Evening star., 1925-01-22
COPELAND, HANGED,
ADMITS Staying Z
INLAST STATEMENT
Says He Escaped From Jail
by Aid of Men Seeking to
DiSCredit Zinkhan.
MURDERER OF 3 OFFICERS
DISCLoSES CONSPIRACY
Declares He Was Let Out of Cell
and Prison Door-Bars Sawed
Later After He Had Fled.

killed u men during his sensational
career. and that his escape from the
District Jail in 1919 was engineered
and effected by conspiring enemies OF
Louis F. Zinkhan, then superinten-
dent, are among revelations in two
oral confessions made public today
just after he had walked smilingly TO
the scaffold to forfeit his life for the
murder of two policemen and a
deputy sheriff here in 1918.
A th1ong of 400, more than could
be accommodated in the corridor
where the gallows was placed, wit
messed the execution. 1t was the
largest crowd recorded at a hanging
in the District.
Copeland came through this throng
smiling broadly, nodding to friends or
acquaintances whom he picked out at
random, and his last audible words
We're a greeting to Inspector c. L.
Grant, chief of detectives, who, true to
his promise to Copeland himself. was
seated before the scaffold to witness
his execution.
Admits Killing L..
c. Lucien Skinner, colored, news
paper man, who had interviewed Cope
IdIlu DeLOTer announced dIIeT the nanB-
ing that Copeland had confessed orally
to him that he had killed IL persons
all told during his lifetime One was
Chicago policeman, who had arrested
Copeland in Chicago for minor charge
after his escape from Washington, and
whom Copeland is alleged to have ad-
mitted killing on the day following his
release in Chicago on collateral In
spector Grant today started an investi-
of
and Maj w. l. Peak at the Jail were
Inclined TO discredit the statement
that Copeland had killed 12 persons,
although Inspector Grant said he felt
assured that there was a murder in
Texas chargeable TO the dead convict
Skinner said Copeland would mem
tion no names or places, but simply
ramhled about his series of murders.
One. Skinner said, was in Texas, one
in South Carolina, one in Chicago,
three here. and others in various sec
tions of the country.
The second confession, involving the
plot whereby Copeland escaped, leav-
ing sawed cell bars behind him to
deceive Investigators, is checked and
confirmed by similar statements not
only to Maj Peak but also TO Skin
ner
Cell Door Unlocked.
This confession runs as follows:
Persons unnamed, whose Identities
were guarded by Copeland to the very
end, but who did not like Superin-
tendent Zinkhan," aided in the escape.
Copeland was released from his cell
by two men, who unlocked the door
and locked it after him. He was
taken through the back door and into
q taxicab at the rear. This taxicab
whisked him away. Copeland did not
known of the sawed cell bars until
he was told of it, he said.
At the time, police were inclined to
discredit the fact that Copeland could
have struggled through the openings
in the bars. A very narrow opening
presented itself in the cell door,
when about 10 by IA inches were ex-
posed, so narrow that Detective
SCrivener, who was about the size of
Copeland at the time, could not even
get his shoulder through. Then the
bars of window at the south end of
the corridor were sawed through. But
Copeland at the time was a cripple.
in fact, he left crutches in the cell
behind him. All these facts led po-
lice to doubt his disappearance by
way of the bars, but nothing had been
uncovered to date to disprove def
nitely that theory of escape
Zinkhnn is Replaced.
Zinkhan had been under fire from
several angles at the time of the
Copeland escape, and it was only
shortly thereafter that a new superin-
tendent replaced him.
No indication or sign as to who the
individuals aiding Copeland were was
given in this confession. The confession
obtained by Maj. Peak, who has been
working steadily toward that end
ever since Copeland was brought
back, and the one reported by Skin
ner jibe in all angles except that
Skinner says Copeland told him ii
was a plot against Zinkhan, while
Maj. Peak says he merely gave the
impre Ssion that such was the case.
Capt. NJ. NJ. Barnard, general Superin-
tendent of the penal institutions of
the District, supplemented Peak s
statement with the announcement
that Copeland said he was aided by
those who didn't like Zinkhan.'
Probably Last Hanging.
Copeland's execution today was
probably the last official hanging the
District will record.
Copeland, failing in his efforts to
obtain poison for suicide, resigned
himself to his fate last night This
morning, when breakfast was brought
bttOlc llliiit ne "OulQs sIOucn nOInlnR.
Steak, hot breads, cake, coffee-every-
thing he pushed from him. At 10
o'clock on the dot he was asking for
Maj. Peak, anxious Ito have it over
with"
Accompanied by clergymen, he
passed through the lane made in the
overflow crowd outside the corridor,
singing loudly: The Savior is more
than life to me; 1 am clean, l am
clean"
The execution itself was quickly
over with. He was UP to the gallows
and under the hood and moose inside
of a minute, and the trap was sprung
Copeland had not wavered until the
last. The trap was opened at 1905
Forty seconds later the post -mortem
twitching ceased. At 1918 Copeland
was pronounced officially dead.
Denth Row Empty.
On May 81, 1918, according to his
conviction, Copeland shot and killed
Policeman John A. Conrad and Deputy
Sheriff L. II. McParlan OF Indian
Head, Md, when they attempted to
serve a warrant for grand larceny on
him at 76 1 street northeast.
The double murder afforded escape
and made possible another murder,
CONTINUED on Page 4, Column 50