Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1916-07-14
FIND NO CLUES OF
ESCAPED PRISONERS
GIIILES AND ROBERTS MAKE
GOOD THEIR BREAK FROM
LOCAL JAIL.

No definite clues have yet been OBJ
tanned to the route taken by ]. F..
Gillies, convicted of looting the state
industrial insurance funds of more
than 100000, and Henry Roberts,
convicted of a statutory crime against
a young girl, who sawed their way
out OF the county Jail last Saturday
night.
Chester Bateman, local chauffeur,
admits having driven the pair, dress
ed like women, to Chehalis, and the
Lewis county sheriff reports that per-
sons answering their description pur-
chased tickets at the depot there ear
ly Sunday morning, for East ST.
Johns, suburb of Portland. One
rumor has it that they headed for
Idaho, another that they were bound
for Mexico, while third suggests
that they are hiding in the woods not
far from Olympia.
Aside from sending out circulars
to the authorities of Northwest cities,
containing photos of Gillies and Rob-
erts, their description and a state
ment of the reward offered, Sheriff
Fred w. McCorkle has not instituted
. personal search for the escaped
prisoners, or attempted to ascertain
what local persons assisted them in
the escape. Private detectives, how
ever, are reported to be working on
the case, while railroad detectives
have also taken up the search.
Escaped Saturday Night.
Gillies and Roberts sawed their
way out of the Jail some time Satur-
day night, presumably about 10
o'clock, but the jail-break was not
discovered until o'clock Sunday
morning, when the cries of J. McDon-
aid, an aged prisoner held for want
Of bonds to keep the peace, were
heard. Deputy Sheriff ]. H. Clifford
came down at $3.50 o'clock to give
them breakfast and found the pair
missing.
Gillies was to have been taken to
the state penitentiary at Walla Walla
ON July 21, when his time limit for
an appeal to the supreme court ex-
pires, and Roberts would have been
taken away to the reformatory at
Monroe as soon as the supreme court
sent down the remittitur on his petit
ton for a rehearing.
Thurston county has no jailer, and
as Game Warden James Fennell, who
sleeps in the Jail while in Olympia,
had been out of the city for several
days, the pair worked unmolested.
Sheriff McCorkle himself was in Cen
tralia, planning to spend Sunday
there, but returned at noon when he
learned Of the escape.
Mrs. Gillies Denies Completely.
Immediately upon learning of the
escape, Prosecuting Attorney Geo. F.
Yantis notified the authorities of the
surrounding towns and then ordered
the arrest of Mrs. Gillies and Chester
Bateman, the chauffeur who admits
he drove the pair, dressed as women,
to Chehalis. Mrs. Gillies insists she
knows nothing about the affair,
though Bateman claims she arranged
with him for the use of his auto. He
was released Monday on $1,000
bond furnished by Fred w. Convery
and Emil Martensen.
The prisoners left a plain trail as
to the manner of their escape. With
saw that evidently was passed to
them Thorough the side window to
the jail they cut the riveted end off
the door bolt Of their cell, evidently
day or two before, as a magazine
picture was pasted over it.
Saturday night they took out the
bolt, about 10 inches long. With
this as a lever they broke the pad
lock OF the "bull pen" door. The
sheet iron door on this they opened
by prying of the inside of the lock
and removing the bolts. swinging 1t
open on its hinges.
Escape From Building Easy.
They then proceeded to the room
where Fennell sleeps. where by
opening common door lock they
reached the little iron door in the
barred window whore thew got ont
OF the building by dropping dis
tance Of ~ feet on to the ground.
Mrs. Gillies lives within half a
block Of the county Jail, in a house
Just across the street from the alley
leading to the Jail. Mrs. Roberts
the mother Of Henry Roberts, lives
Just a block from Mrs. Gillies' place
Continued on Page Five.