The Washington herald., 1907-01-11
HAS POLICE RECORD
Letchmere Known in Crimi-
nal Circles Elsewhere.
ESCAPES JAIL AT CINCINNATI
Young Man Arrested on Charge of
RObbing National Museum Admits
breaking Prison I'm Ohio City,
Where Authorities Say He Is Want
ed for Larceny of $4,000 Paintings

Capt Boardman yesterday received
communications from the police authorl-
ties Of several cities showing that Edwin
Letchmere, who was arrested here on
Tuesday in connection with the larceny
Of a quantity Of the exhibits from the Ma.
tional Museum, has quite a record in their
respective departments
Chief mclaughlin, OF the New York
detective Office, writes that Letchmere was
arrested there in November 1905. on
charge Of shoplifting. The chief Of police
OF Cincinnati telegraphed that Letchmere
is wanted there on a charge Of the larceny
Of a picture from a museum there Sep
tember q. 1906. On December 3 Letch-
mere and eight other prisoners broke fan
and escaped. Communications from
Chicago and St. Louis state that he is
wanted there for grand larceny and rob
berry.
Admits Escape from Jail.
At the First precinct station last night
Letchmere denied all OF the charges, with
the exception Of breaking from the Gin
cinnad jail, but the police place little
faith in his statements. He made no de-
nial Of this charge, and told Of the whole
occurrence, the police say From the
statements the authorities say Letchmere
made 10 them. il seems that the latter.
who then passed under the rame Of CIar-
end0n Henri, was arrested in New York,
October q, on the charge Of having stolen
a picture The Knitting Girl. by Meyer
Won Braman. from the Art Museum at
Cincinnati. some time before. The pic
tuTe, which was worth $4,000. had been
cut from its frame on the wall and was
supposed to have been sold by Letchmere
in New York The man was arrested as
he was about 70 go up the gang plank Of
the Kaiser Wilhelm der Crosse with the
intention Of sailing 20 Southampton He
made a strong fght against eXtradition,
but was finally identified by model who
had seen him in the Museum, and he was
taken TO Cincinnati. Letchmere was in
dlcted and sent to jail to await the
hearing Of the grand jury.
Woman I'm the Case.
On Sunday. December % last, while re-
ligious services We're being held in the
Jail. Letchmere and eight others escaped
from their cells by means OF q key which
they had made. On the day before, a
saw had been taken into the Jail by an
unknown woman and given to Letehmera.
who planned the delivery and acted as
leader With this saw the men cut sew
eral bars and gained access through one
Of the windows. from which they
climbed TO the roof Of an adjoining build
ing Some Of the men were soon re-
captured, but Lctchmere and three others
succeeded in getting away. A reward OF
800 was offered for their capture, and
after a few days all but Letchmere were
in custody again.
Familiar with Lock Construction.
Capt Boardman announced last night
that ne expected 10 hear from several
other police chiefs. and before the man
was taken 10 court to-day would prob
ably hear more about his history in the
police records. At the station house last
night Letchmere spoke very freely Of his
escape.
a few days after the escape" he said,
''all the papers told of the daring way in
which we had gotten out Of the jail. In
some way they learned that I had picked
the locks. and every one was calling me
the second Houdini' Yes, I know some
thing about the construction of locks.
and could give quite an exhibition my
self in that line. When I arrived in this
city l Immediately secured some back
numbers of the Cincinnati papers and
read just what effort the police were
making in trying TO get me. I had not
seen a paper since Christmas Day, when
] was hiding in a vacant house in the
suburbs Of Cincinnati, and I was very
anxious to hear how my comrades were
getting along