Show federal prisoners captured by ted london after attempted escape through morgan county A morgan county peace officer becane became a hero monda monday yr when he single handedly captured an escaped federal prisoner and directed a search that led to the capture of a second ted C london of croydon state trooper of the utah highway patrol made the capture in round valley after salt lake city and weber county peace officers had given chase to the elusive pair who had escaped from a train in salt lake city earlier in the day the two federal prisoners monday morning overpowered their guard in salt lakes union pacific railroad depot stole an automobile kidnapped its owner and made a desperate bid for freedom before being captured in morgan county the men edson piatt 50 and patrick al eddy 20 were en route to los angeles in custody of deputy united states marshals ray L kirgan and james J kearns they are to face trial in the california city for armed post office robbery a felony for which the te minimum sentence is 21 25 years in in a federal penitentiary they were arrested three weeks ago in st louis the train union pacifica po pony ny express stopped in the depot while the pair were at breakfast returning to their compartment the prisoners found themselves with but one guard catching a moment when he looking they attacked him beating him about the th e head and knocking him unconscious mr kirgan found mr kearns dazed and bleeding when he returned to the compartment a few minutes later near intersection grabbing the guards two guns the escapees ran from the train shot apart the links of their handcuffs and emerged from the railroad yards near the 3rd ard west and north temple intersection there they jumped into an automobile that had stopped for a traffic light and forced the driver C J hardy salt lake city to drive northward on 3rd ard west to ath or ath north where he be was told to turn eastward then eddy took the wheel and started a swift ride to the northeast constantly seeking byroads by roads but finally forced to drive straight out U S highway 91 they took the route through bountiful and farmington coming out again to highway 91 at farmington junction however despite signs indicating the road was closed for construction st they took highway 89 the mountain road and sped to the mouth of weber canyon where they stopped for gasoline and where a service station attendant told officers he was suspicious of the men road blockades meanwhile road blockades had bad been placed on all arterial routes b but ut t the he police and sheriffs men and highway patrol officers were working on misinformation an eyewitness too the abduction of mr air hardy had reported the men seized a 1941 1041 model two tone green chevrolet mr air hardys car is a desoto it was not until the car raced past a filling station at morgan where trooper ted C london of the highway patrol was telephoning that an officer positively sighted the escapees trooper london ran the other car down in slightly more than a mile the prisoners abandoned the car and mr hardy and took to the hills on foot trooper london arrested piatt a few minutes later and placed him under guard of mr hardy after disarming the escapee then the trooper and the kidnap victim took piatt back to morgan and placed him in the county jail while morgan county sheriff bernard dahlquist quickly gathered a posse escape the posse supplemented by other highway patrolmen davis and weber county deputy sheriffs sheriff a and ogden city police combed the brush of the foothills for approximately three thee quarters of an hour before eddy became convinced by the cold and the number of men seeking him that he escape ile he fired all the shells in in his pistol into the air and as the posse closed in guided by the shots he shouted h ted that the gun was empty both men were manacled mana cled again at the morgan jail eddy with his hands behind him and piatt with his good arm cuffed to eddy that the officers were taking no further chances was shown in the way the two were ironed together when one moved the other had to move too and the wrists of both were raw in in a few moments their wrists already were bruised by the shock of the shooting their earlier cuffs apart the escapees were returned to salt lake city by troopers london do and merlin C brown they were placed in salt lake county jail from which they were taken tuesday morning to los angeles mr kearns was treated at salt lake general hospital for injuries suffered when the pair decided on their bid for freedom |