Norfleet: the actual experiences of a Texas rancher's 30,000-mile transcontinental chase after five confidence men. Page: 56 of 369
4 p. l., 344 p. front., plates, ports. 22 cm.View a full description of this book.
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38
NORFLEET
I pressed my nose against the thick meshed cage
and gazed. I turned sick at my stomach and the perspiration
broke out all over me. I felt a quiver rush up
and down my spine.
There in separate cells, ranged side by side, were
Ward and Gerber. For a minute I couldn't speak. My
first impulse was to wish them "Merry Christmas," but
I stifled it.
Ward spoke first. "So you found us did you, you
damned old fox?" His tone was sullen.
I just continued to gape at them. Here were the
pseudo secretaries of the Dallas and Fort Worth "exchanges."
It did not seem possible. They had appeared so
substantial; like secure bulwarks of legitimate finance.
But here they were, trapped by their own misdeeds.
Well educated, well dressed, well mannered, but
just plain, common, ordinary thieves.
How the truth of it bore into my soul. The line of
demarcation between honesty and dishonesty is mighty
thin in places for us all.
By the grace of God only perhaps, was I on the
outside looking in.
Gerber, who had heard Ward's salutation to me,
rushed from his stool to the front of the cell.
"Norfleet, for God's sake, don't identify us! Have
mercy on us! Have pity for us! For God's sake, don't,
don't identify us!"
I said nothing to them, but followed Sheriff Shay
into another room.
"How did it happen?" was my first question.
"Why, a man brought me a clipping from a San
Francisco newspaper the other day. It had a big account
of your swindling in it and the description of some
of the gang who 'did' you. The man said he had run
into a bunch of 'stock brokers' right here in San Bernardino
and was about to close a big deal with them
when he caught sight of this itenm He read it through
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Norfleet, J. Frank, 1864-. Norfleet: the actual experiences of a Texas rancher's 30,000-mile transcontinental chase after five confidence men., book, 1924; Ft. Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth5864/m1/56/: accessed March 29, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .