Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-10-03
ELUSIVE CONVICT
ESCAPES AGAIN
Guard Bound and Daring
Break Is Made Over Wall
to Auto.


MONTGOMERY. Ala, october s.
Roy Dickerson bank robber of notorious
reputation and golfer of undetermined
skill, today was playing his favorite role
of fugitive from justice.
The convict, whose circus acrobatics
in prison breaks have gained for him a
wide reputation, risked his life under a
charged wire at Kilby Prison last night
and fed in limousine with two fellow
convicts and three outside confederates.
True to his often repeated boast
that he never had put a man on the
spot and never would" there was no
bloodshed.
Guard Is Bound.
A stranger approached A. q. Rich
ARDS, guard, at strategic corner of the
walls" at dusk last night with word
that he had been sent to relieve the
guard. Instead of a promised note from
the warden, q pistol was showed at the
guard. Two other men overpoWered
Richards, and adhesive tape was
stretched across his eyes and mouth.
A rope was thrown over the wall
from the outside and Dickerson with
=
king" and convicted of robbery, and
Frank Cook, alias j. M. Cooley, Ala
bama burglar, scaled the walls. Flat
tening to avoid certain death, they
squirmed under high tension wire and
joined their confederates in a large
closed automobile. They were shot at
near Tuskogee, Ala, but evaded de-
tention.
Has Wide Renutation.
Dickerson, who was said to have
once been an escape artist" on the
legitimate stage. first gained attention
as bank robber in 1920. when he
staged the Phenix City. Ala, robbery
OF the Phenix-Giar Bank with his wife
and several companions.
Captured in Los Angeles, he crawled
through ventilator to Jail roof and
escaped over buildings within "a hours.
A year later he was surprised with the
loot obtained in a jewelry robbery at
Birmingham and sent to Kilby Prison.
His wife meanwhile had been convicted
and sent to prison as an accomplice
in the bank robbery. She obtained a
divorce after her release.
Escapes Under Wagon.
In 1923 Dickerson vanished from
hllpy Prison by the simple eXpedient
of f1attening himself beneath the bed
of a wagon used during construction of
the new Kilby Prison and holding on
by main strength until he was safely
outside the walls
Nearly Ave years later, December "a,
1927, after having been linked by off,
GERS with half dozen bank robberies
from coast to coast, he was captured
in the act of looting a Tacoma, Wash.
department store. Brought back to
Alabama to complete a term of from
20 to IS years for the Phenix City
job, In recent months he had expressed
an intention to quit the racket and
go straight" but more recently he had
complained Of frequent transfer in the
prison.
Highly Respectable Appearance.
Dignifled, usually well dressed and
highly respectable in appearance, Ala
bama officers we're not surprised when
they learned at Tacoma In 1927 that
Dickerson was living life of luxury
in the West.
Complete golfing paraphernalia was
found in his apartments. He had re-
married and admitted a fondness for
the game between jobs"
Silva. with companion, Cannon
ball. Wells of Tampa, Fla, was ar
rested in 1923 for the robbery of safe
in a chain store warehouse in Birnina-