Hellraisers Journal: Adams Spirited Away from Boise by Shoshone County Sheriff; Darrow Awaits Arrival in Wallace

Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday September 18, 1906
Northern Idaho – Exact Location of Adams Unknown

From The Idaho Daily Statesman of September 14, 1906:

SHREWD SHERIFF FROM NORTH
—–

OFFICER SUTHERLAND SECRETLY DEPARTS FROM
BOISE WITH STEVE ADAMS IN CHARGE.
—–

Attorneys Darrow, Nugent and Morrison Apply
for Writs of Habeas Corpus Several Hours
Too Late-Start on Chase to Wallace-
Colorado Officers Are Baffled.
—–

Yesterday afternoon, when Sheriff Moseley [of Ada County] and his deputies were scouring the city, for the purpose of serving a writ of habeas corpus on Sheriff Sutherland, calling him into the district court to show cause why he was keeping Steve Adams confined in the state penitentiary, the slick sheriff from Shoshone county was miles and miles upon his way home with his prisoner safely in charge and it is presumed that Warden Whitney of the penitentiary was with him assisting to guard the prisoner.

Just when Sheriff Sutherland left for home is not known. He evidently intended that it should not be known when he left. He did not give up his room at the Idanha. The books at the hotel show him to be still stopping there. He has not been checked out. The clerk there says he did not settle his bill before disappearing.

Sheriff Sutherland evidently did not intend to be thwarted in his purpose of taking Steve Adams to Shoshone county. He intended to start with the man while he had him in his custody and take no chances of being detained.

Yesterday forenoon Attorneys John Morrison, John Nugent and Clarence Darrow presented an application in the district court for a writ of habeas corpus for Steve Adams, whom they said was being detained against his will in the state penitentiary. The application stated that Adams was being held on a warrant in the hands of Sheriff Sutherland, who had placed him in the penitentiary for safe keeping until he should take him to Wallace for a hearing. The petition alleged that Adams’ detention there was without due process of law and without an order from any court and that his detention should be in the county jail of Ada county instead of the penitentiary.

In the application the attorneys claimed that the prison authorities had refused them the privilege of conversing privately with Adams and they asked that the warden of the penitentiary and Sheriff Sutherland be ordered to bring Adams into court at once and explain by what authority he was being detained. They also requested the court to make an order that Adams should be detained, if anywhere, in the Ada county jail, and that the court order that those having his custody should permit his attorneys to have a private consultation with him.

The writ was issued by Judge Stewart and made returnable at 2 o’clock yesterday afternoon. It was placed in the hands of Deputy Sheriff Siggins to serve, and he started for the penitentiary at once. The warden was not at the penitentiary. The officer was informed the warden was probably not within the bounds of the county. The writ was therefore served on Assistant Warden J. C. Mills. Then the search for Sutherland commenced.

At 2 o’clock in the district court the sheriff reported that he was unable to find Sheriff Sutherland and the return on the matter was therefore extended until 10 o’clock this morning. At 2 o’clock Assistant Warden Mills filed his answer which was to the effect that he was unable to produce the body of Steve Adams for the reason that Adams was no longer in the penitentiary. Adams had been left at the institution, according to the answer, by Sheriff Sutherland, but early yesterday Sheriff Sutherland had called for the prisoner and had taken him away. He had left the penitentiary with Adams, so the assistant warden had been informed, for the purpose of taking the man to Wallace for a hearing on a charge of murder.

Since the departure of Sheriff Sutherland for the north with his prisoner it develops that he had two objects in view in starting from Boise secretly. One reason given is that it had been learned that Clarence Darrow had been making arrangements to attempt to head him off while on the trip by applying for a writ of habeas corpus in Oregon, through which state it was necessary to travel for some distance in getting to Wallace. It seems that Sutherland learned that Darrow had previously made a trip west for the purpose of effecting such arrangements. He left with the prisoner at an unknown hour for the purpose of circumventing that scheme of the Chicago attorney.

Another reason given for the secret departure was that it was probable the officers from Denver, who had come for Adams, and who wished to take him back there for a hearing on a charge of murder in that city, might try to interfere or take steps to get Adams from the custody of the Idaho sheriff and into their own hands.

As soon as Attorneys Darrow and Nugent became assured that the Shoshone county sheriff had departed with his prisoner for the north they decided to give chase and accordingly left Boise on the 1:45 train yesterday afternoon. They were accompanied by the two officers from Colorado, who said they would go to Wallace so as to be on hand to take Adams in charge, should, for any reason, he be discharged after his hearing there.

—–

[Inset is from The San Francisco Call of Sept. 16, 1906.]

From The Idaho Daily Statesman of September 16, 1906:

ATTORNEYS WAIT FOR SUTHERLAND
—–

DARROW AND NUGENT IN WALLACE AND ARE
AWAITING ARRIVAL OF STEVE ADAMS.
—–
Deputies From Denver Also on the Ground
Looking for a Chance to Nab Prisoner and
Take Him to Colorado-Darrow Not Pleased
with Trick Turned by Sutherland.
—–
(Special Dispatch.)

WALLACE. Sept. 15.-Clarence Darrow and John Nugent, attorneys for the defense in the Steunenberg case, J. W. Lillard of Baker City, Ore., uncle of Steve Adams, Deputy Sheriffs Charles E. Burkhart and A. C. Watson, who are after Adams for the murder of Detective Lyle Gregory in Denver, reached Wallace today and are biding their time pending the arrival of Sheriff Angus Sutherland with Adams. When officers and the prisoner arrive Darrow and Nugent will make an effort to get him out on a writ of habeas corpus and the deputies hope to get him on extradition papers, and if that fails and he is liberated from the charge of the Tyler murder against him here they will be ready to nab him and take him to Colorado.

Darrow characterizes Sutherland’s sensational drive overland as horseplay of the rankest kind. He says the night before Sutherland started a conference was held in Boise and it was agreed that all should come together on the train with the understanding that no molestation took place enroute when the party might be in any state other than Idaho. That night, he says, Sutherland got anxious and took the prisoner out of the penitentiary and started without notice. Darrow said he had no intention or desire to interfere with the sheriff enroute.

Deputy Burkhart says he arrived in Boise Wednesday morning and that night had a conference with Sutherland. He had an appointment with Sutherland for the following morning to see what could be done about the taking of Adams to Denver. The next morning he found that Sutherland had “left surreptitiously” during the night. He says he has orders to wait here until he sees what can be done. The governor has not yet signed the requisition papers but he hopes he will. If not he can do nothing unless Adams is set free here.

Nothing has been heard from Sutherland since yesterday.

—–

[Photograph added.]

SOURCE
The Idaho Daily Statesman
(Boise, Idaho)
-Sept 14, 1906, page 5
-Sept 16, 1906, page 1
http://www.genealogybank.com/

IMAGES
Adams Smuggled from Boise, San Fran Call, Sept 16, 1906
https://www.newspapers.com/image/80976578/
Clarence Darrow & John F Nugent, Darrow Collection
http://darrow.law.umn.edu/photo.php?pid=832

See also:

Hellraisers Journal: Adams Discloses Truth About “Confession” and Prosecution’s Plot to Frame Haywood and Moyer
https://weneverforget.org/hellraisers-journal-adams-discloses-truth-about-confession-and-prosecutions-plot-to-frame-haywood-and-moyer/

Clarence Darrow
http://darrow.law.umn.edu/darrow.php

John F Nugent
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Nugent

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