The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1926-01-21
DURKIN MAKES
LAST EFFORT
TO GET AWAY
Tries to Grab Gun From
Guard on Train to Chicago
Attempt Fails
DARROW MAY DEFEND
Officers. After Grilling, Piece
Together Story Of Gun.
mans Flight
DARROW MAY DEFEND

Chicago. Jan. LR)-Martin J.
Durkin, dappcr police slayer captured
in st. Louis with his 1S-year-old
bride yesterday, was in the hands Of
his prosecutors today--proof, as
federal agents phrased. it. that "the
government always gets its man."
Federal officers have trailcd him
virtually from coast to coast, some
times only "a hours behind him,
since he killed Edward Z. Shanahan,
government agent. October II. and
shot his way out Of police trap,
killing Sergeant Harry Gray two
weeks later.
And today the government had
joined with state authorities t0
bring him to trial as soon as possi-
bic. probably March j, with the
gallows the objective Of the prosccu
tion.
Tries To Grab Gun
Durkin made one last desperate
effort to escape the captors who hem.
med him in en- route from st. Louis
to Chicago. Despite the shackles OF,
wrists and ankles he reached around
his wife and sought to grab !.
guards pistol. But an operative
seized his wrist and the attemp,
fai led.
After that he manifested slight
concern. His first query on his ar
rival was for his lawyer. His rela-
tives were reported making an ef-
fort to obtain Clarence barrow, not
cd criminal lawyer, to defend him.
Through the night prosecutors
questioned him. his wife Irma
daughter Of Bert Sullivan, village
blacks NTH of Cornell, ILL.,, his cou-
sin, Harriet Gallo of Brooklyn, and
Betty Werner, Durkin's former
sweetheart, for whose baby's cloth.
ing Durkin dared the police trap set
at her uncle's house. From their
answers. the states attorneys picced
together the story of his flight.
Dressed In Woman's Attire
Miss Gallo related how Durkin, af.
ter killing Gray, dressed himself in
feminine attire in New York ant
calmly powered his nose in the
presence Of policemen who were
questioning hen In women's garl
he returned to Chicago and planted
his bloody clothing on the Michigan
Boulevard bridge with a note indi
eating he had committed suicide.
Durkin told how few days after
his marriage December he went t.
Los Angeles, with federal agents not
far behind. He stole an automobile
in Hollywood. boldly driving it ou'
Of a salesro0m.
The fugitive. his wife and po'
lice dog drove into Pecos, Texas
last Sunday. A sheriff there stopped
them, but California deputy star
won them freedom and a letter tc
other Texas officers to extend then
courtesies.
Automobile Abandoned
Durkin sensed danger and turned
his flight toward Mexico. But &
burned-out bearing forced him Il
abandon the automobile near Cir
vim, Pecos county, Texas, and boart
"a train at Alpine, Texas, for Sar
Antonio.
They hid in San Antonio until
Tuesday. The federal men in Dallas
learned the quarry had passed there
and wired ahead to St. Louis. The
capture at Webster Groves, No., yes.
&c erdsy forenoon resulted.
Durkin freely admitted killing
Shanahan, but said he thought he
was q robber. The death Of Gray
and Of Lloyd Austin, in whose flat
the trap was laid, he attributed ia
police bullets in the wild shooting
Continued on page three.)