Evening star., 1933-06-01
GIRL DESCRIBES
RIDE WITH CONv|CTS
Says She Learned to Call
Them by First Names
During Wild Day.
BY CLORIS WEARS.

KANSAS CITY. Kans., June l.
Being an involuntary guest on wild
ride over unpaved country roads with
five convicts on their escape from the
penitentiary is not exactly the expert
ence I would choose for holiday.
had been invited by my neighbors,
Mr.. and Mrs. M. j. Wood, parents OF
my chum, Louise, to go with the family
in their new car Memorial day. We
! were to 60 to Leavenworth. attend the
ceremonies at the Soldiers Home, and
make a day of it. Well, it turned out
| to be day and night.
Just little way from the State
! prison at Lansing we ceased to be free
| agents. The car was stopped by five
! men in rough clothing, who alighted
| from another car, Communicated ours
and put Mr.. Wood out on the highway
| He stood there expecting us to follow
him, but the five men scrambled into
our little car and one, later I found him
to be Alvis Payton, a life termer, took
the wheel
All Over Quickly.
| It was all over in so short a time
had hardly an opportunity to realize
the seriousness Of 1t. l was in the rear
seat with Louise and Mrs. Wood. One
of the bandits said to Louise, "Sit on my
| lap and she answered, You can shoot
your lap" Then / held her on my lap
That was early in the morning Most
of the day we sped wildly down dir
/ roads and along unpaved lanes at high
/ speed, in no particular direction, but
| dodging generally southwark. The
| driver made Louise give him her white
! sports coat, and one of the other men
put on mine They were none of them
| old and they did not behave roughly
| They asked us our names, and called
| us Louise and Cloris, and told us to
call them by their first names, which
| they gave U.s. We did. They were
Lewis Bechtel, Alvis Payton, Kenneth
| Conn, Billie Woods and Clifford Dopson
| Early in the evening, after hours OF
lodging about and hiding the car in
unfrequented lanes, we drove up to q
! lonely farm house far in the country
! miles from a paved highway, and
all got out. The farmers wife pre-
| pared us a good meal and the men
! ate heartily, but we three didn't seem
to have any appetite At about 1890
: o'clock the men said good-by and left
us, driving away on the dirt road, after
warning us not to try to communicate
with the authorities or Our friends
until morning. They cut the telephone
wire. and we didn't dare to leave the
house.
! Couldn't Repair Wire.
The farmer wss unable to repair the
wire until about daylight, and then
we lost no time in getting in touch
with our homes Mr.. Wood had been
up all night, and my aunt. with whom
4 I am staying while attend high school
had not slept either.
! We were considerably frightened by
! the array of firearms in the car and
more SO when one of the convicts be-
+ came excited and discharged a pistol
! through the floor of the car. The
prisoners had with them three shot
guns, rifle and pistol. The men
i told us not to worry, that we were
not to be harmed.
she was worried about her father,
whom we had left standing in the
highway. The convicts assured her he
would be all right; that he would get
! q ride.
! Our last hours with the convicts
we're spent in the farm home Of Will
J liam New. After the late supper one
of the men took from Mr.. News ward
robe five pairs of overalls, five shirts,
five pieces of headgear and shotgun.
They took the license tags from Mr..
/ News car and transferred them to ours,
and took Mr.. News car tools. Then
they drove away leaving us as the
guests of the News.
Little Time to Think.
The New farm is 2 miles from the
main highway, and 212 miles south
west of Pleasanton, Kans., not far from
Fort Scott.
I have been asked what I thought
! about during those hours we we're
prisoners. Thinking back now. can
| hardly say, except that I wondered II
would ever see my folks again. We
we're going over such roads and there
was so much excitement that 1 had
little time to think at all.
| Our talk was Of very light and
| inconsequental nature and We were SO
crowded and uncomfortable that we
ached all over.
The convicts gave us no time to get
I frightened, except at the immediate
danger OF an accident to the car.
on the return trip, on paved high
ways this time in fast car which the
Kansas City. Kans.. police sent for us,
with a husky officer driving at 10 miles
an hour, we caught up on our lost sleep.
We were safe. Home never looked
better.
I think I shall spend my next hol-
day in my own garden.
I guess the convicts were too busy
escaping to think much about US. but
they made no attempt to harm us in
any way.
They told us we were lucky, that six
other men who escaped at the same
time we're hard babies" and would
have mistreated u.s.