Evening star., 1953-12-22
Agents Seize
Dickerson in
West Virginia
Maryland Fugitive
Captured Unormed
In Home Of Cousin

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West Virginia State police and
Federal Bureau of Investigation
agents last night captured
Thomas E. Dickerson. one Of the
FBI's 10 most wanted criminals,
as he watched a television show
at the home of a cousin in Ver-
dunville. w. Va.
Dickerson, 80, wanted for ques-
tioning in the Staying of a mes
senger for a finance company in
Mount Rainier, Md. surrendered
without resistance when six FBI
agents and two State troopers
moved in with drawn guns.
Dickerson is under indictment
in Montgomery County for a
$612 loan company holdup, has
been charged by District police
with robbing two Rhode Island
avenue NE. liquor stores, and is
wanted by Ohio authorities for
parole violation.
Put Under Heavy Guard.
DickerSon was lodged in the
Logan County. w. Va, jail under
heavy guard-he has a record Of
five eScapeS-on a charge Of un-
lawful flight to avoid prosecution.
He was to be taken today to
Charleston. w. Va. for arraign-
ment before a United States
Commissioner.
District police said they will
await Dickerson's return to this
area before questioning him in
the Staying of Thomas N. Selph,
jr., "a, who vanished october 9
with more than $3,100, belonging
to the American Finance Co.
Mr.. Selph's body was found
40 days later in a lonely wooded
area near Davidsonville, Md. He
had been shot in the head.
Dickerson has been sought
since he and a companion over
powered a guard at the Spring
Grove .(Md0 State Hospitals
maximum security ward in Sep
tember and fed.
Flees in Hail of Bullets.
He was captured December S
near Sanders Hook, KY. but
sawed his way to freedom from
the Elliott County CKy.) Jail.
and fed in a hail Of police bul-
lets. He took five fellow prison.
ers with him.
The FBI traced Dickerson
from Kentucky to the West Vir-
ginia area about 40 miles south
west Of Charleston.
Indication that the FBI was
closing in on DickerSon as early
as four days ago came when
they filed a warrant last Satur-
day at Ashland. KY. charging
Glenn johnson. 81, of Gimlet,
KY. with harboring a fugitive.
Johnson, Dickerson's uncle,
also was arrested in last nights
raid on the home of Virgil
Skeens, the cousin. State Po-
lice Corpl. H. c. Fullmer said
Mr.. Skeens sis completely inno-
cent in this, and no charges will
be filed against him"
Corpl. Fullmer said Dickerson
and johnson were sitting side
by side watching television, and
were unarmed when the officers
entered the home.
Events in His Record.
Dickerson was arrested here
July Is. the day after the $612
holdup at a loan company in
Bethesda, Md. He was trans
ferred to the Spring Grove hos
pital after he had slashed his
wrists, tried to hang himself,
and went on a To-day hunger
strike.
The FBI said Dickerson's DO
lice record dates back to Septem.
ber. 1910. when he was II. He
pleaded guilty then to a Federal
charge of auto theft in Balti-
more, and was given a three
year suspended sentence.
He entered the Army, faced
courts martial three times, and
three times escaped from mill
tary custody, the FBI said.
Finally, on June 6, 1914, he faced
a general courts martial at
Camp Bowie. Tex. for insubordi-
nation, and was sentenced to
five years at hard labor.
He was dishonorably dis
charged 81 days later. After his
release from prison in 1948, he
went to Ohio, and was arrested
there for robbing a jewelry store
at Columbus. He was released
from Ohio Penitentiary on pa
role last February 5, after serv-
ing nearly five years of a lotto
25-year sentence.