Escape From The Asylum
True Crime Historian
Richard O Jones
4.4 • 729 Ratings
🗓️ 24 January 2025
⏱️ 63 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Ad-Free Safe House Edition
Episode 289 is a scandalous story that shook two Midwestern cities in the late 1930s when a woman came forward with a bizarre tale of abduction, adultery, assault, addiction and absconsion. That’s why I’m putting this story on my A-list.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Popular.com |
| 0:03.0 | November 3rd, 1937. |
| 0:10.8 | A bizarre tale of drugged drinks and stolen jewels |
| 0:15.3 | was revealed by Allegheny County detectives last night, |
| 0:20.2 | following the arrest of a woman and two men in Cleveland. |
| 0:25.6 | Mrs. Lucille Pierce, about 35, the sister of Mrs. Mary DeWalt of Cannonsburg, Pennsylvania, |
| 0:34.6 | told police authorities that under the influence of drugs, she had been forced by the trio |
| 0:39.9 | to open a strong box in the Mellon National Bank in Pittsburgh, and give them $15,000 in |
| 0:47.0 | jewels and securities with which they absconded. Those arrested in Cleveland were docketed as Maxwell D. Pierce, 52, Garfield Heights, Ohio, said to be the victim's estranged husband. |
| 1:04.0 | Margaret Maggie Gordon, 48, a domestic, and Eno Dease, alias Frank Bryce Jr., a chauffeur. |
| 1:16.0 | According to Mrs. Pierce, her husband conspired with the servant to swindle her. |
| 1:22.4 | In October of last year, she told detectives they went to her residence in Cleveland to have a talk with her. |
| 1:29.9 | Drinks were passed around, she said, and someone slipped a strong drug into her glass. |
| 1:36.9 | While under the influence of the narcotic, she claims she was driven to Pittsburgh, |
| 1:42.4 | talked into opening her box in a safety deposit |
| 1:45.1 | vault, and into giving the three her valuables. |
| 1:49.9 | The after-effects of the drugs were such, she said, that she spent some time in a Pittsburgh |
| 1:55.1 | hospital, unable to walk, until her sister and the latter's husband, Harry DeWalt, brought her to their home in Cannonsburg. |
| 2:05.6 | For eight months she was under the care of a local physician. |
| 2:10.6 | She was unable to return to her home some time ago, but has been in Cannonsburg for the past few days. |
| 2:22.3 | Mrs. Pierce was reluctant to discuss the whole matter here yesterday, and although stating emphatically that her strange tale is true, |
| 2:26.3 | would not comment further for fear of hurting the DeWaltz. |
... |
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