On October 11th, 1925, Special Agent Edwin C. Shanahan embarked on a mission to apprehend Martin James Durkin, a seasoned automobile thief charged with violating the National Motor Vehicle Theft Act.
Durkin's notorious background included previous altercations, such as shooting and injuring three policemen in Chicago and another officer in California. His reputation as a ruthless gunman, willing to resort to lethal force at the slightest interference, was well-established.
Acting on confidential information, Special Agent Shanahan, with proper assistance, positioned himself at a designated Chicago garage where Durkin was expected to arrive with a stolen automobile from New Mexico. However, after a day-long wait, it became apparent that the information was inaccurate, and Durkin's anticipated entrance did not materialize.
During a brief absence of the police officers accompanying Special Agent Shanahan, Durkin, employing a ruse, entered the garage with the stolen vehicle. In an attempt to apprehend him, Shanahan was shot through the breast as Durkin swiftly grabbed a revolver from the front seat of the stolen car.
The heinous murder triggered a nationwide effort by the FBI to capture Durkin. Several weeks later, information surfaced that Durkin and a woman he cohabitated with would be in Chicago at the home of a relative of the woman. In a late-night confrontation, Chicago Police Department officers sought to arrest Durkin, resulting in a gunfight where one officer was killed, and another was wounded. Durkin managed to escape once again.
Durkin specialized in stealing and transporting high-powered automobiles across state lines, altering their identification numbers before selling them. His preferred targets were Pierce Arrows, Cadillacs, and Packards. His modus operandi involved posing as a potential buyer at dealerships handling these luxury cars, negotiating a purchase, and agreeing to return the next day with cash for the car. However, on the appointed night, he would burglarize the dealership's garage, drive away with the expensive car, and then alter its motor, serial number, and other identifying details. Subsequently, he would obtain license plates under false identities and sell the car in another state for a substantial sum.
FBI special agents meticulously alerted high-end car dealerships across the entire United States about Durkin's modus operandi in stealing expensive automobiles. This careful and systematic coverage bore fruit on January 10, 1926, when a Cadillac dealership in San Diego, California, notified the FBI's Los Angeles office that a new Cadillac Phaeton, featuring a brown California top, green body, and green wooden wheels, had been stolen from their showroom the night before, mirroring Durkin's established method.
FBI agents promptly obtained the motor, serial, and other assembly numbers of the stolen Cadillac. In an attempt to intercept the car, suspecting it might be driven by Martin Durkin, agents covered all roads leading from California to the eastern part of the country. This extensive operation involved field offices in Los Angeles, Phoenix, Arizona; Denver, Colorado; El Paso, San Antonio, and Dallas, Texas; and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Despite round-the-clock efforts by shotgun squads patrolling transcontinental highways for nearly a week, the elusive Cadillac did not make an appearance.
The breakthrough came on Sunday, January 17, 1926, when a sheriff in Pecos, Texas, noticed a green Cadillac parked on the streets. Approaching the young man at the wheel, the sheriff asked for identification. The man, appearing affable and far from the typical image of a hardened criminal, identified himself as Fred Conley, claiming to be a deputy sheriff from Los Angeles, California. He spun a convincing tale of being a former movie actor traveling east with his wife.
When asked to provide ownership papers for the Cadillac, Conley stated they were in his hotel luggage and offered to retrieve them. Cautious, the sheriff recorded the motor number, license number, and other assembly numbers, noticing red wooden wheels on the car. Despite Conley's charming demeanor and the apparent legitimacy of his story supported by a pistol and a forty-four Winchester in the car, the sheriff allowed him to go to the hotel in Pecos.
As "Mr. Conley" failed to return promptly with the papers, the sheriff went to the hotel only to discover that Conley had hastily collected his belongings and fled Pecos at high speed in the stolen Cadillac, accompanied by the registered woman. Despite the sheriff's efforts that day, capturing the elusive "Mr. Conley" proved unsuccessful. At the time, the sheriff did not connect him to Martin Durkin, the notorious Chicago gunman for whom a $1,000 reward was outstanding.
However, on the fateful Sunday of January 17, 1926, the sheriff took initiative and penned a letter to the FBI field office in El Paso, Texas, detailing the peculiar incident mentioned earlier. His communication concluded with a suggestive comment hinting that the FBI might have pertinent information about the individual involved.
