The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-10-17
ELIZABETH O'RElLLY
FLEES AN ASYLUM
. Sister OF Well Known Writer
Tells OF Escape From BOs-
ton Institution.
FREED FROM BELLEVUE
Attorneys Secure Release on
Writ-COnspiracy in De-
tention, Charged.

With certain amount OF pride Miss
Eisabeth Boyle O'Reilly told her story
Yesterday. She is the daughter of the
iate John Boyle o'Reilly, the famous
irish poet, whose monument is familiar
10 all residents Of Boston, and she her
self has written much verse and prose
her latest work tunpublished) being a
volume on How France Built HeI
csthedrals" Also she has served as a
war nurse. She is a sister of Mary
Boyle O'Reilly. well known social worker
ana writer or Boston: n sister-in-law of
Prof. Ernest Hooking. instructor in
metaphysics and philosophy at Harvard
ana a niece of John r. Murphy, Fire
commissioner of Boston.
Her story was one of an escape from
an Institution for the insane after in
generation for. nearly eighteen months
and how she hoodwinked the guards who
were supposed to watch her night and
cay.
II was not allowed to wear my own
clothing" she told a representative of
THE SUN; yet to escape in the clothing
OF the institution and get very far woul |
have been impossible. ! knew that my
dresses were hanging in a closet, and /
pretended that l was afraid the moths
would destroy them.
How She Made Her Escape.
'They never guessed my plan. and
when / asked for some oilcloths TO wrap
my clothes in they gave them to me and
let me wrap them up directly under their
eyes. The reason 1 wanted the oilcloths
was that l might hide my clothes among
The bushes in the yard, and l did that at
the FIRST opportunity.
TT was on Sunday. October .. that ]
got out They let me go into the yaro
in my institution clothes because they
thought I couldn't get out OF the gate
that way. But when 1 got among the
bushes where my own dress was con-
cealed ] put II on. ! selected time
when no one else would be in the garden
Then when went 10 the gate the keeper
thought l was a visitor and allowed me
TO pass without question. This was at
DR.. Melluss Sanitarium. near Boston
The next morning l wrote my relatives
from Providence notifying them that l
had escaped and was on my way to New
York.
Whether Miss O'Reilly, who Is 46 years
old, will retain her newly won freedom
will depend largely upon the outcome OF
an argument which Justice Peter A.
Hendrick will hear this afternoon in the
Supreme Court. She was arrested here
her sister, Miss Mary Boyle ORellly.
and was committed by Magistrate Corri-
gan to Bellevue for observation. writ
of habeas corpus issued by Justice Hen
drick later released her from Bellevue,
and she spent the night with the family
CT A. S. Cutler of the Arm OF Foster &
Cutler, her attorneys. in whose custody
she was temporarily paroled.
AS yesterdays brief hearing before
No icfr IN in tha
court, and also In the papers submitted
TO Justice Hendrick, the Incarceration of
the woman writer was alleged to be the
result OF conspiracy"
Advocated Irish Freedom.
Benjamin F.. Foster, who represented
her in court, pointed out that she lie one
ot the benefciaries under the will OF her
mother who left an estate OF approx
Inately $3.50. 900, and that upon her death
her share will go to her married sister.
Agnes, who is married TO Prof. Hooking.
In questioning the professor. who APP
peared as a witness against her. he re-
ferred to the possibility of his clients
death being FASTENED should she be kept
in confinement. He also brought out the
fact that Prof. Hooking and Fire Com
missioner Murphy Of Boston are trustees
OF the estate.
An
O'Reilly, which was submitted to Justice
Hendrick. contained many sensational
assertions. including one to the effect
that her advocacy OF Irish freedom might
have something to do with the efforts be-
ing exerted TO get her out OF the way.
on this point Eliza beth Boyle O'Reilly
later told THE sun representative that
for many years she had been an advocate
of home rule, and that she later became
sympathetic with the cause of Irish free
dom because she felt that the majority
Of the Irish people wanted it.
According to her statement, she went
abroad in 1913 to gather material for
her book upon cathedrals, and after the
outbreak of the war served as a nurse in
a Red Cross hospital at Nice and at
other institutions. She declares that she
experienced some trouble abroad through
her passport being stolen and through
efforts made by her enemies to embarrass
her. but her memory of these matters is
not very clear.
She returned to this country in April,
1918, she states. and was seized few
days later and incarcerated without
court proceedings. Among the incidents
cited against her. she says, was the
charge that she had referred to "a man
named Grace" as "a Boche spy"
II don't know what they meant by
lndt, bne sdlu, because l never met this
man named Grace that they speak of,
and I could not have made any such
statement"
At the offices of O'Gormau, Battle
q Vandiver, attorneys for Miss
OReilly's relatives who are seeking to
have her committed. it was stated that
she had been regularly adjudged in Bos-
ton to be suffering from dementia and
that the family is willing to consent to
her Incarceration In private institu-
ton II the court approves of this course