Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-02-01
WARDEN WAS DRUGG[D
Another Revelation In Strange
Infatuation of Soffel's Wife
for Biddle.
Great Excitement at Butler Where
the Wounded Prisoners are
Being Held.
Edward Biddle Dying and Mrs.
Soffel in a Dangerous
Condition.

| Pittsburg. Feb. 1.--District Attorney
Eaymaker left for Butler this morn
ing. He stated he did not think he
would have any difficulty in straighten-
ing out the tangle in connection with
the arrest of the Biddles and was of the
opinion that if it was at all feasible the
Biddles would be removed to this city
at the earliest possible moment. The
declaration by Edward Biddle that he
did not shoot Detective Fitzgerald and
was not implicated in the Kahney MUIR
der Is given no credence by Superin-
tendent of Police Demmel and Detect
i've Kelly Biddle's statement in this
regard is absurd, .as the preponderance
Soffel made the startling revelation
THAT he had been under the influence of
| tohloroform during the night when the
lRiddles broke jail. Soffel believes the
anesthetic was administered by his
wife. The Butler officers demand halt
THE reward of $4,000 and in order to
hold the prisoners warrants were sworn
cut for the Biddles charging them with
felonious shooting in attempting to kill
Mrs. Soffel. District Attorney Hay
maker says the position taken by the
Butler officials is wholly untenable and
steps will be taken at once to compel
| them to relinquish their claims. AS
there is nothing to hold Mrs. Soffel as
jprisoner Haymaker will prefer charges
against her of felonious assault and
battery and aiding and assisting pris
ioner to escape from a place OF confine-
ment.
"Details of the capture of the Bid
dies are given on page q
Butler, Pa. Feb. 1.-The condition to-
day OF the fugitives from justice, Ed
ward and John Biddle and Mrs. Kate
Soffel, who were wounded In battle
with Pittsburg and Butler police last
evening. has not changed since mid
night, except in the case of ED" Biddle,
who has grown noticeably weaker and
! 1t is believed his death is now only a
matter of few hours. Unless periton-
| tits sets in. Jack" will be taken to a
hospital where an operation will be
! performed in the hope of saving his
life. Mrs. Soffel is resting easy. Her
4 only wound was made by bullet which
penetrated the left breast within an
/ inch of the nipple. 1t was from 32-
caliber revolver. which coursed around
| the rib to the left side, lodging in the
shoulder blade. Early this morning DR..
| McAdoo operated on her, removing the
bullet, and she is in such condition
| that her recovery is believed to be a
matter of a very short time. Mrs. Sof-
fel tells two different stories of the
shooting. one to the effect that she shot
herself during the fight, the other that
she was shot by Edward Biddle. The
bullet did not go thru her outer gar
ment, which indicates that the shot was
fired by herself or Biddle by putting the
hand under the coat. legal battle is
expected when the Pittsburg authori-
ties arrive today and at the jail it is
said the only way the Pittsburgers will
be able to secure the Biddles will be by
a writ of habeas corpus. The Butler
authorities are determined to fight
against their being taken away.
From statement made this morning
by Jack" Biddle in his cell it is evil
dent that the escaped convicts and their
| accomplice had arranged to commit su-
| iicide in case capture became imminent
lack" also told how they escaped
Their manner of getting out of Jail, ac-
cording to his statement, was as has
already been published. McGeary, he
says. fell over the range when he jerked
loose from the hold the prisoner had on
him. He says Mrs Soffel helped them
to escape, but would not say she sup
piled the saws Saving of the bars of
the cells, he said. was completed before
Jan. IA, and several times previous to
the day on which the escape was made
their plans failed thru some little de-
tail. Jack" again reiterated that he
never killed any one, and never put a
bullet into any one except Keeper Rey-
nods. He said the first crime he ever
committed was assisting to rob liquor
store at Carnegie, but admitted he had
participated in number of robberies
after that. After sthey had left the Jail
they went to a house near the railroad
in Pittsburg. They remained there all
of Thursday. The people in the house,
Jack said, when they read of the es-
cape from Jail recognized them and
would only let them remain after the
Biddles gave them a "buch of money"
They stayed at the house until Thurs
day night, leaving 1T as soon as 1t grew
dark. Jack" says he wanted to stay
there and that ED" also was willing to
stay. but the woman was nervous and
afraid they would be caught. IF it had
not been for the woman we would not
have been caught. for we could easily
have gotten another horse and by this
time been 100 miles away. We could
not let that woman go by herself. She
did all she could to help us, left her
husband and deserted her family, all to
help us out, and we would have been
q great deal worse than we are thought
TO be If we had thrown her down. When
we saw the officers coming toward us
on the road yesterday evening we knew
1t was all up. We did not fire shot at
the officers but agreed to kill ourselves.
shot myself in the mouth. ED" shot
himself over the heart, and the woman
shot herself in the breast. We knew we