suspicion that she had aided her husband and seven other federal prisoners to escape yesterday morning from the Maricopa county jail.
The wholesale jail delivery, which is the most sensational that has occurred in the southwest for years, took place sometime about 1 o’clock Wednesday morning, and was not discovered until after 4 o’clock. The men sawed the bars of the big cage, it is supposed, with files which are believed to have been passed in to them by Mrs. Traut. She was allowed to talk with her husband by Maricopa county officials, and it is charged that she gave him the implements to make his escape during their talk.
The men besides Traut who escaped were as follows: Louis Basso, Jose Menar, Melecio Casso, John Reynolds, convicted by violating the immigration laws by importing women for Immoral purposes; Leroy Smith, George Moran, convicted of violating the Harrison act, and Dr. Stevens, convicted of impersonating a federal officer. They were sentenced to the Santa Fe penitentiary and were taken with others from Tucson last week to Phoenix from which point they were to be taken to the New Mexico state penitentiary. It was found, however, that the penitentiary was so crowded that they could not be accommodated, so the order was changed directing that they be confined in McNeil’s Island off the coast of Washington, where there is a Federal penitentiary. Trout was sentenced for two years, and the others were in for less terms.
The devotion of Mrs. Traut to her husband during the trial was unceasing. According to her testimony they were married in British Columbia a number of years ago. She denied on the stand ever having been an inmate of the restricted district at Winslow, Ariz., and her testimony on this point was contradicted by numerous government witnesses.
Twenty-five men were engaged in a hunt for the prisoners yesterday. United States Marshall Dillon left yesterday evening on the No. 1 to aid in the search for the escaped men.
- Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Men Who Escaped From Maricopa Prison Pretend to Be Stranded Miners On Desert and Beg for Water
Claiming to be stranded miners who were almost dying of thirst, five of the eight Federal prisoners who escaped from the Maricopa county jail early Wednesday morning stopped a freight train on the Santa Fe railroad at a small station north of Phoenix near Wickenburg and induced the train crew to give them water late Wednesday, according to news received by the Federal authorities in Tucson. They later disappeared in the desert.
This is the only trace that had been secured of the runaway prisoners up to late Thursday evening, but the capture of the men or at least some of them is expected at any moment as officers directed by United States Marshal Joe Dillon are hot on their trail.
The men who stopped the train are believed to have been the English speaking contingent of the escaped prisoners, including Traut, Dr. Stevens, Moran, Reynolds and Leroy Smith. It is believed that Melecio Casso and Jose Menar, the Mexicans, and Louis Basso Italian, who looks like a Mexican and speaks Spanish, will head for the border to make their getaway into Mexico.
As told exclusively in The Star yesterday morning, Mrs. J. C. Traut, alias Brown alias Virginia Lee, is being held in the Phoenix jail on suspicion that she aided the men in their escape. Formal proceedings against her are being held up pending the capture of the men.
Planned in Tucson
According to Phoenix accounts, the escape took place in the same manner that two counterfeiters escaped three years ago from the same place. The doors of the cells were unlocked and the men had the freedom of the entire tier. The last cell in the southeast corner was the means of exit. The men stood on the cot and made the opening that the counterfeiters had made easy for them three years before. The steel had been riveted over the hole then made and it was a difficult task to cut the rivets and release the plate by means of iron saws and a file fashioned as a saw. How and when these instruments were procured is not known. The convicts then crossed to the circular window directly opposite, filed two of the bars, crawled through an eight by fourteen-inch space hole and with a rope made from a blanket dropped to the ground below. There were five other men on the tier, but they refused to escape, preferring to take their chances with the law.
While they all claim to have known nothing about the plans of the eight who gained their liberty for at least a short time, they frankly admit that an escape had been planned in Tucson. The transfer to Phenix coming at the time it did, interfered with the break previously arranged. While they can throw no light on where the saw was secured, it was also learned that at least one of the men carried a revolver, which he threatened to use if the deputies were warned before they were given a start. It was 4:30 o’clock when the get-away was discovered.
- Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Arrested by Officers at Hot Springs Junction, and Four Men With Him May Be Apprehended in Near Future
Captain Hastings, otherwise known as Dr. Stevens, Dr. Roselli or Edward Millner, was the first one of the eight federal prisoners who escaped from the Maricopa county jail Wednesday morning to be captured. He was nabbed yesterday afternoon near Hot Springs Junction, which is on the railroad about half way between Phoenix and Prescott. The capture of the four other men who were with him is believed to be imminent.
