Evening star., 1952-08-02
Almond Urges :
Law on
Patients
Agrees With Judge
In Loudoun in Wake
Of Three SIoyings
By the Associated Press

RICHMOND, Va, Aug. 2.-At- |
torney General j. Lindsay Almond,
jr., agreed with the judge of LOU
doun County Circuit Court today
that some revision needs to be-
done by the General Assembly onl
the laws dealing with fugitivel
mental patients.
Judge j. r. H. Alexander oil
Leesburg and the Attorney Gen.
|eral both presented their viewsI
to Cow Battle on the loopholesI
in the law as the result of the May
% Staying of three persons byl
Maurice Ray Fox, an escaped pa
+tient from Western State Hospital
at Staunton.
The governor felt there had
been "some neglect somewhere
along the line" in handling the
escape. This was in view of the
fact that Fox had been at large
for Is days before the slayings and
his whereabouts-at the home of
his 75-year-old mother. Mrs. Ida
Fox, near Leesburg - had been
known to hospital authorities for
most of that time.
Fox shot and killed his father,
William F. Fox, 70; Robert O'Con-
nor, AZ, an airline pilot of Falls
Church, and Miss Lillian Hove,
"a. of Alexandria. a friend of Mr..
|O'Connor.
Poor Judgment Charged.
In the preliminary investiga-
ton, the acting superintendent of
Western State, DR.. C. G. Holland,
said he felt he had taken the
proper steps by having a warrant
issued for the fugitive and leaving
the matter in the hands of the
police. The director of the State
Department of Mental Hygiene
and Hospitals, DR.. Joseph E. Bar
|rett, said that "as it turned out"
DR.. Holland used poor judgment
in failing to tell police that Fox
was at his mothers home two
weeks before the Shootings.
The Staunton Police Chief and
the Sheriff of Loudoun said they
hadn't been informed by the hos
pital of FoX's whereabouts and
the Sheriff, Roger E. Powell, said
he had never seen the general
teletype alarm sent out on the
basis of the original warrant.
Judge Alexander told Gov. Bat
tie that after examining the laws
on the subject he was convinced
mo official could be called a
"Scapegoat" in the case. Judge
Alexander said his conclusion
was that the fault was not with
any one person but was due
mostly to "the paucity of statu-
tory laws on the subject"
Superintendent's Duties Cited.
The Attorney General, who
checked the judges views against
the statutes, agreed that the Gen
eral Assembly should tighten up
the laws. He said, however:
'It would seem to be the plain
duty of the superintendent, even
after a warrant had been issued
in the first instance, to issue an
other or other warrants directed
to an officer authorized to make
arrests, whenever such Superin-
tendent received information as to
the whereabouts of the escaped
Iperson."
Mr.. Almond said he concurred
in the judges view that the stat
ues dealing with the escape of per-
sons from penal institutions do not
lapply to persons who escape from
mental institutions.
Judge Alexander said that even
if the sheriff of Loudoun had seen
the teletype alarm put out by the
Staunton police after the escape
he couldn't have made the arrest
without violating the law. The
judge said it seemed to him that
local trial justices and justices of
the peace should plainly be given
authority to issue warrants for
the arrest of such escapes so local
: officers would have a practical
means of making an early arrest.