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Show ' OFFICERS CAPTURE1 : 01 C01VIGT AND KILL 1W OTHERS 4- 4- 4- H l OMAHA, Maroh 18. Two of 1 tho convicts, John Dowel and 1 I John Taylor, alias "Shorty" fl Gray, who escaped laBt Thurs- 1 day from tho stato pcnlton- fl -t- Uary ut Lincoln, and Roy H I -f- Blunt, nn Innocent victim of -f their" murdorou3 attempt to so- 4 -f euro liberty, are dead as tho Hl reault of an exciting battle H between tho bandits and ioffl- Ht cor 3 this afternoon. j H Charles Morlcj', tho third member H of the trio which esoapod from tho B t stato priBon after killing three offl- 1 clals of that institution, saved his life H by surrendering after a running bat- 1 tie over two and a half miles of coun- trv, with horses on tho gallop. Tho three eacaped convicts were H within striking distance of tho goal H which they hoped might secure their H safety when the final de3perato strug- H glo for llborty occurred. Thoy had H covered the stretch from Lincoln to 1 within ten miles of the Omaha limits, 1 where thoy had expected to receive Hl tho protection of friends. Hl Early in the day the telephone op- H erator at Gretna, about fifteen miles H ' south of here, gave tho alarm of the H i presence in that vicinity of the des- 1 i perate men. This message brought H out several posses, one from Omaha, H composed of detectives and police officers ; another composed of Sheriff B. McShane and deputies of this county; H a third made up of Sheriff Hors and H I his deputies from Lincoln Sheriff 1 Chase of Sarpy county and his depu- Hl tloB also wero within striking dls- H j I tance, and South Omaha sent two H ' posses under Chief of Pollco Briggs. H The Gretna company of militia was H early on the scone. H Brlggs On Trail of Convicts. H I Chief Brlggs of South Omaha and H his deputy, John C. Trouton, wore H leaders in the party which finally H r-ovortook and vanquished the three H ' convicts. Brlggs left Omaha on a H Epecial train with sovoral pollco offi- H cers. They left tho train at Spring- H field, Nob., about fifteen miles south H of here, and thore learned of the Hj movements of the convicts. The men H had broken into a store at Murdoch, Hj between here and Lincoln, and stolen 1 guns, ammunition and clothing, and H of this fact the officers were ap- H ( prised. It was learned that the men H i were on their way north, with Al- H , bright, a suburb, as their destination, Hl I and the chase then began. H Oblef BriggB secured a fast team H i at Springfield, Sheriff Chase also had H a good team and Sheriff Hyers of Lln- H coin Joined the party. Three miles H , out of Springfield the poesea loarncd Hj ' that the convicts had forced James H i Blunt and his wife, parents of the H ' murdered man, to give them break- H i fast and furnish a team and wagon Hj , with which thoy hoped to escape to H I Albright. The chase began at once. Hj Every man in the party was armed H with rifle or revolver. The rural H telephone played its part in tho chase, 1 and the pursuers were able to learn H from the farmers' homes along the Hl route of the progress of tho fugl- H Elcht miles from there tho officers H came up with tho vehicle carrying the H convicts, near Mowjnkle school. H Young Blunt was forced to lash his H horses Into a run, but tho officers Hj kept up the chase until thoy were H within a few hundred yards. Then H Chief Brlggs' driver, who lod the rest H of the party, balked and refused to H drlvo further. Brlggs himself grasped H I the reins and whipped the horses H I into a gallop. H When they were within a hundrod H yards Brlggs and Trouton opened H fire. From that tlnie until Morloy H surrendered It was a daBhlng fight H ' over thrco miles of rough road. The H convicts y.ero armed with shotgruns H jind revolvers. The shot came rat- H tllng into the faces of the pursuers H and their horses, while the revolver H bullets, poorly aimed, were spent in H the snowdrifts beside the road. H Young Blunt Is Killed. H Finally there was a hall, when H young Blunt toppled back into tho H wagon, the victim of a bullet Chief H t ' Briggs Jumped from the jbuggl' In which ho was riding, and yVa, de,-llberate de,-llberate aim fired at tl(e,Jmfin "In th wagon. Mcantfmb other njombors of tho posso cathe up and 'j6Vncd la Uip fuBllado. Joln Dowd was noxi tp fall. It was at flust reported that ho had shot himself, but Chief Brlggs bolIcve3 ho was struck by a bullet from the posse, but Morley Insists that Dowd killed hlmsolf. Next Taylor Tay-lor fell and then Charles Morley, the third convict, threw up his hands. Not knowing Just what had happened, hap-pened, Brlggs demanded of Morloy the surrender of the other men In tho wagon. 