Evening star., 1934-10-01
SUBSTITUTE JUDGE
ASKED IN PROBE
Of PRISON BREAK
Jurist Who Sentenced MaiS
and Legenza Expects
to Testify.
1000 OFFICERS HUNT
CONDEMNED FUGITIVES
Mother of Prisoner Held" at
Richmond in Effort to Solve
Mystery of Gun Smuggling.

While 1000 or more officers chased
to dead ends scores Of tips on the
whereabouts of the escaped tri-State
gangsterS-Walter Legenza, 40, alias
William Davis, and Robert Mais, %
the Richmond judge who sentenced
them to death for murder declared
today he would ask Gov. Peery of
Virginia to appoint another Judge to
sit in a special grand jury investiga-
ton of Saturdays spectacular break
from the Richmond City Jail.
Judge John L. Ingram, presiding
jurist at the recent trial of Legenza
and MaiS, in Richmond, said he prob
ably would be called to testify as to
why he permitted persons to visit the
condemned men in their cells, and for
this reason he would ask for special
grand jury and another judge.
Had Prohibited Visitors.
In an interview today, Judge Ingram
described the precautions he had
thrown around the Jail, and made
public the orders he had given pro-
hibiting visitors to the men in Jail.
Police are holding the elderly Mrs.
Mais with no specific charges against
her. She probably will be detained
for the grand jury inquiry and now is
Listed as volunteer prisoner"
Meanwhile, Washington police con-
tinued to cooperate with authorities
throughout Virginia and the Middle
Atlantic States are keeping cease
less vigil in the hope of recapturing
the desperadoes-dead or alive.
Blanks are all we have drawn so
far State Police Sergt. Short told
the Associated Press representative in
Richmond today when questioned
about the progress of the hunt.
Both Under Death Sentence.
Sentenced to die within a few
weeks for killing E. NJ Huband, a
mail truck driver, the two men-both
known here for their part in the Union
Station hold-up, the Heurich Brewery
robbery and other crimes-shot their
way out of Jail Saturday after getting
an opportunity to make their break
under the sham of conference with
their attorney, Charles w. Moss.
Richmond police say they are 'pret-
ty sure" the guns used by the gang
sters in shooting down three jail Of
ficers were smuggled in to them in a
can labeled baked chicken
., Can Apparently Resoldered.
The can, according to Common
wealths Attorney T. Gray Haddon,
shows unmistakable signs of having
been opened and then resoldered. Had
don said it was brought to Mais by
his mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Mais, sew
erai days before the break. He says
it contained two snub-nosed auto
matte pistols.
The commemorative attorney found
the can as he began gathering evi-
dence for the grand jury inveStiga-
ton of the escape.
Haddon today explained why the
men we're being held in the outmoded
city Jail, rather than in the modern
cell blocks at the State Penitentiary.
He said he understood Legenza was
not removed to the penitentiary on
September %, because Maj. Rice M
Youell, superintendent, had received
permission from Judge Ingram to de-
lay the transfer until today. Had
don said he understood Maj. Youell
told the Judge that guarding Legenza
from September % to october would
have cost the State $3.50.
There was feverish activity yester-
day in Ocean City, Md, and in Rich
mond, in each of which places an ar
rest was made, but the solution of
the mystery as to the whereabouts
of the two killers appeared still far
off.
Richmond officers we're working on
the theory that Mais and Legenza
had remained in or near the city
after their daring Jail break. A Tip"
to officers of Ocean City led to the
arrest Of man who said he is
Alfred Fluhart of Crisfleld.
Woman Disappears.
Ocean City became a temporary
center of activity when it was learned
that a woman companion of one of
the escaped prisoners, who had been
staying there, had disappeared re-
Gently, and that a stranger who hitch
hiked his way in, went to the place
where she had been staying. State
police said F7uhart had no connection
with the gangsters.
Homer Adkins Of Willard, Md,
picked up the hitch -hiker, who said
his name was Joe Harrison, on the
road between Cape Charles and Ber-
lin yesterday, and conveyed him to
Ocean City. Harrison" is said to
have aroused Adkins suspicious. and
Adkins notified the sheriff. Whether
Harrison" and "Fluhart" are the
same person has not been revealed.
In Washington. headquarters de-
tectives were still guarding the en-
frances to the city from the South
They were stopping trucks, busseS
and an occasional automobile. As
sistant Superintendent F. S. w. Burke
of the Detective Bureau said this
morning that this will be continued
''for a while yet" but that it was a
great strain on the bureau to have its
men detached for this service for "a
hours a day.
Jail Oficer William A. Toots was
still in a critical condition in Rich
mond as a result of bullet wounds
near the heart inflicted by the gang
sters, but Dr. j. N. Hillman, police
physician. said he had chance to
live. Warden w. A. Moore and
Deputy Sergt. John Selph received
flesh wounds which were not danger
Gus.
Collier to Open Art Exhibit.