R. R. Roberts, an auto driver known as “Blondie,” was taken into custody yesterday in Phoenix on a charge of being implicated in the escape. Roberts admitted that he drove the eight men to Peoria, north of Phoenix, the morning of the escape. He returned to the city to get Mrs. Traut and a hat for Traut, which the latter insisted upon. Roberts was unable to explain why he returned to the place where the men had held him up. He then drove them four miles north of Glendale, where he left them saying that he could go no further.
Mrs. Traut claims on the other hand that Roberts offered to give the men his machine, telling them that he would represent to the insurance company that the car had been stolen and collect the insurance.
The other three men, two of whom are Mexicans, are believed to have headed for Tucson and the border, but thus far no trace has been secured of them.
John Carpenter, a news agent on the Phoenix and Prescott railroad, was also arrested in connection with the affair. He was riding with Roberts when the machine was held up by the eight men. The day before he denied all connection with the affair, but yesterday made a full confession. His story of the get-away agreed with that of Roberts’. The two men and Mrs. Trout (sic) stayed at a road house on the Tempe road after leaving the escaped men.
Mrs. Trout is in the county jail at Phoenix and still denies knowing anything about the jailbreak prior to the time she was sent for by Trout. She said that Mrs. Nesbit, her landlady aroused her, after 1 o’clock saying, “Jessie, jump up out of bed, they’ve broken out of jail.” This was said at the time that the machine was sent to the Nesbit rooming house for Mrs. Trout.
Mrs. Nesbit later in the day denied that she said anything of the kind and declares that she knew nothing of the escape of the prisoners. She supposed that Trout had a hemorrhage and wanted his wife. Mrs. Nesbit was a witness in the case against Trout at Tucson, appearing for the defense.
- Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
John Reynolds and LeRoy Smith Surprised at Hiding Place on North Fourth Ave. and Taken Into Custody
George Moran, one of the eight federal convicts who escaped from the Maricopa county jail Wednesday, has been taken into custody by U. S. Marshal Dillon, according to information received here yesterday. Moran believes the J. C. Traut, another of the fugitives, is dead, as Moran and other in flight left Traut lying on the desert, unable to go further. If Traut is dead, only three fugitives remain to be accounted for.
Acting on information that two of the federal prisoners who escaped from the Maricopa county jail Wednesday, were at 212 North Fourth avenue, Deputies Sullinger, Montgomery and Miles and Rangers Taylor and Simpson, acting under the direction of Deputy United States Marshal Hudson, hurrying to the place in an automobile, each heavily armed, surrounded the house. Deputy Montgomery was selected as the one to open the front door, while the others guarded all avenues of escape and stood ready to render assistance to Deputy Montgomery.
Prepared to meet armed resistance, Deputy Sheriff Montgomery opened the door just as LeRoy Smith, convicted of violating the Harrison anti-narcotic law, was in the act of drawing a hop-gun for the purpose of taking an injection of dope in his arm.
John Reynolds convicted of violating the federal immigration law by bringing women into the United States for immoral purposes, was also in the room.
The men were completely surprised and even had they been prepared to resist being taken into custody, they would have been powerless. However, they were not armed. Smith took his arrest stoically by Reynolds appeared much depressed.
The plans of the deputies for taking the men into custody were ready for execution at 3 o’clock yesterday afternoon. Information had even received by them previously that two men believed to be escaped federal convicts were seen to get off a Southern Pacific train at Jaynes Station Friday morning.
Suspecting that the men might try to reach Mexico via Tucson, officers watched a discharged prisoner who had been in jail at the time the federal prisoners were being held there awaiting trial on federal court. He was seen yesterday afternoon to go to 212 North Fourth avenue in an automobile. Later the driver of the automobile was employed to direct the officers to the place, where they confirmed their belief that two of the escaped convicts were hiding in the house. Returning to the sheriff’s office, the posse was formed and all of the deputies went to the house in an automobile, where Reynolds and Smith were taken into custody.
George Moran, the fourth of the eight escaped prisoners to be captured, was taken at Phoenix yesterday afternoon according to word received by local federal officers. Leroy Smith and Joe Reynolds, captured by local officers in Tucson at 3 o’clock yesterday afternoon, and Captain Hastings, alias Dr. Stevens, captured in Phoenix Friday are the other taken this far.
