Wooldridge then reached down into his traveling bag, took out a pair of leg-irons which he placed around Bell's legs, and locked them securely. Bell made a protest and assured the detective that he would not give him any trouble or make any attempt to get away. Wooldridge told him the first law of human nature was self-protection and he was exercising that precaution in this case. Only a few weeks prior to this time an officer was returning from New York with a prisoner and neglected to take these precautions, dosed off into a little sleep, the train had just then stopped to take on coal, the prisoner only had handcuffs on, and in the twinkling of an eye passed the officer who was asleep and succeeded in getting off the train just as it started. His escape was not noticed by the officer until they had gone several miles; it was then too late, the bird had flown, and having money in his pocket found a man who filed the shackles off his hands. He made good his escape and the officer lost his job. After Bell had been securely shackled and made as comfortable as possible, Wooldridge turned two seats together on the opposite side of the car, never closed his eyes until they reached Chicago the following morning, taking Bell to the Bureau of Identification, had his measure and picture taken. He was then turned over to Cook County Sheriff. A few months later J. H. Bell was arraigned for trial and confronted by over thirty angry women, whom he had robbed, as witnesses. After a long trial he was found guilty of obtaining money under the confidence game. He asked for a new trial which was denied and on March the 9th, 1907, he was sentenced to Joliet Penitentiary for an indefinite time by Judge Brentano. His counsel asked for the arrest of judgment so he might have time to write up the record and present it to the Then the Bell luck, which could beat even detectives, broke Bell's way. Also the Bell honesty suffered a recrudescence. It so happened that while Bell was in the County Jail a plot was set on foot to make a big jail delivery. It was planned, and the plans seemed to have been well arranged, to smuggle enough dynamite into the jail to wreck even that formidable building. The plot was hatched by George Smith, Eugene Sullivan, Morris Fitzgerald and Alfred Thompson. On March 2, 1907, this precious crew had been arrested for robbing a mail wagon. They were apprehended and taken to the County Jail. There they hatched the plot for the introduction of the dynamite. Many other prisoners were admitted to their secret, among them Bell. Smith, who was as big and powerful as Bell was little and insignificant, threatened to choke Bell to death in his cell if he told of the dynamite plot.