Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1913-08-22
THAW FLEES ASYLUM
81 AVER OF WHITE KNOCKS DOWN
GUARD AND ESCAPES IN
TAxIcAB-
FUGITIVE ON BOARD YACHT
Wife of Maniac Asserts He Boarded
Vessel Near South NorwaIIe, Conn.
Prison Plot Is Suspected-Mur-
derer Cannot Be Extradicted.

New York, Aug. 18.-Harry K.
Thaw, slayer of Stanford White, es-
capped from Matteawan on Sunday.
He made his daring dash for liberty
in a taxicab.
From Mrs. Evelyn Nesbit Thaw the
authorities learned that Thaw made
his escape on a yacht from ROTOR
Point, near South Norwalk, Conn.
She did not reveal the source of in
formation.
Within an hour after his dash for
liberty he had crossed the line dfvid-
ing the states of New York and Con-
necticut and he Is beyond the reach
of the New York authorities. 1t is
believed that extradiction is impossi-
BILE and that Thaw's freedom is as
Sured unless he is held for insanity
in another state and committed to
some asylum there.
Thaw's escape was one of the most
dramatic affairs of the kind ever re-
corded. After knocking down q
gateman, who was admitting milk
man to the Matteawan asylum
grounds, he leaped into a taxicab
standing just outside the wall. This
was headed for the Connecticut state
line and the moment Thaw entered
the chauffeur put on full speed and
dashed away. Before half mile
had been covered by the taxicab it
overlook six-cylinder touring car
that had been moving slowly, also
toward the Connecticut line. The
taxi-cab slackened speed and Thaw
aeaped out as the smaller machine
drew alongside the touring car The
door of the latter was open and Thaw
leaped aboard. AS the door slammed,
the touring car speeded away at a
rate at least eighty miles an hour.
The machine dashed through Storm
vile. N. Y, fourteen miles from the
asylum, without any diminution of
speed and, according to late reports,
received by the asylum authorities,
crossed the Connecticut line in the
vicinity of New Canaan. Conn.
Or. Raymond Charles Francis Kieb,
superintendent Of Matteawan. be-
lieves that Thaw's escape was the
result Of a. carefully planned and well
executed conspiracy. He received in
formation a few hours after Thaw's
escape that led him to believe, he
said that the fugitive had been car
ried to a Connecticut seaport town.
where a yacht had been waiting off
shore to take him aboard.
The superintendent ordered the ar
rest of Howard Barnum, the asylum
guard who was on duty at the time
the wealthy young slayer broke away
from the institution, to which he was
committed on February 1, 1908. Doc
tor Kieb was appointed superintend-
ent on June 6 Of this year, succeeding
DR. John w. Russell. Doctor Russell
was dismissed as the result of an al
legged $4,000 bribery plot for the re-
lease of Thaw John N. Anhut. a
young lawyer, is now serving a prison
sentence for his participation in the
bribery conspiracy.
Ever since Thaw was sent to Mat
teawan, more than FIVE years ago.
his mother, Mrs. Mary Copley Thaw
of Pittsburgh, has spent hundreds of
thousands of dollars in attempts to
have him freed legally from restrain.
AS soon as Evelyn Nesbit Thaw
heard of her husbands escape she
asked for protection. She declared
she believed her life in danger and,
accordingly, she was given police pro-
lection. She is also being guarded by
private detective hired by Arthur
Hammerstein
Thaw from the State Hospital for the
Criminal Insane at Matteawan adds
another act to the sensational trag-
cdy that had its beginning In New
York city on the night of June 25,
1906. On that occasion, in company
with his young wife, Evelyn Nesbit
Thaw, and two friends, Thaw went
to the Madison Square roof garden
to witness the opening performance
of musical comedy. Near the close
of the performance Thaw left his seat
and began to pace back and forth
in the aisle behind the seats occupied
by Stanford White, an architect Of
international fame, and his son.
In tfis setting Thaw drew re
volver and fired three bullets into
Stanford Whites body The archi-
tect died almost instantly. Thaw was
then arrested BY a policeman. Thaw
at the time of the tragedy was TWEEN
ty-seven years old and was known as
"the young spendthrift millionaire"
Mrs. Pankhurst Fiees.
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