At the county jail yesterday evening, the two men, Smith and Reynolds, were more or less heroes among the prisoners, most of whom had known them during their former imprisonment in the jail. They were more or less non-committal about their trip.
“We didn’t ride a freight,” Reynolds said about their trip from Phoenix. “We came in an automobile.”
“The Phoenix papers said you all had plenty of money,” he was told.
“Well, that’s the only thing that they had right about it,” Smith replied. “We got out clean and now we’re back and that’s all there is to it.”
“But another twelve hours,” Reynolds interrupted, “and we’d have been across the line.”
“If someone here hadn’t turned us in,” Smith declared, “We’d been with Pancho Villa in a little while.”
They were asked why Trout sent the machine after Mrs. Trout.
“Maybe he didn’t,” one of them answered, but they refused to tell anything about the midnight ride that Roberts, the chauffeur, and Carpenter, the Santa Fe news butcher, gave them four miles north of Glendale. They admitted, however that the news that Mrs. Trout and the two men had spent the remainder of the evening at a roadhouse on the Tempe road, was unknown to them.
Both Smith and Reynolds were in good shape and did not seem to show any signs that the trip had been a hard one on them. Smith was in good spirits and was disposed to joke about his hard luck in getting caught, but Reynolds seemed to feel rather blue.
They declared that they did not believe Mrs. Trout knew anything about the jailbreak until it happened, but they did not go into any further particulars.
- Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Officers Expect Trout to Tell the Full Story of Jailbreak
With the capture of J. C. Trout at Phoenix early Sunday morning, but three of the eight escaped federal prisoners, Casso, Basso and Menar, remain at large. It is practically certain that they will attempt to cross the line into Mexico and officers in the southern part of the state are watching for them.
Trout returned to Phoenix Saturday afternoon and went to a barber shop, got shaved, then played pool and afterwards went to his room and got some new clothing.
Trout admitted that he saw Moran captured at Hot Springs Junction Friday. Trout had given Moran money and told him to go to the general store at Hot Springs Junction to buy food “for the gang.” He probably suspected that approaches to rations were being guarded. At any rate, he had his suspicions confirmed, when Roy Morrell stepped out of the store and pushed a gun in Moran’s face. Then Trout “took a sneak.”
That Trout has or will implicate the men confined for complicity in the escape of eight federal prisoners from the county jail last Wednesday morning, is intimated in official quarters. It is known that he submitted to over an hour’s questioning yesterday.
More like this...
- Johanna Eubank
In 1916, a sensational trial was held in the United States District Court in Tucson. J. C. Traut was tried on charges of violating the Mann Act, also called the White Slave Traffic Act, which was passed in 1910.
The Mann Act made it illegal to transport a woman across state lines for "immoral purposes." Curbing prostitution was the goal of the act.
Complications about the case included a victim who didn't want to testify against her alleged trafficker and was sorry to have had him arrested, the wife of the man on trial who had several aliases and a bit of a sordid history and a defendant who managed to make himself sick enough to skip a morning of the trial by smoking a marijuana cigarette.
Some definitions that might be helpful:
A "restricted district" is the red light district of a town. Yes, Tucson had one, but in this series the one most mentioned is in Winslow.
The "machine" (why does the Morgue Lady want to put the word "infernal" in front of the term?) is an automobile. The auto was a relatively new thing in Tucson, and was perhaps a bit scary, and thus often referred to as a "machine."
Another note: The defendant's name is J. C. Traut, but this is often misspelled in the articles as Trout.
- Arizona Daily Star
Also Prayed for Fatal Auto Wreck to No Avail, Witness Reveals
Efforts of Attorney B. E. Marks, representing J. C. Traut, charged with violating the Mann act, to show that Miss Adele Carter, or “Puss” Hall, prosecuting witness, had made statements since coming to Tucson the present week showing that she regretted having Traut arrested and that she was suffering from remorse and wished to die, were sensational features of the trial in the United States district court yesterday morning and evening.
Trout is charged with bringing Puss Hall from Needles, Cal., to Arizona for improper purposes.
Mrs. Traut, the first witness for the defense, after telling of her married life with the defendant, was asked by Attorney Marks if Miss Carter had not come to the Heidel hotel where she was rooming the other night and said in substance that she felt very sorry that she had prosecuted Traut and that she had done it in a made fit and that she was going out auto riding that evening and hoped the machine would turn over and kill her. Mrs. Traut answered, “Yes.”
