He was a fellow
Law Enforcement officer,
and Sheriff Carl Hayden Trusted Him. That was Hayden's Mistake.
During territorial days, Arizona, then as now, had many levels of law enforcement. The Arizona Rangers enforced the territorial laws. Sheriffs were the principal means of law enforcement at the county level, municipal police departments enforced laws for the cities, and constables were their enforcement arm for the justice courts.[1]
In 1907, Carl Hayden was the sheriff of Maricopa County, and Lee Redwine was a constable for the Phoenix Justice Court.[2]
Carl Hayden was a Tempe native who was significant in Arizona and national politics.
Carl Trumbull Hayden, was born in Hayden's Ferry (now Tempe) on October 2, 1877.
He attended public schools, and graduated from the Normal School of the Territory
of Arizona at Tempe in 1896 (now Arizona State University). He attended Stanford
University in California, 1896-
Hayden was always more interested in politics than in business. He served as a member
of the Tempe Town Council from 1902-
Lee Roy Redwine was born on March 19, 1876 in Benton County, Arkansas.[4] Benton
County is known for being the site of the first Wal-
By 1900, Lee was working in Wagoner, Arizona, as a cowboy and living in a tent.[7] He married Ollie Walker in 1902,[8] and in 1903 they had a daughter, Inez.[9]
Redwine, Ollie, and Inez moved to Phoenix, living on East Taylor Street, between Third and Fourth Streets,[10]where he became a constable in 1903.[11] In this capacity, Redwine was required to serve warrants, writs, and processes throughout Maricopa county.[12] In addition, constables were required to license all dogs within 1 mile of the post office, and kill all dogs without a license.[13] Normally, his duties consisted of arresting people for petty crimes.
One common offense was being drunk, which often required Redwine to fight and subdue his prisoners. One drunk was arrested outside the Palace Saloon. Redwine had to ask for the help of a citizen to help subdue him. Another drunk was blocking the sidewalk. He began fighting Redwine, who finally had to get the assistance of Officer Moore to get the drunk to jail.[14]
Redwine was required to quell disorderly conduct, which sometimes was marked by bizarre behavior, as when H. S. Lockhart tried to get into the jail by butting his way through the wall with his head. After being warned several times by Redwine, Lockhart succeeded in getting into the jail when he lay down on the sidewalk in front of the Dorris Heyman Furniture store and refused to move.[15]
Constables were used to investigate and arrest in cases of simple assault. Redwine arrested Trina Lopez for assaulting two young men by throwing a bowl of noodles at them in a Chinese Restaurant. She followed that with another bowl, and all of the dishes, pots and pans. The restaurant was unable to serve its customers because of a lack of dishes. Because of the restaurant owner Lum Noo's inability to speak English, his testimony in the court suffered. An interpreter was no improvement, so Noo demonstrated the assault by hurling a pitcher of water toward the bench, causing the judge to duck. Lopez was convicted and fined fifteen dollars.[17]
Petty theft was also a frequent offense. A young hobo who used the alias, John Doe, was arrested for stealing the possessions of a dead man. Doe had been hired to clean up the dead man's room after the body was discovered, and he helped himself to the dead man's property.[17]
Two small incidents marred Redwine's performance. The most serious was losing his
Colt revolver on the Phoenix-
his courtroom, “he was almost overcome by the odor which assaulted him and he fell back into Wall Street.”[21] Ramirez was sentenced to 100 days. There is a suspicion that the court gave him something extra because of the odor which still lingered in the courtroom.[22]
Other than those two small incidents, Redwine's job performance was excellent, and he was a person who could be depended upon when help was needed.[23] This changed when he was convicted of accepting a bond of ten dollars from J. H. James whom he had arrested for drunkenness, and Redwine kept the money for himself. He was sentenced to serve thirty days in jail and fined twenty dollars for “extortion under color of office.”[24]
Because of his service as a constable, Sheriff Hayden, as a courtesy, allowed Redwine to serve his sentence in the sheriff's office, rather than behind bars. Redwine and $1,175 belonging to Deputy Sheriff Williams of Gila Bend disappeared on November 17, 1906, ten days into his sentence.[25] There was no suggestion of where he had gone, and his wife and child, whom he had apparently abandoned, said they had no idea where he was.[26]
On December 15, The Arizona Republican received a letter from Redwine denying the extortion and the theft of the $1,175. The letter came from Los Angeles, but the paper reported that it was not posted by Redwine, but he had given it to another party to send. He promised to write the Republican when he had a permanent address.[27]
Sheriff Hayden kept a close watch on Mrs. Redwine, and ascertained that she had gone to Goffs, California, a railroad town west of Needles on the Santa Fe line and on the road from Southern California to Las Vegas. Once Hayden learned of Redwine's location, he spent a day obtaining the necessary paperwork. Hayden faced the problem of Redwine being not only outside of Maricopa County, but also outside of the Territory of Arizona. Another problem was that the two charges against Redwine, extortion for ten dollars and being a fugitive from justice, were both misdemeanors.
Hayden left for California on the Santa Fe railroad on February 22, 1907, and arrived in Needles. There he met with the local officials and railroad detectives.[28] They said that Redwine was the new proprietor of the Goffs Hotel under the name of Smith. Smith's management had made the hotel famous for having the best food on the railroad.
Hayden, with two railroad detectives took the westbound train from Needles. One detective got off at Goffs, hoping to arrest Redwine at the station. Redwine was too busy at the hotel to linger around the station, so the detective took a room at the hotel.
