In truth, she was undoubtedly naive and unworldly in her dealings with Perry and the other troubled or damaged men and women she tried to help. She was a woman of unshakable faith and utterly binding principles who was prepared to battle with authority and bend man's law if it conflicted with her totally sincere interpretation of God's. She was formidable as a foe, as the Pinkertons had discovered, and, as Perry knew and sometimes exploited, ever faithful as a friend. She was not in love with Perry in the simple sense implied by those who sniggered, but she certainly loved him. She was undoubtedly taken in at times, too easily convinced by his romantic stories, too keen to see the best in him, but she was no fool. When she indulged Oliver Perry, it was a mother's indulgence of a wayward son. He may not always have been sincere when he called her Mother and listened to her advice, but Amelia Haswell took her motherly duties seriously.
Amelia Haswell's interest in Perry was clearly prompted by her Christian faith and social conscience, but there was definitely a more personal bond between them. They were worlds apart in background, age and general temperament. Yet, like Perry, she was passionate, eloquent and impetuous. She may have been a little infatuated with the charismatic, damaged young man who walked into her class, but she may also have recognized something of herself in him. Was she drawn to the young robber because he reminded her of a part of herself? Be that as it may, her impetuosity and unworldliness eventually landed her in serious trouble.
William Hopkins had been arrested when detectives working for American Express had uncovered a second escape plot by Perry while still at Matteawan. He had apparently bribed a keeper to help him and confided in him that Hopkins had provided the keys that had been used in the earlier escape. The keeper informed Allison, Perry was held in solitary confinement until he was sent to Auburn and Hopkins was arrested.
Hopkins was in his forties, with a wife and children and a serious drinking problem. Confronted with the evidence against him he admitted his guilt and, after some prompting, implicated Amelia Haswell. He said that in the fall of 1894 she had sent him a parcel of jewellery that Perry was giving him as a reward for his help in his planned escape, which included providing the keys, a file and blank keys and unlocking the cell of Maguire, whom Perry had brought into the plan because he was a skilled jeweller. Hopkins also confessed to telling Perry he would leave clothes and a pistol at an agreed spot near a local racetrack, but that instead he had got roaring drunk in the village. His testimony revealed that Perry had planned his escape even more carefully than had been thought. It also suggested that he had a rather respectable accomplice. According to the Matteawan authorities, Haswell had visited Perry regularly, bringing him religious reading matter. The prisoner had, they said, spoken often of the spiritual solace she brought him. Now they suspected that her support had been more practical.
Hopkins had already sold the jewellery, which he thought was from Perry's haul in his first train robbery, so detectives were sent to search jewellers and pawn shops. Soon a watch, two rings, one set with a two-carat diamond, the other a 'beauty' with a fourteen-carat diamond, were returned to American Express. What was Amelia Haswell doing with these in the first place, let alone sending them to a keeper as a bribe?
There is no record of exactly what, or how, Perry was told about what was happening to his 'Mother', but his own circumstances had taken a turn for the worse. Still driven by his compulsion to escape, made worse if anything by his glimpses of the world, he was discovered smuggling sand from the exercise yard. He had been filling his pockets when the guards were not looking, and storing it in his cell to make a sand bag to use as a weapon. When it was found in a surprise inspection, he was once more placed in the dungeon. On release he was held in solitary confinement in his gloomy cell in the basement corridor, now occupied by condemned men for whom there were no death cells. He was the only prisoner in his row who had not been sentenced to death.
While Amelia Haswell stayed in Ocean Grove, no move was made to arrest her because this would have required extradition proceedings that would have revealed prosecution evidence. As soon as she returned to Troy she would be arrested. Understandably, she did not hurry and Ocean Grove's religious services, with congregations of over seven thousand, gave her plenty of spiritual succour. Meanwhile, her friends and associates proclaimed her good character and innocence of any charges that might be made against her. They claimed that, far from breaking the law, she was an honest woman who had been hounded by detectives and the 'old Troy police ring', a byword for political corruption.
She remained silent until the enterprising editor of the Troy Times telegraphed her at the gloriously named Ocean Queen Hotel to invite her to tell her story. To everyone's surprise, she replied with a letter that was immediately published across the state. In it she acknowledged that she had indeed sent jewellery to Hopkins at Perry's request, but insisted that it was an innocent act. The jewellery, she said, was not stolen but Perry's legal property. Perry had originally asked her to sell his watch because it 'would be old-fashioned, and he would realize more for it now than a few years hence'. Perry also asked her to sell two rings, sent to her after his trial by the Wayne County sheriff. Whether or not what Perry said about the jewellery was true, Amelia may easily, if a little naively, have believed that it was not stolen. She had expressed some reluctance after her past experiences, so Perry suggested she send them to a 'friend' called Hopkins who would sell them. He made no reference to Hopkins being a keeper. 'I enquired', she wrote, 'whether he felt sure he could trust this man. I explained that so many would take advantage of his helplessness.' Perry replied, 'If ever I had a friend this man is one. He feels sorry for me, and would not betray me.'
