Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-05-29
PINKNEY EXPLAINS 1T
The Maryland Murderer Tells How
he Escaped.
HlS CELL Was NOT DAILY INSPECTED.
The Pursuit Not as Vigorous as It
Should Be.
No IDEA WHERE HE IS NOW.
lis CELL Was NOT DAILY INSPECTED.
NO IDEA WHERE HE Is NOW.
THE PURSUIT OF PINKNEy.
A More Strenuous and Effective Search Mus
Re- Made


Be Made.
Special Dispatch to The Evening star.
MARLBORO, MAJ 29.-The cell of VIM Pink
ney In the county Jail here still remains vacant.
ana the escaped negro murderer of f. NJ. Bowie
Is now apparently, as far from being recaptured
as at any other time since he SO uuceremoni
ously shook off his irons last Thursday morning
and left Barber, his fellow murderer. TO await
alone the day set for their execution. the 3oth
OF next month. And, as indicated in a dispatch
to The STAR from here on Saturday last. the
fellows cell will, in all probability, remain
vacant for some time longer unless n more
active and much more determined effort to re-
capture him is inaugurated.
Not only do the people here now realize that
more strenuous and a much more effective
effort to recapture the murderer is a matter of
immediate necessity, but the people through
out the surrounding districts are complaining
OF the lack of discipline and determination on
the part OF those responsible for the mans es-
cape and recapture. They fatty assert that
Pinkneys escape due alone to unpardon-
able carelessness on the part of those in whose
custody he was, and are ridiculing the attempts
SO lar made TO recapture him. No one doubts
the desire of Sheriff Middleton to retake the
murderer, but many are those here and else
where in the county who criticise what they
declare has so far been a spiritless and
incomplete search for him. greater force
they say, should be at once sent in pursuit
of the escaped criminal and they say. further,
that neither by day nor by night should the
vigilance OF the pursuing party be relaxed.
flnkney s immediate recapture, say the people,
is demanded not only as a vindication of the
law, whose condemned victim he is, but as
protection OF those who, so long as ne remains
| at large, are at the mercy of desperate being
whose hands, red with the blood of one victim
n hEalx at
hue. So the people talk, and il is not improb-
able that the result of it will be a substan-
tial addition to the reward of $3.50
offered by Sheriff Middleton for the
recapture of his late prisoner. Until this is
done the almost unanimous opinion here is
that Finkncy will remain in the enjoyment of
his freedom. The present is one of the busiest
| times of the year with people here and in the
neighborhood, and this and the further fact that
$3.50 is considered too small a sum to risk one's
life for, account for both the smallness of the
pursuing party and their want of greater
activity.
The party which left here Saturday morning
because of information that Pinkney had been
| seen that morning at Mr.. Dooley's place re-
turned In the afternoon. explaining that a dis
tant stump had been pointed out rs the sup
posed murderer. Saturday night not more
than eight or ten men are said to have been out
| after him. They remained in search of him
until after daybreak. bat without seeing him
and unable to find any trace of him. The same
night The STARS representative and a COM
panion followed supposed clue, only to dis
cover Its worthlessness. A few men watched
for the murderer yesterday, but there was no
organized search during the day. Last night
larger party than usual was on the lookout and
followed a clue given by a negro, but without
success. This morning the search was con-
tinued, with the belief that the fellow would be
recaptured during the day or tonight.
PINKSEY TELLS HOW HE ESCAPED.
1t transpired yesterday that Pinkney again
appeared on Mr.. Dooley's place, five or six
miles south Of here, on Friday morning, and
visited Mr.. Dooley's store. While there it is
said that The murderer boosted that he had his
irons sawed through three DAYS previous to his
escape last Thursday morning. and that only
the want OF a favorable opportunity prevented
him from escaping carrier. 1t is understood
now that Pinkney on Tuesday last requested
that Father Herman, the Catholic priest, who
is the spiritual adviser of Barber. his
fellow murderer, be permitted to see him
(Pinkney). The next day Father Herman Wis
tied the Jail and asked Pinkney if he desired 10
consult him. Pinkney replied that he did, but
at some other time. 1t Is now explained that
Pinkney. while at Mr.. Docley's store last Friday
morning. stated that his only object in request
ing visit from Father Herman was to have his
cell door opened. and that the cell door had
been allowed TO remain open during the clergy
mans visits upon Barber. he would. after his
(Pinkney's) cell door had been opened. and the
guard had returned to the floor below,
have shaken his irons off. knocked
the priest down, rushed downstairs,
through the open Jail door and jumped over
the back fence, n tcn-foot board fence and
then pursued the course TO the swamp which
he did take the morning of his escape His
reason Tor not attempting such a plan on the
occasion of Father kernan's visit on wednes-
day. his cell door having been opened. Pinkney
is said to have explained was that the jail
guard remained upstairs in the corridor instead
of returning to the floor below as he had ex.
pected him to do.
The next morning a much more favorable
opportunity presented itself, and Pinkney,
with the chain which held him to the floor of
his cell. already sawed far enough through to
permit it to be parted by the slightest effort,
instantly availed himself of it, His cell door
had been unlocked TO allow a negro woman TO
enter and clean the cell From his cell window
Pinkney perceived that one of the two guards
was on the street. while the other was at the
well in the Jail yard. In an instant he snapped
the sawed chain which bound him to the floor,
and in almost the next moment he had passed
through the open door of his cell, down the one
flight of steps to the floor below. ont the wide
open door in the rear INTO the Jail yard and
over the fence. The murderer ran across a
field back of the Jail, waded across a small
stream a short distance beyond, over a hill
on the other side. down past the race track.
across the railroad. and then into the wooded
swamp to the southeast. He was first seen bv
a small colored girl crossing the field back of
the jail She at once gave the alarm. and not
until those she had informed rushed to the Jail
did the jail officials know that Pinkney had es-
capped. As he passed by the race track he was
recognized by three men at work there. and ms
one of them started back to town TO give the
alarm the murderer shouted: "You is too late
IN free Niger now, " and off be ran.
NEWSPAPER MEN EXCLUDED.
For some reason best known to himself,
Sheriff Mid 1leton has at all times during the
incarceration of Pinkney and Barber in Jail
here refused newspaper men admission 10 the
prison, thing as uncalled for as il was pre-
viously unheard OF. 1t is now explained that
States Attorney Richard T. Brent directed
Sheriff Middleton to include the representa-
tives OF the press among those to be denied ad-
mission to the Jail and access to the two muir
derers, although ii is stated that the sheriff
was and is alone responsible for the safety of
his prisoners and the management of the jail.
BE that ms il may, the exclusion of newspaper
men may be the means of aiding the escaped
murderer to defeat the ends Of justice. for 1t is
well known that had they been per-
mitted access to the jail custom OBJ
served everywhere else throughout the state and
country, photographs of tine two murderers
would have been made and published. BY
this means not only would the people of the
whole surrounding country have been made
familiar with their features, but the authorities
would now have been able to obtain copies of