Trusty "Dolly" Valbes Helps 16 Prisoners Escape, Feb. 20, 1922

Trusty Blamed. . . Van Miller Says Trusty Let Convicts Out—Paid $15

Van Miller, one of the 16 convicts who escaped from the Guilford county workhouse last Monday night, and who was captured at Winston-Salem Thursday night, told Guilford authorities that a trusty, called “Dolly” Valbes, opened the heater hole of the floor through which the 16 men escaped. Fifteen dollars was given Valbes to open it, Miller said, by him and another convict. Miller was brought back to the workhouse Friday. He said, in relating the story of the escape, that, although he was tired and hungry, he wanted to get over the borders of Guilford as soon as possible, and made a straight line for his home in Winston-Salem. One night was spent in a tobacco barn near Waughtown, he said, and he was in terror that he would be captured. The next morning, nearly frozen, he said, he crawled out of the barn and slunk into Winston-Salem, going to his home.

It was thought that some of the men would go to their homes, the capture of Van Miller was comparatively easy. More of the men are expected to be caught in the same way. Sooner or later, it is said, many of them will come ack to their homes, making quick trips in and out, getting bolder and bolder, until they are picked up.

It is said that a relative of Miller took the money to him at the workhouse last Saturday.

Valbes is no longer a trusty. He was convicted several years ago of check flashing and was sentenced to two years on the county roads. After serving that time he was re-arrested and given 18 months more on a similar charge. When that expires, he will be turned over to the sheriff of Rockingham count, where he is wanted.

Miller had served only a short part of his term when he got away. He was sentenced at the January term of Guilford Superior criminal court to a year on the roads after a conviction on a charge of stealing an automobile.

From The Greensboro Patriot, Monday, February 20, 1922. Published every Monday and Thursday.

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Alleged Robber is Not Loose Convict

The report that Roy Huffman, captured near Waughtown, Forsyth county, Thursday and charged, with four other men captured at the same time, with trying to rob the bank of Kernersville, is an escaped convict, was denied, following a trip made to the Forsyth county jail by Superintendent Andrews of the Guilford county workhouse Mr. Andrews saw the Roy Huffman held and knew at once that he is not the same person as the convict Roy Huffman.

In connection with the escape of the convicts, it is said that a suit of clothes worn by one of the escaping convicts was delivered by his relatives in Greensboro to the sheriff’s office. The man, according to information given by his wife, it is said, went home and changed his clothes a short while after he broke from the convict house, then starting out again. From The Greensboro Patriot, Monday, February 20, 1922. Published every Monday and Thursday.