On cross examination by United States Attorney Flynn Mrs. Traut denied that she had been a resident of the restricted district at Winslow in December, 1915, under the name of Jessie Brown. She stated that she parted from her husband in November, 1915, at Trinidad and later joined him at Prescott and had been with him ever since.
Miss Buster Evans testified for the defense, stating that she saw Traut at Kingman at the depot when he was leaving for Oatman, and he told her that he was trying to get rid of “Queen,” meaning Miss Hall, and that he did not want her to follow him.
Adele Carter was the principal witness of the morning. She told of the trip from Needles to Kingman and state that she bought her own ticket, but that the trip was taken at the suggestion of Traut.
Questions asked her in regard to alleged conversations since coming to Tucson about remorse for prosecuting Traut, received negative answers.
Mrs. Ryan, a rooming house keeper of Phoenix, testified for both prosecution and defense, and testified to visits made to Miss Carter at her place in Phoenix.
The case will be resumed Tuesday morning. Monday is law and motion day and there will be a number of prisoners sentenced also.
- Arizona Daily Star
Mrs. Traut, Wife of Man on Trial for White Slavery, Demands Arrest of Witness for Reflections on Character
The inability of J. C. Traut to testify in his own behalf yesterday morning, said to be due to the smoking of a marijuana cigarette, and an appeal of Mrs. Traut to Judge Sawtelle to have Miss Dell Winters arrested after she had given testimony that Mrs. Traut had been a woman of the underworld in Albuquerque in 1914, were sensational features of the Traut white slave case in the United States district court yesterday morning and afternoon.
According to the report from officers at the Pima county jail, where Traut is confined, he asked a fellow prisoner for a cigarette and was given one which made him violently ill, and he was unable to control himself. It was claimed that the cigarette had marijuana or Indian hemp in it. Trout recovered and was able to go on the stand in his own behalf the first thing in the afternoon.
Traut’s story began with his departure from Trinidad in November, 1915, and included incidents of his trip until he was arrested in Phoenix the following spring on the complaint of Puss Hall, prosecuting witness.
He denied that he had stopped at any towns along the Santa Fe railroad on his way to Kingman except at Gallup, N. M., where he met the Hall woman. He met her next in Needles, he said, and told of a quarrel when he charged her with stealing his watch and gun. He returned to Kingman, telling Miss Buster Evans to warn Miss Hall not to follow him, as he stated that she was getting fond of him and he feared that she would cause him trouble with officers.
Later he left Kingman for Prescott, admitting that he met Miss Hall on November 29, which was the same day that he met his wife, whom he stated he had wired to Trinidad to come and meet him. They came to Phoenix because he said that he had weak lungs and wished to have the benefit of the climate.
Trout denied that he had ever gotten any money from Miss Hall, that he had ever asked her to come with him, and stated that in cases of change of location, with the exception of Needles, she had always followed him. He stated that he visited her in Prescott after going to Phoenix, because she wrote him that she had his watch and gun and would return them.
Cross examination by United States Attorney Flynn was largely as to dates on which he had stopped at various towns.
Following testimony of Miss Dell Winters, keeper of a report at Gallup, on rebuttal, that she had known Mrs. Traut to be a prostitute in Albuquerque, Mrs. Traut suddenly rose and said, “Judge, I want that woman arrested.”
Judge Sawtelle explained to her that in case she had any complaint to make, it should be made to the state authorities or to the federal authorities after the trial, but that the trial could not be interrupted for any such purpose.
Witnesses were next introduced in rebuttal by the government to combat testimony of Mr. and Mrs. Traut that they had never been in Winslow. Miss Violet Iler, clerk at the Winslow post office, introduced a registry book and gave her testimony to show that Traut (whom she identified under the name of J. C. Miller) had sent a registered letter on December 4 to Puss Hall at Needles. She stated that she had delivered mail to Mrs. Traut, whom she identified under the name of “Jessie Brown.”
Mrs. Julia Mahoney, a pleasant faced woman with grayish hair, stated that she had been postmistress at Winslow for 18 years, which caused United States Attorney Flynn to say good-naturedly: “Politics doesn’t hurt you very much.”
She gave testimony in regard to registered letters sent from Winslow. When asked on cross examination by Attorney Marks if she knew anything about the restricted district of Winslow answered: “Yes, I have been there a few times, for whenever there is a special delivery letter I take it myself, for I don’t want one of my young women clerks to go and I would not send a young boy.”
