Page 15 - boynton1973_tomvernon

untruths and fabrications that made their heads Pendleton, Oregon and several other cow-towns.
swim. The stranger, evidently in a state of great He also mentioned that he had an operation for
confusion, changed his story several times in an appendicitis and was sent to Santa Barbara and
apparent effort to appeal to the emotional nature thence to Saugus. He never did divulge why he
of his considerate hosts. was sent to this part of the state or by whom.
The newly acquired passenger told Frith his Upon arrival at Hollywood Children's Hos-
name was Hall, and that he was a forest ranger pital, Hall tendered the Frith family a $5 bill as
on patrol when he came upon the wreck quite in- payment for the ride from Saugus. The Friths
nocently. He first said that he had gone to Los said they would remain outside the hospital until
Angeles to put his daughter on the West Coast they learned of the little girl's condition. Hall
Limited in care of the conductor. He then said then walked down the driveway, into the hospital,
that his little 11-year old girl got on the train by returning in about five minutes with his report
herself, and that the serious injuries she suffered about the girl. Hall stated that his daughter suf-
in the derailment necessitated his immediate return fered fractures of both arms, but that her head
to Hollywood. The lies were coming fast and was not crushed as he was led to believe. When
furiously, and Hall told how he was riding his asked where he lived, Hall said that his home was
horse on the hill behind the scene of the wreck, in Willowbrook near Compton, California. He said
and when he saw the wrecked train, he tried to he would stay in Hollywood that night to be near
ride his horse down to the railroad. He said that his daughter, and obtained Frith's address which
he was unable to make it down to the wreck and he scribbled on the back of an envelope.
he lost his gun, badge, and finally had to take The following day Frith hungrily read the
his coat off. He told of how the train was wrecked details of the wreck and tried to correlate his
by a person who took the spikes from the rails personal experience with the newspaper stories. His
and unbolted the angle bars that held them to- suspicions were immediately aroused upon reading
gether. He also described the vivid scenes around that the veteran engineer and fireman were the
the wrecked cars when the passengers were robbed. only persons injured in the wreck. It became
It seemed to the Friths that this character knew readily apparent to Mr. Frith and his family that
too much of the intimate details associated with Hall and the train robber were one and the same
the crime, and took note of the man's appearance. person, and that he fitted published descriptions
They later found that his description corresponded of the desperado in every detail. They had opened
in many ways with that broadcast by the officers their hearts to a man who supposedly had a serious-
investigating the wreck and robbery. Frith said ly injured daughter, only to find they had been
his mysterious guest wore a blue shirt and dark innocently duped into aiding and abetting a
gray hat, had light blue eyes and was about five criminal's escape.
feet six inches tall. The Burbank Police Department, after hearing
Hall again laced his story with distortion, about Frith's embarrassing experience, alerted the
changing it by telling the Friths that his horse Los Angeles County Sheriff's office. All points
first sensed the wreck. According to Hall, the horse were informed by bulletins which were processed
had "spooked," causing him to seek out the reason, and distributed in an effort to apprehend and
which resulted in his locating the wrecked train. remove from circulation a mad man whose vicious-
Overcome by the ghastly scene, and by the fact ness was exceeded only by his daring.
that his daughter was on the train, he left his Following up on the robber's coat, evidence
coat and horse on the hillside, and hurried to the was developed indicating that it was made for a
wreck in an effort to locate his daughter. Mr. Frith, man named Armstrong who resided in Pocatello,
who was employed in the motion picture industry, Idaho, and had the coat finished in Cincinnati,
felt somewhat akin to the stranger because of his Ohio. It was found upon further investigation
talented imagination. There seemed no doubt that that Mr. Armstrong was a respected and well-known
this man possessed a talent that was complimentary resident of the community. Armstrong had sold
to the "flickers." After a short period of inter- the coat to a second-hand clothing dealer in May
rogation, the stranger again gave the details of the 1929, and it was later found that the cleaning
robbery. He then reversed the trend and asked marks were from a Pocatello cleaning firm. Hopes
Frith if he knew any cowboys who were appearing by law officers that Armstrong and Hall were the
in the movies. He informed Frith that he had same individual were soon blasted when it was
worked with many of them in rodeos and stock found that Armstrong was employed by the city of
shows, and that they were good friends of his. Pocatello, and that he was working on the date
Hall inferred that he was a native of Wyoming and of the robbery. The second-hand clothing dealer
had worked his way west via shows at Yellowstone, was then interrogated and he said that he had

49 THREE BARRELS OF STEAM
'I