The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-11-12
EXTRADIT|ON
OF MASON TO
CITY ASSURED
Papers Are Signed by Laf-
foon, Kentucky Governor,
at Frankfort.
HOODLUM'S PAL DEAD
Local Officers Start for
Covington to Take
Custody of Suspect.


return here of William H. CWillie)
Mason, 32-year-old Indianapolis
and Kentucky hoodlum charged
with the submachine gun murder of
Police Sergeant Lester Jones, were
signed today by Governor Ruby
Laffoon at Frankfot, KY.
The papers were handed to De-
tective Sergeants Fay Davis and
Orville Quinnette of the Indianap-
oils police department, and State
Policeman Russell CoonS, who made
the trip from here to Kentucky with
the city officers. They started at
once for Covington to rush Mason's
return here.
The crippled Mason, safeblower
and jailbreaker extraordinary, now
is in the custody of Police Chief
John Putthoff, Covington, KY, who
had indicated earlier in the day
that he would be glad to give Mason
over to Indianapolis officers as soon
as Governor Laffoon signed the
necessary papers.
Yesterday, there had been reports
that Covington police might wish to
hold Mason for possible trial in con-
nection with Kentucky crimes OF
which he is accused.
Dies at COvingtOn
Mason, who fled the Hamilton
county Jail, Noblesville, Aug. %,
was captured Saturday on a farm
near Black Rock, KY, by Coving-
ton and Carrollton county (Ky0 law
enforcement officers, who shot and
wounded fatally Walter Davis, a
companion of Mason.
Davis, convict and jailbreaker,
died yesterday in Covington hos
pital. He was shot, police say, when
he reached for bottle of nitro
glycerin, apparently intending to
use it in a desperate effort to ami
hilate his captorS and himself.
Hamilton county authorities had
phoned asking Chief Putthoff to hold
Mason for them, but neither
Sheriff Frank Hattery nor any
representative of his Office had
visited Covington. Mason was i'll
Sheriff Hattery's custody when he
escaped.
Contest Now Impossible
Issuance of the papers to the In
dianapolis officers, however, ended
any chance of a struggle between
Sheriff Hattery'S office and the 10
cal police. Detective Chief Fred
Simon said here that he felt Mason
would be safer" in the Marion
county Jail here than at Noblesville
and expressed himself as deeply
gratified over Governor Laffoon's
action.
Mason apparently has refused to
discuss his plight with Covington
officials, who reported him as in an
apparently depressed mood after his
capture. The underworld source
which provided police here with the
''tip," which resulted in the Ken
lucky officers raid of Saturday had
quoted Mason as swearing that he
never would be taken alive.
Sergeant Jones was shot down
Feb. 7, 1888, when he and his squad
surprised a group of bandits robbing
the barn office of the Peoples Mo-
tor Coach Company here. Mason,
said by the county prosecutors Of
flee to have been implicated by wit
nesses, was captured shortly after
ward near Erlanger, KY.
Won Change of Venue
At that time, he was suffering
from foot wound which, police
here said, was received when he
was attempting a Kentucky holdup.
His foot was amputated.
Later, he won a change Of venue
to Hamilton county. A jury there
disagreed on the question of his
guilt or innocence and he was
awaiting retrail when he escaped last
August.
OF the group accused with Mason
of the Jones murder, all except one
now are in state prison after having
entered guilty pleas to varying
charges in connection with the
crime. The one defendant still
awaiting trial is Edward Foggy)
Dean, over whose guilt or inno-
cence a Marion county jury dis
agreed this summer.