F. G. La Pratt, an elderly man, admitted owning and renting property in the restricted district of Winslow. He identified Mrs. Traut as “Virginia Lee” who rented from him during December 1915. The last testimony will be finished this morning and the arguments completed.
- Arizona Daily Star
Attorneys Clash Over Alleged Unmasking of Defendant’s Wife as Former Woman of Demi Monde; White Slavery
After being out three hours and a half, the jury in the case of J. C. Traut, charged with violating the Mann white slave act by bringing Puss Hall, a prostitute, from Needles, Cal., to Kingman, Ariz., for immoral purposes, brought in a verdict of guilty yesterday afternoon at 6 o’clock.
Trout was only found guilty on the second count, which charged him with inducing her to come from Needles to Kingman, but not with transporting her, which was charged in the first count.
The jury returned once for instructions from Judge Sawtelle in regard to the use of the words “persuade,” “induce,” etc., in the indictment.
The case was featured by the hard legal fight made by Attorney B. E. Marks representing Traut ending in an eloquent plea before the jury yesterday morning. The feature in the work of the prosecution, represented by United States Attorney Flynn and his assistant, William J. Bryan, Jr., was the rushing of rebuttal witnesses from Winslow and Gallup Sunday and Monday to combat the testimony of Mrs. Traut that she had never been in Winslow as a resident of the restricted district and had never been a woman of the underworld.
The opening address for the government was made by William J. Bryan, Jr., assistant United States attorney, who reviewed the evidence in the case from the standpoint of the prosecution.
Juror Hypothetical Victim.
Attorney B. E. Marks, representing the defense, then made his address to the jury on behalf of Traut. In an effort to show the far-reaching effects of the Mann white slave act and how it might affect innocent persons if applied in the present case. Mr. Marks selected a member of the jury to serve in a hypothetical case of meeting a strange woman in Kansas City and telling her what a fine town Tucson was and what a good town to come to it would be. Later, Mr. Marks continued, this woman would come to the city and become a prostitute in the restricted district, and find this juror no longer would notice her, might have him arrested for inducing her to come to Tucson.
He attacked the attitude of United States Attorney Flynn in uncovering the past of Mrs. Traut as a woman of the underworld after she had denied living in the restricted district in Winslow. He declared that Mr. Flynn should have considered the wish of the woman to reform before he introduced evidence attacking her character. In closing he declared that the only real evidence was the testimony of Puss Hall, and that this was unworthy of credence. He paid an eloquent tribute to Mrs. Traut’s devotion in standing by her husband to the “brink of the penitentiary.”
A Lucky Chance.
United States Attorney Flynn in the closing argument spoke briefly, paying special attention to the attack made by Mr. Marks in regard to the unmasking of Mrs. Traut. He declared that it was his sworn duty to see that witnesses did not mislead judge, jury and attorneys, and he states that it was the lucky chance of a two-day intermission that gave him the chance to bring witnesses to Tucson from Winslow to show that Mrs. Traut had lived in Winslow as “Jessie Brown” or “Virginia Lee,” in the restricted district. He referred to Mrs. Traut as an “alleged wife,” which brought forth an objection from Attorney Marks. Mr. Flynn stated that he would refuse to base his argument on a personal attack on Traut’s character. He stated that he thought less of Traut, not on account of his past life as a character among prostitutes, but because he had lied on the witness stand. He closed with a plea to the jury to rely in main on the story told by Puss Hall, which he said, had been shown to be a truthful story.
- Arizona Daily Star
White Slaver Sentenced to Two Years in Penitentiary and Fine of $100; Bisbee Miner Also Gets a Prison Term
Twenty-four months in the state penitentiary at Santa Fe, New Mexico, and a fine of $100 was the sentence passed on J. C. Traut, convicted of violating the Mann white slave act by inducing Puss Hall to come from Needles, Cal., to Kingman, Ariz., for immoral purposes, in the United States district court yesterday by Judge Sawtelle.
When Traut was called before the judge he was asked if he had anything to say why he should not be sentenced. He stated that he had had lung trouble and asked for leniency on that account. In response, Judge Sawtelle stated that Traut had not shown much consideration for his health in frequenting sporting houses, according to his testimony. He stated that he was satisfied that Traut not only had bad lungs but that his heart was also afflicted, but not physically, referring to his going to sporting houses immediately after he had telegraphed his wife to meet him.