Hayden went on to Bagdad, California, west of Goffs. At Bagdad, Hayden conferred with California officials. He and the other detective took the next eastbound train to Needles. At the Goffs station, the detective got off the train, while Hayden continued on to Needles. This detective met the detective who had spent the night at the hotel, and they had breakfast in the hotel dining room. After the breakfast rush, they went into the kitchen where Redwine was cooking a steak for a guest. There was a pistol above the stove and a shotgun in the corner.
Redwine was informed that that the detectives had a warrant for his arrest, and it was read to him. Redwine made no move towards the guns, but instead said that the warrant was invalid and that he could not be taken back to Arizona on a misdemeanor charge. The detective told him that the warrant would allow him to be taken to Needles, and Sheriff Hayden was waiting there to take him to Arizona. Redwine replied, “If that was the case, he would go with pleasure.” When asked why the guns were so near to his work station, Redwine explained that there were many strangers and suspicious characters in the area. In a small town like Goffs, a businessman had to maintain his own police force. He did not have any intention of harming Hayden or any other officer.[29]
When they arrived in Needles, Redwine greeted Sheriff Hayden cordially. He said that he was sorry that Hayden had to go to do much trouble in finding him. He intended to return to Phoenix, but the business of running the hotel and cooking occupied all of his time. Also, a large load of lumber had arrived, and he planned to build an additional four rooms and add 50 cots to accommodate the booming business. As soon as the rooms were completed and the demands on his time lessened, he planned to return and clear up his record.
A large gathering of friends greeted Redwine upon his return to Phoenix. He smiled at them and gave them a wave before Sheriff Hayden placed him into a closed carriage and took him to the jail where he was securely locked in a cell.
On March 2, Redwine was given a hearing in Judge Johnstone's court on the charge of breaking jail and being a fugitive from justice. He was represented by former Judge Burnet and attorney J. L. B. Alexander.[28] The prosecution was conducted by Assistant District Attorney Frank Lyman.[30]
The defense filed a demurrer contending that the complaint was defective. It did not contain the language required by the statues. The complaint stated that Redwine was committed “by the territory,” instead of a specifically mentioned court. Assistant District Attorney Lyman countered, saying that in such cases, any or all of the courts are representatives of the territory.
The defense also contended that Redwine was not committed to jail because he was not held in a cell. Instead, he had the freedom to move about the jail building and its offices. Therefore, he could not break out of jail, because he was never in jail. He had the right to leave in any way he could. Judge Johnstone took the matter under advisement and adjourned the court until Monday, March 6.[31]
When the court reconvened, Judge Johnstone sustained the demurrer, ruling that the warrant for Redwine as a “fugitive from justice” was defective because of its language. But, Redwine still had to serve the remaining twenty days on the original charge of “extortion under color of office.” The defense claimed that they had good grounds to free Redwine on this charge by a writ of habeas corpus. However, the proceedings would take several days, and entail some expense. If the writ were successful, Redwine would have already served a large part of his sentence. They decided not to pursue it.[32]
Doubts began to be expressed about the guilt of Redwine in the theft of the $1,175 from the Sheriff's office. Deputy Williams interview Redwine and said that he was convinced that Redwine had no part in the theft. Judge Burnet was also convinced of Redwine's innocence. He said that he knew of the William's struggles to obtain the money, and that if he believed that Redwine was guilty, he would not have defended him.[33] However, there is still the question of where Redwine got the money to lease the Goffs hotel and make the improvements.
Redwine remained in Phoenix for a short time after his hearing. The only incident involving him was when he complained to Phoenix Constable Mayor Ivy about the behavior of some drunks, who were subsequently arrested by Ivy.[34]
Redwine moved to Douglas where he was employed as a cement worker for the Dicus Rumburg Company. He had to register for the draft in 1918, but at 42 years of age, he was too old to serve.[35]
In February, 1919, Redwine listed his occupation as mining and ranching. He applied for a passport to facilitate his visits to his ranch in Santa Ana, Sonora, Mexico where he and his wife lived from 1910 to 1914. Santa Ana is a major cattle raising area, and is situated on the Sonora Railroad, which runs to Nogales.[36] Redwine apparently spent the rest of his life in Mexico. There are no records of him in the United States after 1919.
Carl Hayden achieved a degree of fame when he was one of the first law enforcement
officer to use an automobile for pursuit. Two teenage brothers, Ernest and Oscar
Woodson committed one of the last train robberies when they robbed the passengers
on the Phoenix and Maricopa Railroad in May, 1910. They fled on horseback. Sheriff
Hayden was notified. He took a posse to by train to Maricopa, and had six riders
on horseback trail the robbers. When he received information of the direction the
robbers were headed, Hayden and . F. McCarthy took McCarthy's Dayton-
The Woodsons had a head start on the horse posse and rode hard. By afternoon, Hayden and McCarthy overtook the posse, whose horses were exhausted. They quickly overtook the Woodsons, where they were arrested and returned to Phoenix. The advantages of using an automobile were apparent. It was faster than a horse, it did not tire or need resting. and it could carry more equipment and people.[37]
Carl Hayden served as Sheriff, doing a commendable job, and gaining popularity with the voters, until 1912, when Arizona became a state. He was elected as Arizona's only representative to the United States House of Representatives and began to make his mark on the national scene.
