Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-09-04
Continued From First Page.)

captivity, 16-year-old Voncelle Will
liams walked from thick swamp
lands near here and told police the
fugitives demanded free passage
through posse lines. Denied this,
she said, they threatened to kill
Gladys Diamond, Is, and Jerry Har-
rigill, II, whom they still held. All
three live in Rayville and were kid
mapped when the criminals COM
Wandered their car late Monday.
After the posse rejected the safe
passage demand, Miss Williams
joined in the search for the fugitives.
It was reported at first that she told
officers there were only i've men In
the group that kidnapped her, but
police said later there apparently
were six and that the other two
probably had escaped from this sec.
tor by kidnapping a Louisiana man
and heading north in his car.
These six were part of group Of
36 that shot its way out OF the prison
farm at Cummins. Ark, Monday,
killing guard.
Another convict was captured to-
day at Lewisville, Ark, by an oil
driller who felled him with his fist,
Two more were accounted for at
Vicksburg. Miss, when one was
killed and another captured.
Todayis surrenders and captures
bring to Is the number taken, and
2 dead, left 10 unaccounted for.
A convict found drowned near the
prison yesterday at first was be-
lieved to have been one Of the So,
but prison officials later said his was
an independent escape.
Gilman Captures One.
The Lewisville oil driller was Will
Modisett, a 6-foot, 2oo-pounder, who
caught Life-termer Percy Loftin in
a filling station where he had been
driven in a car into which the con-
Wet had forced his way.
Loftin had made an earlier at
tempt to halt Modisett and an
other Gilman at a bridge near here,
but Modisett speeded his car
and escaped, despite several shots
from the convictt rifle.
After proceeding . short distance
they returned to see the desperate
stop q coupe occupied by three
young women and man and enter
the machine. Modisett said he fol-
lowed the coupe into Lewisville,
where the driver, Miss Pauline
Shurtleff, swerved into . filling sta
ton with the Modisett car follow
ing closely. Modisett leaped from
the car toward Loftin, and when the
convict raised his rifle Miss Shurt-
left brushed the weapon aside. The
Gilman knocked the convict un-
conscious with a single blow.
Young Hostages Not Mistreated.
Miss Williams appeared unframed
and said that she and her friends
were not mistreated, but were forced
to tramp through the woods by the
hour with their captors while they
played a mad game of hide and seek
with possemen, living in fear that
the pursuers' guns might find them.
Meantime, another kidnapping
was charged to the fleeing convicts
A. L. Hinton was held up by two
men just north of Columbia and
his automobile taken. Mr.. Hinton
was taken as a hostage.
Shots were heard in three direc-
lions around Columbia, indicating
| that more of the escapes were In
this area.
Deputy Sheriff Ed Drake said two
convicts entered a farm. woman's
home early today and forced her
| to prepare breakfast for them, then
left
The convicts shot and killed
Frank Gartman. a posseman, early
Yesterday, and f1e dwith their host
ages into a dense swamp.
The embittered possemen, aided
by 100 State policemen sent by Gov
Sam Jones, cornered the ring
leader of the break, Frank Conley
"a, on the Ouachita River levee yes
terday and shredded his body with
bullets. Conley died only 50 yards
from where Gartman was killed.
Man and Wife Freed.
1t was at Rayville that the mer
freed Frank Horsfall, former presi.
dent of Monticello (Ark) A. and M
College, ard Mrs. Horsfall, whom
they had abducted near Gould. Ark
earlier In the day, and drove OF with
the young people.
"It was just awful" Mrs. Horsfal
said Of the wild ride with the con
victs when she returned home t.
Little Rock.
She said the men were heavil!
armed with guns, pistols, says ant
knives and were "considerate, bu
desperate"
"They told us that if we'd Just b.
quiet, everything would be all right,
she added.
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