Upon receiving the letter, the special agent in charge at the El Paso office swiftly identified the physical description provided as that of Martin Durkin, the notorious murderer of Special Agent Shanahan. Despite the discrepancies in assembly numbers and wheel colors between the stolen Cadillac in Los Angeles and the one examined by the sheriff in Pecos, the agent noted the familiar evasion tactics used by "Mr. Conley," resembling Durkin's modus operandi. The El Paso Bureau operatives were convinced they were on the right track.
Telegraph and telephone lines buzzed with activity both east and west as efforts intensified to intercept the Cadillac driven by "Mr. Conley" and his female companion. Armed with the altered assembly numbers and the license plate information, special agents were dispatched from El Paso to scour the vast and remote western Texas region known as the "Big Bend of the Rio Grande."
After a full day of combing through cactus-strewn landscapes, the stolen Cadillac was discovered abandoned amidst a cluster of desert mesquite trees approximately 50 miles west of Fort Stockton, Texas, on the late afternoon of January 19. The right rear wheel was broken, a consequence of a punctured tire. The fleeing murderer, due to a high-speed mishap, had lost the brand new spare tire from the rear rack and, in desperation, continued driving on a flat tire until the wheel spokes finally gave way. Bureau agents confirmed through tests that this Cadillac was indeed the one stolen in San Diego.
An urgent investigation uncovered information from a nearby rancher who had transported the charismatic stranger and his attractive female companion to the small town of Girvin, Texas. The stranger had mentioned their intention to catch a train at Alpine, Texas, in the Davis Mountains, approximately 150 miles to the south, near the Mexican border.
Recognizing Martin Durkin's inclination for urban life and nightclubs, Bureau special agents remained skeptical about him venturing into Mexico. They believed he would avoid the hardships of desert travel in the bandit-infested region.
Consequently, the ticket agent at the Southern Pacific Railway in the village of Alpine, Texas, was promptly interviewed. The agent revealed that an unfamiliar man and woman had boarded Southern Pacific Train No. 110 at 12:12 a.m. on Monday, January 18, 1926, destined for San Antonio, Texas. Further details were obtained from train dispatchers, including the names and addresses of the train and pullman conductors who had been on Southern Pacific Train No. 110 passing through Alpine on that fateful night.
The railroad conductor, located at his El Paso residence, positively identified a photograph of Durkin as the individual who boarded his train at Alpine around midnight on the 18th. He also provided a detailed description of the woman accompanying Durkin. Additionally, the conductor shared information suggesting that Durkin had engaged in discussions with the pullman conductor about potential connections from San Antonio, Texas, to other destinations. Unfortunately, the pullman conductor, at the time of the inquiry, was on another train between San Antonio and Dallas.
On the morning of January 20, 1926, special agents from the Dallas and San Antonio Field Office received intelligence that a couple using the same baggage check numbers as Durkin and his female companion from Alpine had secured transportation on the Texas Special of the M. K. & T. Railroad, en route to St. Louis, Missouri. The train was expected to arrive in St. Louis that same morning at 11 a.m.
The pullman conductor from Southern Pacific Train No. 110, upon interview, positively identified photographs of Durkin. He recounted that Durkin, upon boarding the train in Alpine, had immediately inquired about the quickest connection from San Antonio to St. Louis, being informed that the Texas Special was the optimal choice.
At dawn on January 20, FBI special agents in St. Louis were alerted that Martin Durkin and his mysterious companion were in a stateroom on the Texas Special of the "Katy," scheduled to arrive at 11 a.m. that morning. The City Detective Bureau of the St. Louis Police Department was enlisted, and with coordinated efforts, the Texas Special was halted in a small town near St. Louis. This strategic move minimized Durkin's chances of escape, limiting his options to fleeing on foot through plowed fields. The train was surrounded, and Bureau agents, alongside St. Louis City detectives, apprehended the desperate gunman from the stateroom, restraining him before he could access the weapons stored in his luggage and overcoat.
Since killing a special agent was not a federal offense until 1934, Durkin faced trial and conviction in a state court for the murder of Agent Shanahan. He received a 35-year sentence at the penitentiary in Joliet, Illinois. Additionally, he was tried in federal court in Chicago for violating the National Motor Vehicle Theft Act through the interstate transportation of stolen automobiles. Durkin was convicted on all charges, garnering a 15-year federal prison sentence.
Entering the Statesville Penitentiary in Joliet at the age of 25 in 1926, Durkin was transferred to Leavenworth Federal Prison in 1946. At the age of 53, he was "released upon expiration of sentence" on July 28, 1954. Durkin passed away in 1981.
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