The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-09-05
Rennie Met a Clinton
Officer Instead of
Sweetheart.
RETURNED TO TOWN LOOKUP.
Police Will Take Care He
Does Not Escape a
Second Time.

Clinton, Sept. 4.-Edward Rennie, Fl
years old, of Whitinsville, laughed at
the expense of the police, when he es-
capped from the police station, on the
night of June &c. The joke was on him
when he was arrested in Lancaster this
afternoon by officer James O'Malley of
the Clinton police, and Fred Willard,
constable Of the mother town.
Pretty Bessie Flanagan has occa-
sion to thank Chief Bates for fortu-
nate ESCAPE.
Rennie is a good-looking, plausible,
clever fellow. He has, so the police
say a record~in several towns He is
a young man who thinks the world
owes him living. June %, he walked
away with bicycle, which he found in
front of the store of James II. McGlynn.
at Whitinsville. 1t is alleged he Sc
cured a neat bicycle suit by false pre-
tense the same day.
He rode the wheel to this town to call
| upon Miss Flanagan. She is an inno-
cent, and unusually good-looking girl,
II years old. She lives with Mr.. and
Mrs. James Flanagan, her father and
mother at Al Wilson street.
The Whitinsville authorities tipped
Chief Bates the word. Two of the force
found him in the hammock with Miss
Flanagan, and arrested him.
He was locked in the female cell
in the old police station, which was
considered the safest in the place. The
following morning the cell was empty,
and Rennie flown. The key of the cell
door was placed carefully on the edge
of the lock.
Chief Bates was chagrined. He deter
mined to rearrest Rennie if 1t took half
lifetime. He was persuaded that
Rennie would try to meet Bessie Elan
nigan, and, sooner or later, the police
would hear of him again.
Rennie soon communicated with his
sweetheart He told her that the police
made mistake in arresting him and
let him go. She believed Rennie. Last
week he made an arrangement to meet
her in Lancaster The rendezvous was
in the middle town, near the green.
Rennie came up from Fitchburg, on
a Leominster car, and got off Miss
Flanagan was to ride through on the
car from this town, and Rennie was to
board the car, and they were going to
take a trolley ride together 1t is be-
lieved Rennie intended to ask the girl
to elope with him. The plan worked
well with a single exception. Rennie
was arrested as he was about to join
his sweetheart. She continued her
journey alone.
Rennie ran away from officer O'Mal-
| ley into the arms of Constable Wilder.
! II knew you couldn't arrest anybody
4 in this town." he said to O'Malley, "but
wasn't expecting to meet that
chump," referring to Lancaster's alert
| and popular constable
| Rennie took his capture coolly He
| is looking better than he was when the
reporters met him in June He wears
a suit of new clothes that are quite the
thing, and a soft hat. He explained
the manner of his escape. He said the
officer in charge of the station let him
out to wash, and that he was too swift
for the officer.
| Chief Bates doesn't believe this tale
He thinks Rennie is trying to take a
lround out of Officer John Stoebel, who
was in charge of the station that morn
| ing.
| Evidence shows that Rennie proba-
bly, put his hand and arm between the
bars, opened d drawer of cabinet be-
side the door, in the company room,
and took out the key. He then I'M
locked the cell door, Unmatched the door
of the company room and walked into
the street.
The police experimental, the morn
ing after the escape, to see if the KEY
could be secured in this way. The
feat looked impossible, but Officer Jo-
seph Lawson proved that it was not
Chief Bates has communicated with the
| Whitinsville authorities, and they are
expected to send an officer for Rennie
| this evening. Chief Bates finds him a
bother. The cells in the temporary
police station would be an easy nut for
Rennie to crack, if he was left alone
for few minutes.
Miss Flanagan is almost Frustrated
with grief. She did not know that
Rennie was wanted. She believed his
story that his arrest the first time was
a mistake. Her friends feel that the
timely intervention of the police has
saved her from an alliance that might
have made her life miserable.