Judge Sawtelle stated also that it appeared in the trial that Traut did not have a high regard for his word and that evidently the jury took this view.
Judge Sawtelle asked Traut if he was addicted to the drug habit, and he answered “No.” He admitted that his wife had given him chloral during the trial, but stated that some tablets which she had given him at the jail had been inspected by a jailer and pronounced to be “all right.”
“The jailer is hardly a proper judge,” Judge Sawtelle said afterwards, announcing that he would send Traut to Santa Fe for 24 months.
Griffith Sentenced
In the case of Joseph Griffith, Bisbee miner, convicted of violating the immigration law by bringing Miss Susie Ferrell to the United States for immoral purposes, Judge Sawtelle gave a sentence of fifteen months in the state penitentiary at Santa Fe and a fine of $100. Griffith still protested his innocence. Judge Sawtelle stated that he regretted sentient Griffith on account of his family, who were in want and needed his wages. John Reynolds, who was convicted Friday evening of bringing a girl from Mexico for immoral purposes, still asserted his innocence and his belief that the girl, Minnie Fernandez, whose name he had tattooed on his arm, was a good girl.
Reynolds a Mystery
“I can’t understand why it is,” Judge Sawtelle stated, “that a young man of your bringing up should associate with such a person after you had been told of her character.” He reminded Reynolds that he had already been convicted by the court and that the present was his second offense. He was given a sentence of 15 months in the state penitentiary at Santa Fe and fined $100.
- Arizona Daily Star
Arrest of Mrs. J. C. Traut Follows Escape of Husband and Seven Other Federal Prisoners From Phoenix Jail
The devotion of Mrs. J. C. Traut for her husband, who was convicted two weeks ago in the local United States district court on a charge of violating the white slave law, did not stop with his sentence, if the views of Phoenix officers are correct, for she was locked up yesterday at that city on the suspicion that she had aided her husband and seven other federal prisoners to escape yesterday morning from the Maricopa county jail.
The wholesale jail delivery, which is the most sensational that has occurred in the southwest for years, took place sometime about 1 o’clock Wednesday morning, and was not discovered until after 4 o’clock. The men sawed the bars of the big cage, it is supposed, with files which are believed to have been passed in to them by Mrs. Traut. She was allowed to talk with her husband by Maricopa county officials, and it is charged that she gave him the implements to make his escape during their talk.
The men besides Traut who escaped were as follows: Louis Basso, Jose Menar, Melecio Casso, John Reynolds, convicted by violating the immigration laws by importing women for Immoral purposes; Leroy Smith, George Moran, convicted of violating the Harrison act, and Dr. Stevens, convicted of impersonating a federal officer. They were sentenced to the Santa Fe penitentiary and were taken with others from Tucson last week to Phoenix from which point they were to be taken to the New Mexico state penitentiary. It was found, however, that the penitentiary was so crowded that they could not be accommodated, so the order was changed directing that they be confined in McNeil’s Island off the coast of Washington, where there is a Federal penitentiary. Trout was sentenced for two years, and the others were in for less terms.
The devotion of Mrs. Traut to her husband during the trial was unceasing. According to her testimony they were married in British Columbia a number of years ago. She denied on the stand ever having been an inmate of the restricted district at Winslow, Ariz., and her testimony on this point was contradicted by numerous government witnesses.
Twenty-five men were engaged in a hunt for the prisoners yesterday. United States Marshall Dillon left yesterday evening on the No. 1 to aid in the search for the escaped men.
- Arizona Daily Star
Men Who Escaped From Maricopa Prison Pretend to Be Stranded Miners On Desert and Beg for Water
Claiming to be stranded miners who were almost dying of thirst, five of the eight Federal prisoners who escaped from the Maricopa county jail early Wednesday morning stopped a freight train on the Santa Fe railroad at a small station north of Phoenix near Wickenburg and induced the train crew to give them water late Wednesday, according to news received by the Federal authorities in Tucson. They later disappeared in the desert.
This is the only trace that had been secured of the runaway prisoners up to late Thursday evening, but the capture of the men or at least some of them is expected at any moment as officers directed by United States Marshal Joe Dillon are hot on their trail.
The men who stopped the train are believed to have been the English speaking contingent of the escaped prisoners, including Traut, Dr. Stevens, Moran, Reynolds and Leroy Smith. It is believed that Melecio Casso and Jose Menar, the Mexicans, and Louis Basso Italian, who looks like a Mexican and speaks Spanish, will head for the border to make their getaway into Mexico.
