page_title: Jack and Ed Biddle
section_title: Pursuit and recapture
hierarchical_section_title: Jack and Ed Biddle / Pursuit and recapture
caption_attribution_description: Capture of the mortally wounded Jack and Ed Biddle, showing the sleigh in which they and warden's wife Kate Soffel had attempted to escape
context_page_description: Brothers John E. Biddle and Edward C. Biddle were condemned prisoners who escaped from the Allegheny County Jail in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania using tools and weapons supplied to them by the warden's wife, Kate Soffel who fled with them.
  During the subsequent pursuit and capture all three were wounded, the brothers mortally.
  The incident is the basis of the 1984 film Mrs. Soffel.
context_section_description: The three took a trolley to West View, Pennsylvania, then walked a mile to a farm on Route 19, where they stole a sleigh and a shotgun and started for Butler County.
  Meanwhile, Charles "Buck" McGovern (one of the detectives who had originally arrested the Biddles) gathered a posse,
  assuming the fugitives were headed for Canada
  and would follow back roads.
  McGovern stationed his men at the Graham Farm in Butler County and waited.
  After some time the brothers approached, bringing the sleigh to a halt as they realized they were surrounded.
  One of the detectives recounted the story:
  The Biddles were sitting on the right side of the cutter. Mrs. Soffel was on the left side. "Hold up your hands and surrender," Detective McGovern commanded. Ed Biddle jumped up from his seat and, raising a shotgun, fired it at McGovern. He aimed badly, and the shot scattered on the road alongside of McGovern. Detectives McGovern and Roach discharged their Winchesters at Ed Biddle. Both shots took effect. John Biddle raised from the seat, and discharged his revolver at the three officers. Detective Swineheart settled himself and fired with a revolver at the man. The ball took effect in Biddle's arm. Then all the detectives opened fire on the Biddles. The shots knocked them out of the sleigh. Ed fell sprawling on the snow, and John fell on him.
  However, this account conflicts with that of John Biddle:
  When we saw the officers coming towards us on the road yesterday evening we knew it was all up. We did not fire a shot at the officers, but agreed to kill ourselves. I shot myself in the mouth. 'Ed' shot himself over the heart. and [Kate Soffel] shot herself in the breast. We knew we had no chance to get away, and we knew we would swing if taken back, and that is why we wanted to kill ourselves.
  What precisely happened during the showdown is uncertain, but the police may have opened fire on Soffel and the Biddles when they made their attempt at suicide.
  Reporters later described John Biddle as "riddled with buckshot",
  mentioning that the Biddles were armed with a shotgun, but stated that the police only carried revolvers and rifles.
  As detectives approached the wounded brothers, Kate Soffel lay near them; she had shot herself.
  The detectives believed Ed Biddle to be reaching for a pistol, and so they shot him again, with McGovern firing at the brothers until his rifle's magazine became empty.
  All three were taken to the jail at Butler,
  where the brothers were placed in adjoining cells.
  There Jack denied killing the Mt. Washington shopkeeper and a detective who had been shot dead during the Biddles' arrest.
caption: Capture of the Biddle Brothers, January 31, 1902, showing the sleigh in which they and Soffel had attempted to escape authorities.
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