AUSTIN, Texas - A group of renegade Democrats, furious over efforts to flush fellow partisans from Congress, are on the run after staging a big boycott of the Texas House and risking arrest from state troopers who had been ordered to bring them back to the state Capitol.

More than 50 Democrats - dubbed the Killer D's by some after the 1970s-era Killer Bees who shut down the Texas Senate - stopped the redistricting plan in its tracks by going into hiding Sunday night, robbing House leaders of the 100 votes necessary to declare a quorum.

The House chamber was quickly locked down so no one could leave, but the boycott kept the House from conducting its legislative business, jeopardizing scores of unrelated bills.

The proposal to redraw congressional boundaries, which could end the careers of seven Democratic U.S. representatives and cement the GOP's hold on Congress for another decade, had been scheduled to come up for a vote in the Legislature yesterday morning. Adding GOP seats from Texas has been a top priority for U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a Republican from Sugar Land.

"We did not choose our path, Tom DeLay did," said a written statement from the Democrats, released through a senator's office. "This misbegotten plan is a monument to Tom DeLay's ego, appetite for power, and disregard for our constitutional rights."

Rep. Tom Craddick of Midland, who in January became the first Republican to be Texas House speaker in more than 130 years, blamed the meltdown on the Democrats.

"The Chicken D's that did this ought to be ashamed of themselves today, and that's what they are, is a bunch of Chicken D's," Craddick said. "There is disgrace in running and hiding, and I think that's what happened today."

Gov. Rick Perry said the lawmakers' actions were "cowardly and childish" and would hold up important legislation.

"Their behavior is analogous to the pouting child who doesn't like the way the game is going and stomps off the field," Perry said in a written statement. "In my nearly 20 years of public service, I have never seen such a blatant abdication of responsibility."

News of the walkout came about 9:30 a.m., when a staffer for state Rep. Jim Dunnam of Waco, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, released identical letters from 53 Democrats. The letters ordered that the members' voting machines be turned off until they returned.

Later, a staffer for state Sen. Rodney Ellis, a Houston Democrat, released a written statement on behalf of the Democrats who were "not on the Texas House floor today."

Numerous attempts to reach several of the Democratic members absent from the floor were unsuccessful. Among the Democrats signing letters were former House Speaker Pete Laney of Hale Center and state Rep. Lon Burnam of Fort Worth.

"We're leaving, and we'll stay gone till Thursday," one Democratic House member from South Texas, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the San Antonio Express-News.

The paper quoted sources who said some of the members were to board a plane leaving from a Central Texas airport to rural Oklahoma. A separate group would fly to New Mexico, while a third group left by bus for New Mexico, said the sources.

"I do not know where they are," Tamara Bell, chief of staff for Dunnam, the Democratic House leader, told the Associated Press.

Bell said her boss called her from his cellular phone yesterday morning and informed her that the 53 Democrats would not report to work.

Craddick told reporters that reciprocal agreements would allow Department of Public Safety troopers to cross state lines to arrest the members if necessary.

But the department disputed that. "We don't believe we have explicit power to go across state lines to make arrests in this specific instance," spokesman Tom Vinger said.

Perry's office asked New Mexico officials whether they would arrest House Democrats who might have gone to that state.

New Mexico Attorney General Patricia Madrid responded that the flap was "an internal political matter" and advised Perry to follow standard extradition procedures.

"I have put out an all-points bulletin for law enforcement to be on the lookout for politicians in favor of health care for the needy and against tax cuts for the wealthy," she said.

The House consists of 62 Democrats and 88 Republicans. It cannot convene without at least two-thirds of its members, or 100 lawmakers.

In their uniform letters to the House parliamentarian, the boycotting members said: "Please lock my voting machine until I physically return to the House floor and advise you personally that I wish my voting machine to be unlocked."

Less than an hour after the letters were released, Craddick ordered the doors of the House chamber locked and stationed officers at the exits to prevent House members from leaving.

"Under the rules of the House, you are required to remain in the hall of the House unless you have written permission from the speaker," Craddick announced. "It is the chair's intent to remain in the hall pending the arrival of other members."

A "call" was then put on the House, and the House sergeant at arms was ordered to send for and arrest all representatives who were absent.

"I move that the sergeant [at arms] send for and arrest all absentees whose absence is not excused for the purpose of securing and retaining their attendance," said state Rep. Mike Krusee, a Republican from Round Rock, making the official motion.

"That means they lock the House down. Everybody's got to stay inside. They send the DPS out to look for these guys," Craddick spokesman Bob Richter said. DPS spokesman Vinger said no arrest warrants had been issued as of yesterday afternoon.

State Rep. Ron Wilson of Houston, one of Craddick's Democratic lieutenants who did not join other Democrats in the walkout, said the members' actions would "totally, absolutely shut down" the Legislature until they return. Wilson compared the Democrats' absence to skipping out on work and risking getting fired - and worse. "It is tantamount to a criminal act," he said.

DPS officials confirmed that troopers were looking for the lawmakers, but House leaders said there would be no sanction against them other than their being brought to the floor to make a quorum.