Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1949-12-27
ConvictCaught
In D. {. After
E|uding Posse
Virqiniun Who Fled
With ; Others Seized
By Alert Officers


a pack of bloodhounds after his
escape from Virginia State
prison camp near Haymarket, Va.
Christmas night was trapped here
early today by the alertness Of
three robbery squad detectives.
The fugitive, Walter M. Barnett.
10, was one Of four prisoners who
severed their leg shackles with
hacksaws and cut through
heavy wire window screen to free
dom amidst a hail of bullets from
prison guards.
Barnett was caught by Detec-
tive Sergts. Murray Kutner and
Herbert c. Young and Precinct
Detective Andrew Gerber as he
trudged bareheaded through the
rain in the 1000 block of K street
NV. He was alone.
A lookout broadcast to police in
the District and 10 Eastern States
after the prison break Sunday
night described Barnett as the
leader of the convict band and
warned policemen that he was
Dangerous"
Denies Leading Break.
Barnett denied that he had led
the Jail break, Detective Kutner
said. On the contrary, Barnett
related the three other prisoners
dropped from a window and began
fleeing while he was still saving
away at his leg shackle. He
jumped from the window a full
minute behind the others and as
a result drew the full fury Of the
guards gunflre, Barnett said.
He fled Immediately into the
deep woods near the prison camp
while the other fugitives fled in an
opposite direction, Burnett told
Detectives Kutner and Young.
All night he hid in the woods
listening to the baying of the
hounds and the shouts of a posse
of prison guards and Virginia
State and Prince William County
policemen. At times, the search
ing parties came so close he felt
sure his hiding place had been
detected, but after a while the
shouting of the men and the bark
ing of the dogs died off in the
distance, Barnett said.
Barnett, who was shot in the
stomach and captured by guards
when he attempted to fee from
another Virginia prison camp last
May, was serving a flve-year term
for armed robbery in Fairfax
County.
Officers on Routine Patrol.
The police officers said they were
on routine patrol in robbery
squad cruiser when they saw Bar
nett, clad in a dirty white sweat
shirt and torn trousers trudging
through the rain and decided to
question him.
He first told them he had come
to Washington two weeks ago
from his home in Pennsylvania
mining community to search for a
job. Failing to find work here, he
said, he had hitchhiked to the
home of a friend near Spartan
burg, S. c.. where his hunt for a
job proved equally fruitless. He
was hitchhiking home when he
was stopped.
The detectives said they acted
on a bunch and decided to take
the youth to headquarters to
check his story. There he adj
mitted his identity, but insisted
he had no knowledge of the
whereabouts of his three fellow
fugitives.
Those who escaped with Bar
nett were identified by prison camp
authorities as Roy Bennett. rs.
serving seven years for house,
breaking; William Davis Beasley,
"a, serving three years for store
house breaking, and John Aldrich,
rs, serving eight years for robbery.
storehouse breaking and possessing
bur glary tools.
Barnett told the detectives he
hid all night Sunday and all day
yesterday in the woods near the
prison camp and did not start
toward the District until 1t be-