1 "Thoy aro all dead," declared Morley. Mor-ley. Brlggs then went to the wagon taking Morley with him. and found tho three llfoloss hodics. Sheriff Hyers of Lincoln took Morloy to Lincoln Lin-coln on an afternoon train. In the battle Brlggs and Tiouton received several slight fleBh wounds. Blunt was 22 years old and had been married but two months. His young widow was prostrated when his body was returned to tho family home by his brother. Chief of Pollco Brlggs. and John Trouton, his deputy, who did most of the shooting which resulted In tho doaths of three men, had Uttlo to say about the killing of young Blunt. Brigfis declared he could not tell who fired the Bhot which killed Blunt, but Trouton intimated that Blunt had been shot by ono of the convicts. Morlcy's Story of Their Flight. LINCOLN, Neb,, M.arch 18, Charles Morley, the convict who surrendered and was tnicon back to the penitentiary peniten-tiary tonight told tho story of his escape, pursuit and today's battle. He said tho volley from the posse In thp fight near Grana first killed young Blunt, the convict's hostage, who was driving them across tbo country Convict Con-vict Taylor was the next man hit and ho died within a minute without saying say-ing a word. "Dowd," said Morley, 'shot hlmsolf In tho head whon he saw escape was Impossible He attempted to do this earlier in the gamo but I knocked his hand away and told him that we might as well fight it out I fired sK shots with ray revolver and then jumped out of tho wagon and raised my bands abovo my head and ran toward the posso "Deputy Sheriff Elkenberry caught mc by the collar and he and Sheriff, Hyers Raved my life. The bunch who wore In the lead In the buggy wantod to shoot mo aftor I had given up but the two mon wouldn't let them "We spent last night on the way from Prairie Home. Wo stopped at a farmer's named Elmer Ham and thore we ato We loft them tied up and also cut their telephone wires. Near thore we stole a handcar. Last night we thought we wore sure to get away and we were headed for the rock quarries at Louisville, but changed our route. "We kept on north until we reached Blunt's about four miles north of the track. There we ato again and talked with the Blunt hoys, Rxy, and Lloyd and made them give us a team We knew that tho posso was then only about an hour behind us, so we took Hoy Blunt us a hostage and left a note to tho posso telling of this. "From thore on north, for ten miles, wo kept out of sight of the posse, thougli wo constantly met posses of .farmers. ThcBe, however, were armed with shotguns and whenever they saw us they turned and drove the othot way. About fdurtoen miles north of the tracks, tho leading buggy of the sheriff's dobbo which was strung out back of us for two miles, came within shooting distance of us We fired tlrst, but thoy promptly returned the firo and tho boy, Blunt, and Taylor were VI11H onrlv In hk flcht " Morley declared that the escape from the penitentiary had not been long plannod. He did not know of it Thursday morning. Tho guns were given him and Dowd by Taylor, who also had the explosive. "We had no trouble in leaving the shops at tho penitentiary," said Morley. Mor-ley. ''We simply loft In a bunch and walked across the prison yard. We entered tho chapel and Taylor went over to the deputy warden's office. There they shot the deputy warden. "Deputy Warden Wagner was tho gamest man wo met, He drew hlB revolver and tried to shoot Taylor hut was dying at the time "Whon wo made our escape we were armed with four revolvers. We also took along Pahl's gun, but we didn't have much ammunition. "After our escape from the penitentiary peniten-tiary wo had a terrible tlmo In tho blizzard We wero almost exhausted when wo reached shelter, All of us had our feet and hands frozen "The noxt morning we held up a milk wagon boy and after securing breakfast at his home, forced him o haul us to the city. After ho had let us out In Lincoln, we struck for somo railroad sheds but after staying there a whilo, wo wont on to Hnvelock. There we spent the night In a barn and also stayed tho next day nnd we wore nearly found there several times when the man came to get hay for tho animals We wore covered up In the hay and once I had to draw up my legs to keep the man from picking them up In the arm-load of feed. , "After staying a njjjht and a day In tho barn In Havelock, wo struck east Wo stopped at 'the Hajl residence near Prairie Home and stayed there part of last night" |