Haswell eventually agreed and sent the parcel, covering her tracks - almost certainly unwittingly - by letting a friend post it for her. The next she heard of it was weeks after the escape, when Perry, back in Matteawan, wrote asking her to visit him. She did so, with her aunt, and he told her the truth about his deal with Hopkins, complaining that Hopkins had let him down. Instead of telling the police, or even the asylum authorities, Amelia Haswell wrote to Hopkins asking him to return the jewellery and, when he was obstructive, to Perry's father, telling him about what Hopkins had done so that he could demand his son's property. She was, she wrote, 'indignant to think a keeper would encourage Oliver in wrongdoing', but her desire to protect Perry from further punishment and, possibly, understandable reluctance at being implicated herself, restrained her from following the proper course of action according to the law.
She offered no apologies about her conduct and insisted that in her relationship with Perry 'God knows there is nothing I am ashamed to proclaim from the housetops.' She even claimed that the charge that she had knowingly helped Perry escape was an act of revenge by detectives whom she had defied since 1891: 'All through the period following the robbery, and after the arrest, the detectives kept up their persecution of me. I knew at different times where Perry was in hiding, but I did not choose to betray him. They used all their persuasions, arguments and threats. But his life was in my hands, and I would not give him up.'
If her accusation was contentious, others were even more dramatic. Rumours spread that the campaign against her was being orchestrated by influential men, including Thomas C. Platt. 'Boss' Platt, known as 'The Machiavelli of Tioga County', was a powerful Republican with a reputation for tough, some said corrupt, dealings and a known dislike of reformers like Amelia Haswell. No conspiracy was ever proved but supporters of big business may well have been impatient with the meddling missionary. It was reported that over the past year American Express had lost about $200,000 in robberies and the company was more jealous than ever of its property and reputation.
Damaging rumours proliferated about Amelia Haswell, ranging from complicity in planning the first robbery to hiding the saw in Perry's Bible. But the consequences of being found guilty of the current charges were serious enough. American Express was considering pressing charges for handli
ng stolen goods, the United States Mail could charge her with using the mails for improper purposes, and the District Attorney of Dutchess County, as a representative of the State of New York, could prosecute her for aiding the escape of a felon. While all the possible charges were serious, the latter was a felony for which her sentence, if convicted, would match Perry's: forty-nine years.
The scene was set for a dramatic trial. Amelia Haswell was peacefully arrested when she returned home and, accompanied by her aunt and her brother-in-law, the Reverend John Warren, she was waved off on the railroad journey to the hearing in Poughkeepsie by a large crowd of Christians and reformers. The hearing, to determine if there was enough evidence to hold her for a Grand Jury trial, was so overcrowded that it had to move to a bigger courtroom. Amelia Haswell entered a plea of not guilty. From the start her flamboyant lawyer, Calvin Keach, set his tone by reading the names of all the influential citizens who had offered to stand bail for his client, clearly hoping to establish her good reputation in contrast to the drunken chief witness.
Henry Allison's testimony offered no first-hand evidence of Haswell's complicity in Perry's escape, although he insisted that she had conversations with Perry that could not be overheard. It was clear that the missionary had complained on numerous occasions about Perry's treatment and especially about drunken keepers but, although Allison admitted that he had subsequently sacked one of them, he thought she was generally misguided. Eyebrows were raised when he claimed, 'She told me that Perry had never done anything for which he should be severely punished. He had only robbed an express company, she said, and did not appear to consider that a serious matter.'
Hopkins repeated his allegations and insisted that she had known he was a keeper and written to him as such. He also said that she had advised him not to keep the distinctive watch in case it was recognized.
His evidence might turn out to be untrue, and his reward of immunity from prosecution might have made some suspicious of his motives, but it was unsettling for Haswell's supporters. Keach announced that his client wished to make a personal statement but he needed an adjournment to prepare and to subpoena several witnesses. The case was adjourned for one week and Amelia Haswell put up bail of $1,000, signed for by her aunt and her lawyer.
Reactions to the hearing were typified by Judge Robertson of Troy. He spoke in defence of Amelia Haswell, praising her good work and intentions, but he clearly had reservations. 'You know Perry was a remarkable criminal, exceptionally bright, and the kind of man that many people pitied, believing he could be saved . . . Miss Haswell took a great deal of interest in his case. Some people may think it possible that her zeal made her indiscreet in some respects . . .'
Amelia Haswell was accompanied to the reconvened hearing by a number of well-known religious and political figures, including the candidate for State Treasurer on the prohibition ticket. The forces of reform and redemption were displaying their support. Keach opened the proceedings by reading her lengthy statement. She denied any involvement in Perry's escape, and explained that she had not gone to the police when she discovered what had happened because she did not want to punish Hopkins's innocent family. Even when her actions were legally suspect, she was anxious to explain, sounding rather like Perry himself, that her moral motives were sound.
