Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1922-12-08
CAN'T KEEP HIM IN
No Prison Strong Enough TO Hold Roy
DiCkefSOD.
HIS PALS STICK CLOSE TO hin

| escape, SnOOl TO XIII.
| Warden Pittman, of Kilby prison in
Alabama, was talking to the prison
guards, relates 4 Montgomery, Ala,
dispatch. They were grouped before
him.
Near the warden stood another man,
smiling, harmless looking, and debon-
air, even in his convict's clothes. AS
he waited, inspecting his nails, he
might have passed for a suave sales
man, provided the stripes could have
been taken from his shoulders.
The warden was pointing toward
him.
That's Roy Dickerson," he said,
bank robber and jailbreaker. No
prison has ever yet held him. He
boasts that he'll be out Of here in
month. If he is, want a bullet to go
with him. That's ALL"
Nov. IA, Dickerson escaped from Kill
by prison.
This was on August %. On Tuesday,
Nov. IA, Dickerson escaped from Kill
Escaped in Broad Daylight.
He was considerably overtime about
the job, but he did it thoroughly. The
mystery Of his escape has never been
solved, and at this writing no clue has
been found that will lead to his re-
capture,
On the morning of his escape Dick
erson was at work at 1915 o'clock in
the prison yard, as a member of
gang handling steel to be used in con-
struction work at the prison cotton
MILL This much is certain. At noon,
when the prisoners were checked over,
they turned up one short-that was
Dickerson.
In broad daylight, with guards on
watch cautioned to pay particular at
tention to him and to kill him If he
made a move toward escape, the bank
robber someway found the way to lib
erty.
An investigation was begun by Will
liam T. Feagin, state warden general,
to discover Dickerson's method OF es-
cape. This inquiry showed that wagons
were entering and leaving the prison
grounds for the purpose Of hauling
materials to be used at the prison cot
ton mill but that guard inspected ev-
cry wagon and every person that en-
tered or left. Five other guards stood
on the prison walls, and sixth was on
watch at the point where a railway line
enters the prison.
The Underworld Helps Him.
How, under such circumstances,
could Dickerson have escaped?
The conclusion of the investigators
Is that the bank robber must have had
help from someone inside the prison,
and that he probably hid himself under
a railroad car or road cart, and after
that made his way clear of the prison.
But nothing definite has been learned
as to how he found his way to liberty
it never is, and no clues have
been discovered that will aid the Of
Members of the convict department
of Alabama believe that Dickerson has
former confederates living in Mont
gomery and in other parts Of this
state, and that they will go the limit
in helping him to retain his liberty.
They believe that this suave, smiling
young man is one Of the most power
full members of the underworld, and
that it is partly because Of aid from
fellow crooks that he is able to make
his way from any prison.
He once made the boast that it cost
him $4,000 to break Jail in Los An
geles, Calf, where he was being held
on the charge of assisting in the rob-
berry of the Phoenix Girard bank, and
officers believe he was telling the
truth.
Warned His Confederates.
In telling of his capture early this
year in Birmingham, he declared that
in 80 minutes after the police had him,
he was able to send out warnings that
enabled each of his confederates to es-
cape.
In the year 1914, on September 5,
Dickerson was convicted of assault to
rob and was sentenced to two years
He made such a model prisoner that
on October 27, 1915, he was paroled
by Governor Charles Henderson. He
then went from Alabama to Georgia,
and on the old charge of robbery, was
sentenced to the chaingang. He easily
escaped
The next heard of him was when the
Phoenix -Girard bank, at Girard, Ala,
was robbed in open daylight. Several
of the robbers were caught and con-
victed, but Dickerson escaped and
made his way to Los Angeles. There
he was captured, and Sheriff Russell
started to California to bring him back
to Alabama for trial Before the
sheriff was we'll on his way, Dickerson
had escaped.
Many months later in Birmingham,
private detectives surprised and ar
rested him, and he was returned to
Russell county, Alabama, for trial. On
April of this year he entered a plea