As told exclusively in The Star yesterday morning, Mrs. J. C. Traut, alias Brown alias Virginia Lee, is being held in the Phoenix jail on suspicion that she aided the men in their escape. Formal proceedings against her are being held up pending the capture of the men.
Planned in Tucson
According to Phoenix accounts, the escape took place in the same manner that two counterfeiters escaped three years ago from the same place. The doors of the cells were unlocked and the men had the freedom of the entire tier. The last cell in the southeast corner was the means of exit. The men stood on the cot and made the opening that the counterfeiters had made easy for them three years before. The steel had been riveted over the hole then made and it was a difficult task to cut the rivets and release the plate by means of iron saws and a file fashioned as a saw. How and when these instruments were procured is not known. The convicts then crossed to the circular window directly opposite, filed two of the bars, crawled through an eight by fourteen-inch space hole and with a rope made from a blanket dropped to the ground below. There were five other men on the tier, but they refused to escape, preferring to take their chances with the law.
While they all claim to have known nothing about the plans of the eight who gained their liberty for at least a short time, they frankly admit that an escape had been planned in Tucson. The transfer to Phenix coming at the time it did, interfered with the break previously arranged. While they can throw no light on where the saw was secured, it was also learned that at least one of the men carried a revolver, which he threatened to use if the deputies were warned before they were given a start. It was 4:30 o’clock when the get-away was discovered.
- Arizona Daily Star
Arrested by Officers at Hot Springs Junction, and Four Men With Him May Be Apprehended in Near Future
Captain Hastings, otherwise known as Dr. Stevens, Dr. Roselli or Edward Millner, was the first one of the eight federal prisoners who escaped from the Maricopa county jail Wednesday morning to be captured. He was nabbed yesterday afternoon near Hot Springs Junction, which is on the railroad about half way between Phoenix and Prescott. The capture of the four other men who were with him is believed to be imminent.
R. R. Roberts, an auto driver known as “Blondie,” was taken into custody yesterday in Phoenix on a charge of being implicated in the escape. Roberts admitted that he drove the eight men to Peoria, north of Phoenix, the morning of the escape. He returned to the city to get Mrs. Traut and a hat for Traut, which the latter insisted upon. Roberts was unable to explain why he returned to the place where the men had held him up. He then drove them four miles north of Glendale, where he left them saying that he could go no further.
Mrs. Traut claims on the other hand that Roberts offered to give the men his machine, telling them that he would represent to the insurance company that the car had been stolen and collect the insurance.
The other three men, two of whom are Mexicans, are believed to have headed for Tucson and the border, but thus far no trace has been secured of them.
John Carpenter, a news agent on the Phoenix and Prescott railroad, was also arrested in connection with the affair. He was riding with Roberts when the machine was held up by the eight men. The day before he denied all connection with the affair, but yesterday made a full confession. His story of the get-away agreed with that of Roberts’. The two men and Mrs. Trout (sic) stayed at a road house on the Tempe road after leaving the escaped men.
Mrs. Trout is in the county jail at Phoenix and still denies knowing anything about the jailbreak prior to the time she was sent for by Trout. She said that Mrs. Nesbit, her landlady aroused her, after 1 o’clock saying, “Jessie, jump up out of bed, they’ve broken out of jail.” This was said at the time that the machine was sent to the Nesbit rooming house for Mrs. Trout.
Mrs. Nesbit later in the day denied that she said anything of the kind and declares that she knew nothing of the escape of the prisoners. She supposed that Trout had a hemorrhage and wanted his wife. Mrs. Nesbit was a witness in the case against Trout at Tucson, appearing for the defense.
- Arizona Daily Star
John Reynolds and LeRoy Smith Surprised at Hiding Place on North Fourth Ave. and Taken Into Custody
George Moran, one of the eight federal convicts who escaped from the Maricopa county jail Wednesday, has been taken into custody by U. S. Marshal Dillon, according to information received here yesterday. Moran believes the J. C. Traut, another of the fugitives, is dead, as Moran and other in flight left Traut lying on the desert, unable to go further. If Traut is dead, only three fugitives remain to be accounted for.