At the core of her statement, and of her recent attitude towards Perry, was her obvious sense of responsibility, even guilt, for the heavy sentence he was serving. Having personally persuaded him to plead guilty at his trial, believing according to her Christian principles that it might lead to clemency, she had been deeply shocked at the severity of his sentence. Now, defensively, she stressed that she had done her duty and suffered persecution as a result. 'I firmly believe', she argued, 'that if I had not done voluntarily all that I could to detect and convict Oliver Curtis Perry of that crime, he never would have been convicted.' For her pains she had been hounded by detectives who had made threats 'that they would never rest until they got me in prison'.
She closed by touching on what interested many people most of all. 'It has been commented on much in public prints and private gossip, that I felt a deep interest in Mr Perry. I confess I have and still do, as is common with my lifework in the field of trying to reform the wicked of the earth. There is no sentimental false sympathy in my heart toward this man or any other. . . . What is the mission of a missionary unless it be to raise the fallen and stop others from falling?'
At the end of her statement affidavits were read and witnesses, including Haswell's aunt, were called to support her story. Finally William Hopkins took the stand. He had arrived late, and his replies to questions were often non-committal or confused, giving the impression that he had been schooled by the detectives but had forgotten his lines.
Keach moved that his client be released as there was 'not one scintilla of evidence to show her guilt' and a heated exchange began about whether Perry as a thief or Hopkins as a lawbreaking keeper was less reliable. Finally the Recorder intervened. In his apparent anxiety to conclude the hearing without assuming any responsibility, he sounded like a latter-day Pontius Pilate. 'Although I might discharge this defendant, the District Attorney would still, of course, have the right to present the case for indictment... I will not bear any of the burden and will hold the defendant to await the grand jury's action.' Amelia Haswell was granted bail at $2,000, paid by her aunt. To the waiting press she spoke only briefly: 'So much of it is over. I shall continue to place my trust in God.'
The Grand Jury met at the beginning of October and was as decisive in judgment as the Recorder had been hesitant. Amelia Haswell's months of anxiety were swiftly ended as the jury found no grounds for indictment and the case was dismissed. While there would still be whispers about the propriety of her relationship with Perry, the missionary had convinced at least some of the public that she was no felon. Predictably, the dismissal was barely reported by the newspapers that had splashed the accusations across their pages. Amelia Haswell herself felt totally vindicated and declared her intention to continue the work that had led her to court. A few days later, the Troy Times published her own lengthy account of her trials, entitled 'A Pure Heart's Triumph', which concluded: 'I have never had such sympathy for the poor and oppressed and erring as I have today, and I can assure the world at large, as far as is in my power, they will have a warmer friend than ever before in Amelia E. Haswell.'
CHAPTER l6
'Oblivion where he belongs'
O N17 SEPTEMBER, while Amelia Haswell was waiting for the Grand Jury hearing that would clear her name, an extraordinary and terrible event in Auburn transformed Oliver Perry's life. Late in the evening a keeper heard a moaning noise in his cell and went to investigate. When he peered through the door he saw Perry holding a piece of wood with what looked like two nails stuck through it. As the horrified keeper watched, Perry jabbed the nails again and again into his own eyes.
Shouting for help, the keeper struggled to wrangle the improvised weapon from the prisoner. Soon more keepers arrived with the prison physician, but they could barely restrain Perry, who seemed determined to keep stabbing his eyes even though the pain was so intense it had forced him to cry out. Eventually they wrestled him to the ground. Fearful that even in this state Perry might try to escape if taken to the hospital, the keepers pinned his arms and marched him, still struggling, to an isolated cell in a new prison building that was not yet occupied. There he was knocked out with chloroform.
Both his eyes were severely lacerated, but Conant Sawyer, the physician who had committed Perry, believed that the sight in one might be saved. When Perry woke he continued to struggle, so Sawyer kept him heavily sedated. By the end of September, Perry finally agreed to his eyes being treated and the physician was able to work without administering sedatives. Sawyer managed to preserve some of the sight in one eye but Perry was still in real distress, shouting his demands to anyone who came near. He wanted attention, he wanted better conditions and, above all, he wanted to go home. B
ut he would not be going home, whatever he had hoped and wherever home might have been.
Perry had made a blinding machine with a piece of wood and two large saddler's needles, the sort used in the prison workshop. He had shown initiative and ingenuity in making use of everyday objects and material from his first escape attempt in 1892 to the sandbag episode a few weeks before this. Now, for reasons he would not reveal, he had turned this skill to terrible, self-destructive ends. As a result he was blind in one eye, had only limited vision in the other, and was soon to be declared insane once more.
On 1 November Dr Sawyer completed a new Certificate of Lunacy. In his accompanying letter to Dr Allison he noted that after a brief 'docile' period when he first returned to Auburn, Perry had been 'insolent, very talkative'. He went on to describe his unruliness and self-mutilation. But the horrors of Perry's condition had not diminished his physician's sense of humour, or of self-preservation, as he noted: Tn my last interview with him, he said that his next act would be to kill a prison official the Deputy Warden and myself are special objects of his dislike and I have no special desire to gratify him in this direction.' The following day Perry was taken back to Matteawan.
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