New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-11-15
Plans Coup and Defies Guards
Bullets to Urge Husband and
Companions to Escape
from Hart'S Island.
THREE CAUGHT IN CHASE
Woman's Programme Success
full Throughout, and Only Su-
perior Speed of Depart
ment Launch Blocks
Dash for Freedom.

| the keepers on the island. Three men.
all clad in the striped prison suits. and
! aided by three other men and the
woman in the case, leaped into a fast
motor launch. and were overhauled
only after a four-mile chase along the
Long Island shore.
! When the launch was caught by the
Riker's Island the Department of Cor
| rection launch, one Of the prisoners
! leaped into the small boat towing be-
hind. and made for the shore at Great
Neck. There he leaped into a waiting
automobile and whirled away across
J country for seven or eight miles before
his pursuers, in another machine,
| caught up with him.
The three prisoners and their four
wOuld-be rescuers were taken back to
Hart's Island. and later to the Nor
/ risania police court. in The Bronx,
where Magistrate Krotcl held each in
$500 bail for examination this morning
| 1t was the woman. Mrs. Grace Paul,
wife of Norris Paul one Of the pris-
oners, who planned the coup so nearly
successful. Only twenty-one years old
and comely in appearance, II was She
who urged the rescuers on when the
appearance of the armed guards on
| their trail threatened TO COW the men.
Stood BY Husband.
! As the Riker's Island steadily over
hauled the motor launch and the keep
ers leveled their rifles at the fugi-
tives. commanding them to halt, it was
Mrs. Paul again who urged her hus-
band 10 take 10 the small boat and
row to the nearby shore. When he
refused 10 run the gantet Of rifle fire,
: his wife announced her intention cf
remaining with him to the end and
watched one of the other prisoners
| take to the tow boat and then escape
! in the automobile.
! = The plan for the Jail delivery was
remarkable for its simplicity and bold
ness. A motor launch was sent mp TO
the western shore of the island, in run
/ view of the cottage of the assistant
overseer Of the institution and while
/ its motor was stoppeC for oriet
/ space, the rowboat was sent TO the
! shore. where the three prisoners leaped
| in and headed for the waiting launch.
That the Jail delivery was not sue
cessful lay not in Mrs. Paul's failure
to provide for emergencies, but In the
greater speed Of the department
launch.
The three prisoners-Morris Geishon,
J. of No. - Lewis street. Louis Miller, OF
( No. IS Roosevelt street, and Morris
Paul, Of No. 102 South Sd street,
/ Brooklyn-haye been on the island for
/ several weeks, serving six months
terms. Mrs. Paul often visited her
husband in the Reformatory, and II
was upon such occasions, according to
the officials on the island, that she
Matched the scheme 10 take her hus-
band and his fellow prisoners from
their place OF confinement.
Enlsts Three in Plot.
To aid in her plans she enlisted the
support Of Joseph Bennett. peder, Of
No. 4O7 Pearl street; Dominick Gusta-
vino a boatman, of No. 69l City Island
avenue, The Bronx, and Charles Moy-
ers. a youth of seventeen. of No. II
West 105th street
Starting somewhere from the Man
ftsar
J Paul, sitting beside Gustavino, the
helmsman, in the bow of the launch,
directed operations. Apparently scorn-
ing to take advantage OF the semi
darkness Of early morning, Mrs. Paul
and her Jail deliverers hove to off the
western end Of the island shortly after
IL o'clock in the forenoon.
The woman had evidently been told by
iher husband that he and the other two
prisoners would be engaged at that
hour i'm hauling coal from a spot near
that point. Between the place where
the prisoners were working and the
waterfront Potter's Field stretches its
grim acres. On the crest Of a knoll
and overlooking the shore line is the
cottage of Michael Breen. assistant
Ioverseer Of the island
While the rescue launch was rolling
idly on the swell cast by passing river
craft Mrs. Breen happened to look out
of the window. She saw the row boat
leave the launch and make for the
lnoint where the prisoners were working
saw the three men in their striped suits
rush TO the shore and Chamber into the
rowboat and waited long enough to see
tho small boat heading for the launch
Ibefore she called Overseer Moore on the
telephone.
Get Out Launch.
Moorse summoned Mate Smith. of the
,u,or,s Island. and told him TO get up
80, on his boat He then called up
Uorden Murtha. William Walker, head
,,oonor and John Brady, another keep
- before the pursuers could reach
ln,o department launch. however. the
o,or boat with the six men and the
Continued on second page, fourth column
9