Evening star., 1896-03-23
AN EXCITING CAPTURE
Fairfax County Prisoners Caught IN This
City.
They Had Made Their Escape From
Jail After Being Sentenced to
Nine Years Inprisonment.

Harry Poss and Thomas Henry. two of
the four men who escaped from the Fairfax
Jail on the night of March 1S, were cap
tired in this city by Detectives Weldon,
Horn, Boyd and Lacy at No. 200 Indiana
avenue about half-past 5 o'clock Saturday
afternoon. They were not taken, however,
until after an exciting chase. Poss and
Henry are residents of Alexandria. Poss is
considered the more desperate Of the two,
having attempted to cut the throats Of two
men. and has been arrested upon several
occasions, charged with minor offenses.
Henry served part of q sentence In the
naval prison at Boston, being pardoned on
the plea of insanity.
Information was received at police head
quarters that two men answering the de-
seription Of the two men were in the board
Ing house of Mrs. Brownleigh, having been
driven there at 3 O'Clock Saturday MORN
ing in closed carriage by a prominent
Alexandria lawyer. The detectives were de-
tailed upon the case, and they were in
formed when they reached the house that
TO such men were there. The officers, not
believing the statement, proceeded to search
the house On the fourth floor they found
bath room door locked. and, knocking at
1t for admittance, received no reply. They
forced an entrance. The room was empty,
but there was a trap door in the ceiling.
leading to the attic. Boyd endeavored to
open it, but it was found that some heavy
weight had been placed on it. After strug-
Cling at il for some time, it finally yielded
and to his surprise he found another trap,
which led onto the roof.
In a few seconds two of the detectives
We're on the roof, and the two men were
found to be there. Henry ran behind a
chimney and tried to hide. but he was soon
In custody. but Poss was not to be taken
so easily. He made a run to the next
building. which is separated from the
house he was on by a twelve-foot alley,
and about seventy-five feet from the street
below He then ran the whole length of
the square on the house tops to Trinity
Cnurch, and climbed to the ground on the
rain spout. Detective Horne was there and
quickly made him a prisoner.
Their Identification.
The men were taken to the sixth precinct
and placed behind the bars, and the Fair
TAX authorities notified. At the station they
gave their names as John Williams and
Charles Taylor. and said they We're from
Pittsburg, and that they had been working
In roller mill there. The Alexandria cor
respondent of The Star. who had known
ross and Henry for a number of years.
nearing of the arrest of the two men, came
To Washington, and, with Detective Weed
on, called at the sixth precinct, and when
ne called the prisoners by name they pre-
tended not to know him. When told that
Ihe star man was from his home in Alex
ahdrla, Poss said that he had never been
In Alexandria.
accom-
panied by Officer Atkinson of Alexandria
arrived and proceeded to police headuuar-
terS. and in a short while were on their Way
IN tfe patrol wagon for the Pennsylvania
depot, where they had made arrangements
to have the Chesapeake and Ohio train stop
at Fairfax station for them.
AT Alexandria Officer Beach met the train
and proceeded to Fairfax Court House with
Sherln Gordon. The trip to Fairfax sta
tion was uneventful. and there the sheriff
had double team, and the prisoners were
placed handcuffed upon the back seat while
the officers occupied the front.
Their Crime.
The story OF the crime for which Poss
and Henry were convicted and sentenced to
nine years in the Virginia peaitentiary was
published in The Star at the time On the
evening of the 29th of November last they
followed MIR. Alexander McClintock, an
old Fairfax county farmer. to EdsaIPs sta
tion. on the Southern railway. and about
half a mile from the station one of them
knocked McClintock in the head with a
stone. very nearly killing him. They then
proceeded to go through him, securing
about $50. They gagged him, but Mr..
McClintock finally got loose and notified
the Alexandria authorities of what had
happened, and Po5s and Henry were ar
rested in Burnett's saloon They were
taken to Fairfax. tried and convicted, but
succeeded in getting stay Of exec ution for
sixty days.
A close watch will be kept on them now
until they are taken to the penitentiary.
What They Say.
The prisoners say they have hovered
ABOUT Washington In the woods the two
days and nights of their liberty. The first
hight they stayed in the woods between
Fairfax Court House and Falls Church, and
the next night near Hyattsville, Md. They
had just come to Washington Saturday.
They protest that they had no assistance
from the outside, and that the plot was
made and sucee ssfully accomplished by A.
J. Wheaton. a fellow prisoner. Poss says
that they had the door of the cell open by
$40 the night of the escape, but did not
leave it until IL 80 on account of the noises
they heard in the jailer's house. After
coming out of their cells, he said it was
only the work of about half an hour with
the leg of an iron bedstead to make a hole
through the brick wall of the jail.
Harvey Wheeler, one of the prisoners
who stayed in the JAIL says that the three
white men went out first, and when Cassius
Page. the colored prisoner who escaped
tried the hole 1t was not big enough to
pass his corpulent body. He bemoaned his
fate and exclaimed: so near my liberty.
and still can't go Free but just at that
time he thought he heard the jailer coming.
30 he made an extra effort and effected his
escape. Cass-us was the most sensible of all
fer he took a blanket with him.
Nothing has been heard of the other two
fusitives. Poss and Henry say that they
parted company with them at the JAIL and
nave not seen them since, and know moth
n fhai vu-Io