Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1920-10-23
PAIR SURRENDER
Continued from Page one)

| PAIR SURRENDER
Continued from Page One)
Bassett kept out of sight. They adj
mitted after their capture today that
they had spent the night seeking an
outlet of escape, but being unfamiliar
! with woodcraft they had wandered
about in a circle and at daylight
| found themselves near where they
| had started. They had no sleep and
no food.
Warden Lawes and his keepers. who
| had hurried here on receiving word
| that the men were cornered. Joined
Sheriff Wooster during the night. Al
| daybreak members of the posse were
strung out along the borders of the
woods for a distance of ten miles,
and others were sent into the forest,
where in systematic fashion they
sent round after round of shots in
| every direction AS it developed At
forwards, this method was successful
in gradually forcing the fugitives to-
ward the outer edge of the forest.
| The were not seen, however, until
| this. afternoon.
Spotted Under Apple Tree
| Sheriff Wooster sent two men, Ed
win L. Forsaith and Carl w. Rowe,
to point on the road near a house
on Tory Hill. They had not been
stationed there ten minutes before
they caught sight of two men lying
under an apple tree close to the .cad
and munching apples. Creeping along
q stone wall Forsaith and Rowe got
close to the men without being seen.
Then they Strengthened up. The men,
thinking they were hunters, asked
them the way to Bradford, an adj
! joining town. For an answer For
saith and Rowe pointed their rifles
at the men and ordered them to sur
render.
Taken by surprise the men threw up
their hands, and in a few min uteS
| they were bound hand and foot. Tley
admitted they were the escaped con-
victs. Rowe stood guard while FIR
saith went to the nearest house an1
telephoned the sheriff. Shortly after
ward Sheriff Wooster and Warde n
Lawes arrived and the warden at
once identified the men as Stivers and
!, BaSSett.
! On Way to Prison
| After the posse had been dispersed,
the convicts were taken to Concord,
leaving that city by automobile late
in the afternoon for Worcester. Mass.
whence they are to be returned to Os-
shining by train.
Stivers and Bassett talked freely
after their capture. They said that
their first move after escaping from
the prison was to steal an automobile
nearby. They drove at top speed for
the state line and into Connecticut.
At Derby. Conn, they held up q man
! in another car and stole his overcoat
and that of a companion, some money
| and the number plate of the car which
/ they attached to the automobile they
were driving.
Canada Their Goal
Always with the idea in mind of
eventually reaching Canada. they
droveb ack and forth over Connecti-
cut roads during Sunday and Monday
hoping to throw pursuers off the trail.
On Tuesday they dashed into western
Massachusetts and managed to find
their way to Springfield, then turned
northward again and drove to Keene,
N. H., from Keene they proceeded to
East Jaffrey and followed the railroad
line to Concord through Henniker and
West Hopkinton.
In Concord they stole another auto
mobile and Bassett drove if off fol-
lowed by Stivers in the first car. They
returned to Henniker and tried to rob
a lunch room proprietor, firing one
shot at him, but were frightened away
by the arrival of armed neighbors.
| A short distance from the village
they abandoned the car in which they
had come into the state and proceed
ed in the stolen Concord automobile.
! Run Out of Gas
| On Wednesday morning their gas
oline had given out and they obtained
a small quantity at Carl JEWELS gar
age in Warner. When this was used
up they abandoned the car and seeing
men approaching realized that they
were being pursued and took to the
woods.
BY a singular coincidence it was at
JEWELS house that they first tried to
obtain food last night. Jewell recog-
nized them as the men who had
bought gasoline from him in the
morning. but did not know at the
time that they were the escaped con-
victs. The identity Of the men was
first definitely established today when
Mrs. Jewell was shown photographs
of Stivers and Bassett by Warden
Lawes and they told the warden that
they completely answered the de-
scription of the two men who had
called at her home.
Both Well Armed
Examination of the prisoners
clothing after their capture showed
that they were not. as at first thought,
unarmed, Stivers had an automatic
revolver containing three cartridges.
and on the tow men were found about
| twenty more cartridges. Stivers had
not used the weapon when approach
ed by Forsaith and Rowe, he explain
ed. because he did not realize that
they were members of the posse and
after he had discovered his mistake
1t was too late, as he and Bassett
were covered by the possemen's
Irifies.
Warden Lawes said that the reward
of $3.50 each offered for the capture of