Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-02-05
BIoDLE HAD A PILL.
Stryohnine Was Found in His Clothing
Mrs. Soffel's Story.

Butler, Pa, Feb. 5.-Had Ed Biddle
Pittsburg Jail he was prepared to cheat
the hangman, and most likely would
have done so. This discovery was made
in purely accidental way by Mrs.
Mary Redd. of Butler. and whose son,
Thomas, was in the Jail here at the time
Ed Biddle's clothing was packed for
shipment to Pittsburg with the body.
Young Redd managed to secure piece
of the strap on the back of Biddle's
trousers which he carried home as n
souvenir and turned over to his mother.
Mrs. Redd thought she would rip the
strap apart and with pair of shears
began cutting out the lining from the
outside cloth She found strychnine
pill sewed In between the outside cloth
and lining. There was enough poison
to Kill two or three men.
Mrs. Soffel is still lying in the hos
pital. and tho still sick woman her
case is not considered really serious.
She made a statement in which she
said: Il had not intended going with
the Biddle boys on the night of their es-
cape. but Eds entreaties won me over
She told of how she remained in the
library on Thursday morning awaiting
the signal for the outbreak. 1t was her
intention to let the boys go and she
would meet them later. While sitting in
the library she was almost paralyzed
when the two brothers came crashing
thru the door. In their excitement they
had lost the key to this door and had
to break it down.
ED asked me to come with them.
Come with u.s. he said to me. l resist
ed and told them to 60 They told me
they had not an instant to lose and If
the officers We're to get away would 1e
discovered. / tried to persuade them to
CO. Then I felt myself giving way to
Eds persuasions and yielded. We all
dashed out on Ross street. We then
passed along the court house to the al
ley. Ed and Jack went out Grant street,
and. crossing the river, we met in Allie
gheny at their friends house. Well, We
could not remain there, and we were
soon out on the road again. The night
in the school house was perishingly
cold. The exposure affected me greatly.
We secured a sleigh and drove thru the
country all night. The night was Bit
ter cold There was no robe in the
sleigh and suffered terribly. When
daylight came / was nearly persisted
by The cold.
The next day brought us to the ter
rible scene The boys learned that the
detectives were after us and they con-
suited about defending themselves. Ed
said to Jack: It's life for life: let's
shoot them down The boys drove on.
They were bewildered about the where
abouts of the detectives. They thought
the Pittsburg detectives were behind
them. When they saw them appear Ed
told Jack to get ready. He recognized
Detective Roach. Detective McGovern
got out of the sleigh and was followed
by the other two. saw Detective Nc
Govern fire. The shots were returned
by Ed and Jack. Then there was a flu
sillade of bullets. / saw Ed and Jack
fall out OF the sleigh. I was shot. The
horses took fright and ran away. We
were forced to leave the Jail before our
were complete. l learned
on Wednesday that the bars on the
doors of the cells on the range were to
be inspected on Thursday. knew the
sawed bars on Ed and Jacks cell would
be discovered. gained admittance to
the Jail and conveyed this information
to the boys. We then agreed to go that
pfpht"