New-York tribune., 1918-03-09
Police Lose Trace of the
Notorious Jail Breaker
at Syracuse
Sawed Through
Two Sets of Bars
Auburn Keeper and Four
Guards Suspended Pend
ing Escape Inquiry

Reynolds Forsbrey, who is counted
the most desperate criminal in the
state, is again at liberty, and is be-
leved to be heading for New York. He
made his escape on Thursday night
from SOLITARY" in the states prison
at Auburn. The police of Auburn,
Syracuse and other upstate cities are
on the alert, troopers of the state po-
lice are securing the countryside and
the police of this city are keeping q
watchful eye on the criminals old
haunts.
1t is the third time Forsbrey has
made a getaway from prison. the sec
ond time he has escaped from Auburn
and the second time he has escaped
from an "isolation CELL" When he
knocked keeper unconscious at Au-
burn on April 16, 1917, and made his
escape, Forsbrey enjoyed the privileges
accorded to other prisoners. Since his
recapture. on the same day that he
got away however, he has been COW
fined in one of the cells of the old
death house at Auburn, which was con-
was under special guard.
Keeper and Guards Suspended
James M. Carter, Superintendent Of
Prisons, went to Auburn as soon as he
heard of Forsbrey's escape to make a
personal inquiry. 1t was announced
last night at his Office in Albany that
John Martin, principal keeper at Au-
burn, and four guards had been sus-
L. 1r>f,1 iC$o MI n q
keeper at Sing Sing, was directed to re-
mort TODAY at Auburn as Martins sue
cessor.
The fugitive, it is said, has been
traced to a point east of Syracuse, but
the last vestige of his flight found at
the prison was footprints in the snow
on the roof Of the women's cell block.
The window in Forsbrey's cell was
cut high in the wall. 1t opened on the
roof of tier Of cells which itself was
beneath another roof. To get out
Forsbrey had to saw the bars of his
almost inaccessible cell window and
then Chamber to a skylight, which was
protected by other stout steel bars.
The bars of his cell window were cut,
and the bars of the skylight likewise.
Ryan Woman Not Involved
So silently did the prisoner work, if,
1nQeeC, nc ola all MS saving on Cne
night of his escape, that keepers were
not able to fix the hour of his depart
ure with any degree of accuracy
Whether he got out in time to mingle
with the crowds that had come by local
and interurban cars to see Maude Adams
in the Auburn Theatre, or whether it
was not until hours later when be-
lated moving van, with doors swinging
passed the prison on it's way to Syra-
cuse, has not been determined.
Margaret Ryan, the girl who got the
saws to Forsbrey in the Tombs in 1912
who is said to have aided him again at
Clinton prison in an unsuccessful jail
breaking attempt and to whom he was
married in 1915. is declared by prison
officials to have had no part in this es.
cape. 1t is said that she has not ever
written to her husband in eighteen
months.
Forsbret was serving term of nine
years imposed for assault and robbery
When he had finished that he was tc
begin sentence ranging from twenty
years to life for murder in the sec
ond degree, and if he got his freedom
legally despite that handicap there wa:
another term of nine years waiting fol
him for his assault upon the keeper
last April.