Acting on information that two of the federal prisoners who escaped from the Maricopa county jail Wednesday, were at 212 North Fourth avenue, Deputies Sullinger, Montgomery and Miles and Rangers Taylor and Simpson, acting under the direction of Deputy United States Marshal Hudson, hurrying to the place in an automobile, each heavily armed, surrounded the house. Deputy Montgomery was selected as the one to open the front door, while the others guarded all avenues of escape and stood ready to render assistance to Deputy Montgomery.
Prepared to meet armed resistance, Deputy Sheriff Montgomery opened the door just as LeRoy Smith, convicted of violating the Harrison anti-narcotic law, was in the act of drawing a hop-gun for the purpose of taking an injection of dope in his arm.
John Reynolds convicted of violating the federal immigration law by bringing women into the United States for immoral purposes, was also in the room.
The men were completely surprised and even had they been prepared to resist being taken into custody, they would have been powerless. However, they were not armed. Smith took his arrest stoically by Reynolds appeared much depressed.
The plans of the deputies for taking the men into custody were ready for execution at 3 o’clock yesterday afternoon. Information had even received by them previously that two men believed to be escaped federal convicts were seen to get off a Southern Pacific train at Jaynes Station Friday morning.
Suspecting that the men might try to reach Mexico via Tucson, officers watched a discharged prisoner who had been in jail at the time the federal prisoners were being held there awaiting trial on federal court. He was seen yesterday afternoon to go to 212 North Fourth avenue in an automobile. Later the driver of the automobile was employed to direct the officers to the place, where they confirmed their belief that two of the escaped convicts were hiding in the house. Returning to the sheriff’s office, the posse was formed and all of the deputies went to the house in an automobile, where Reynolds and Smith were taken into custody.
George Moran, the fourth of the eight escaped prisoners to be captured, was taken at Phoenix yesterday afternoon according to word received by local federal officers. Leroy Smith and Joe Reynolds, captured by local officers in Tucson at 3 o’clock yesterday afternoon, and Captain Hastings, alias Dr. Stevens, captured in Phoenix Friday are the other taken this far.
At the county jail yesterday evening, the two men, Smith and Reynolds, were more or less heroes among the prisoners, most of whom had known them during their former imprisonment in the jail. They were more or less non-committal about their trip.
“We didn’t ride a freight,” Reynolds said about their trip from Phoenix. “We came in an automobile.”
“The Phoenix papers said you all had plenty of money,” he was told.
“Well, that’s the only thing that they had right about it,” Smith replied. “We got out clean and now we’re back and that’s all there is to it.”
“But another twelve hours,” Reynolds interrupted, “and we’d have been across the line.”
“If someone here hadn’t turned us in,” Smith declared, “We’d been with Pancho Villa in a little while.”
They were asked why Trout sent the machine after Mrs. Trout.
“Maybe he didn’t,” one of them answered, but they refused to tell anything about the midnight ride that Roberts, the chauffeur, and Carpenter, the Santa Fe news butcher, gave them four miles north of Glendale. They admitted, however that the news that Mrs. Trout and the two men had spent the remainder of the evening at a roadhouse on the Tempe road, was unknown to them.
Both Smith and Reynolds were in good shape and did not seem to show any signs that the trip had been a hard one on them. Smith was in good spirits and was disposed to joke about his hard luck in getting caught, but Reynolds seemed to feel rather blue.
They declared that they did not believe Mrs. Trout knew anything about the jailbreak until it happened, but they did not go into any further particulars.
- Arizona Daily Star
Officers Expect Trout to Tell the Full Story of Jailbreak
With the capture of J. C. Trout at Phoenix early Sunday morning, but three of the eight escaped federal prisoners, Casso, Basso and Menar, remain at large. It is practically certain that they will attempt to cross the line into Mexico and officers in the southern part of the state are watching for them.
Trout returned to Phoenix Saturday afternoon and went to a barber shop, got shaved, then played pool and afterwards went to his room and got some new clothing.
Trout admitted that he saw Moran captured at Hot Springs Junction Friday. Trout had given Moran money and told him to go to the general store at Hot Springs Junction to buy food “for the gang.” He probably suspected that approaches to rations were being guarded. At any rate, he had his suspicions confirmed, when Roy Morrell stepped out of the store and pushed a gun in Moran’s face. Then Trout “took a sneak.”
That Trout has or will implicate the men confined for complicity in the escape of eight federal prisoners from the county jail last Wednesday morning, is intimated in official quarters. It is known that he submitted to over an hour’s questioning yesterday.
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