Assignment Huntsville by Lee Simmons

Assignment Huntsville by Lee Simmons

Author:Lee Simmons [Simmons, Lee]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: .ISBNincl, Prison Escapes, Memoir, Notorious Criminals, PerditusLiber
ISBN: OCLC: 1677821
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Published: 1957-12-15T05:00:00+00:00


CHAPTER 14

An Ambush in Arcadia

IT WAS NOT TOO difficult to reconstruct what had actually happened on that morning of January 16, 1934. Most of the details of the escape plot were obtained from information given by an ex-convict, James Mullin, alias Jimmie Lamont. Mullin had been released recently from Eastham Farm. But he had served time in eight different penitentiaries, and we were so sure that he was somehow mixed up in the break that we promptly had him picked up.

Mullin was already in trouble again, having stolen some guns and ammunition from a federal armory. Thus he was sure of imprisonment again, either by Uncle Sam or by the state of Texas. Mullin didn’t like to work, and he had already had a taste of labor as it is required on Eastham Farm. Accordingly he struck a bargain with us: if we would let him serve his next term at the federal prison, instead of at Eastham Farm, he would tell us what he knew about the break. We figured we needed help in the form of information more than Mullin needed a choice of prisons, so we agreed. His story was substantially as follows.

Upon being discharged from Eastham, Mullin had agreed to go to Dallas on behalf of Hamilton and Palmer to tell Floyd Hamilton, Raymond’s brother, to get in touch with Clyde Barrow and ask him for help in the break, which had already been planned in detail. Barrow at once fell in with the plan, and further details were worked out.

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Clyde and Raymond had a west Dallas pal in Fred Yost, then a trusty around the yard at Eastham Farm, who helped with their arrangements.

On the Sunday afternoon before the Tuesday break, Floyd Hamilton came down to the farm to visit Raymond and confirmed the plan in detail. The next morning around two o’clock Floyd and Mullin placed two loaded automatics under a small culvert near the wood-yard. On Monday, the trusty, Yost, picked up the guns and smuggled them into the building where the convicts slept. On Tuesday, Hamilton and Palmer came out to work with the guns concealed in their clothing, a safe procedure as convicts are not ordinarily searched when they leave a building.

Hamilton jumped his squad to be with Joe. Clyde and Bonnie were waiting down by the timber, guided by Mullin, who knew the exact place where work would be going on. The break worked out exactly as planned, with the exception of Bybee’s joining the party. Palmer vouched for Bybee to Clyde as being safe, since he was a life-termer. Three of the four fugitives crawled into the turtleback of the car. Clyde, Bonnie, and Mullin rode in the seat, and Raymond Hamilton rode in Mullin’s lap.

A Negro near the farm saw them climb into the car and head north. Another witness near Hillsboro saw them throw striped prison clothing into the creek. A service-station attendant on a country road filled Clyde’s car with gas and oil, chattering excitedly about the news that had just come over the radio.



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