The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1895-04-11
Train Robber Perry Escapes
From the New York State
Asylum at NeWburgh.
WITH FOUR COMPANIONS
They Have Absolutely Disappeared
Without Clue = Their
Careers.

spread that five prisoners from the Mat
teawan State Hospital for the Criminal
Insane had escaped last night, and were
yet at large. DR.. Allison, Saperintend-
ent of the Asylum, was Immediately i'm
terviewed and stated the facts in sub
stance as fol1ows:-
About eleven o'clock last night an
alarm was sounded that some prisoners
were trying to escape from the attic over
the chapel. An attendant saw two men
leave the building by the roof, and he
promptly notified the watchman. who
ran after the men and challenged them.
They did not halt, and he fired one shot
from his revolver at them. but it did not
bring either of them down. He then
gave general alarm. BY this time an
alarm had also been given inside. and
one man was yet noticed to be on the
roof, but the shadows were such that he
escaped also. Notwithstanding the fact
that the building was fast being sur
rounded by attendants and others called
to the scene. The building was promptly
patrolled to guard against further at
tempts at escape, and searchers were
sent in all directions to capture the fugi-
tives.
FIVE GOT AWAY.
Investigation showed that five prisoners
had gotten away. These had been con-
fined in the isolation annex, as they are
particularly desperate characters. They
are:-Oliver Curtis Perry, the noted train
robber, whose depredations on the New
York Central in 1892 branded him as
one of the most notorious criminals of
the day, and who was transferred from
h71,1 po trio
and Michael O'Donnell, both burglars of
New York City; John Quigley of Astoria,
and Frank Davis of New York. The
men had been locked in separate rooms
last evening, and were supposed to be
absolutely secure. Night Attendant Car
mody while making his rounds in the
isolation annex had been attacked and
overpowered, tied to tine bed in Perry's
room and his mouth stuffed with rags
to prevent him making an outcry. His
assailants threatened him if he made an
alarm, but he states he did cry out as
best he could hstanding.
HOW THEY GOT OUT.
With keys obtained from Carmody the
prisoners gained access to the attic over
the chapel, where work was in progress.
and by the aid dsef a scaffold in. the altsG
twenty feet from the ground. In order
to escape they dropped to the ground.
How they obtained release from their
rooms DR.. Allison told a representative
of the United Press is not certainly
known. There are no evidences on the
walls or doors that any force was used
to break out of their rooms. Their pur-
suers visited railroad stations and tele-
t-fo nh, off n 1T,
sent out. There is strong probability
that they escaped on a freight train,
for if they were in hiding nearby they
would have been discovered before this
as the community is being thoroughly
searched.
GOT OFF ON TRAINS.
a freight train on the New York Cen
trail stopped at Fishkill Landing about
a mile from the Asylum at Ills this morn
ing, and 1T is surmised they may have
secreted themselves on this. Again, New
York and New England trains have a
steep grade to ascend about a mile from
the Asylum, and are obliged to run very
slow, SO that they can easily be boarded
That the fugitives may have gone East
that way is also offered as an explana-
ton of why they have so mysteriously
disappeared.
AT HIS this morning DR.. Allison stated
no clue whatever, to the whereabouts of
the missing men had been reported to
him.
The men were thinly clad in the resll-
lation uniform of the institution. which
consisted of grey trousers and vest and
blue coat; blue shirts with fine white
stripes and slippers. AS no hats are
missing it is presumed they went ayay
bareIheaded
reward is offered by the Hospital
authorities of $50 each for the capture
of the fugitives. This IS in addition to
the standing reward offered by the
State in such cases, which is reported to
be 5000 for each man.
After the men reached the ground it
is mystery how they disappeared so
quickly. as the moon was shining very
brightly. Motormen on tn electric cars
state that the moonlight was so bright
that a newspaper could easily be read
out-of-doors.
This is the largest escape in the his
tory of the institution, and the first in
nearly two years, except that one patti
ent, a man who was employed on the
farm connected with the hospital. ran
away last summer, and was recaptured
Seeking Them i'm New York.
NEW YORK, April II, 1S95-Half a
dozen Central Office Detectives were de-
tailed this morning to watch the rail-
road depots in this city for Trai1l-robber
Perry and four other convicts who
escaped last night from the Matteawan
State Asylum. The men who got away
with Perry are Frank Davis and Pat
rick MCCLURE, notorious burglars, and
two others named O'Donnell and Qufgley.
OF the five escaped jailbirds, burgi4rs
Davis and Mcclure are the only two
who have never been in the hands of
the New York police.
Burglar Frank Davis was p ested in
this city in June. 1893, by Inspector Nc
Laughlin's men. He committed a large
number of burglaries in the district
bounded by Sixth and Park avenues,
Twenty third and Fifty-ninth streets.
Complaints were made continually for
several months by persons whose houses
were entered and robbed and Inspector
Mclaughlin plcl1eted the district with
twenty five of his detectives. Early on
the morning of June 1, 1898, Detectives
Heard and Price caught Davis who was
attempting to break into the house of
Arthur B. Graves, President of the ST
Nicholas Bank at No. east Fifty-fifth
street. Davis tried to shoot the detec-
armed before he could use his revol-
yer.
Davis attempted suicide in his cell at
Police Headquarters by swallowing the