A memory triggered, so to speak -
I saw something on the Web which made me think back a few decades to when I was living in the town of Beacon, NY. Y'see, I'm originally from upstate New York and the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains. When I was in high school and college, there was a killer in those woods up in the mountains. His name was Robert Garrow and he was eventually captured in a hail of gunfire after a huge manhunt. He went to trial and was found guilty in a slew of rapes and murders. I recall the events, but I went on with my life. I moved to Beacon in 1977 after leaving the Real Upstate NY Area.
Now, adjacent to where I was living in Beacon was the Fishkill Correctional Facility which contained on its grounds the Matteawan Hospital for the Criminally Insane. Across Route 84 from that site was the Downstate Correctional Facility, a place where new inmates in the penal system would be taken for evaluation and then sent elsewhere. Downstate was a Maximum Security prison as it took in all sorts of criminals. Fishkill was a Medium to Minimum facility dependent on where the inmate was placed. When I moved to the area, Matteawan had already closed its doors as far as the insanity brouhaha went, but remained housing for Fishkill inmates.
I remember that inmate escapes from the nearby facilities were so prevalent that citizens of the area made a few huge signs which warned "Caution! Inmate Crossing!" and were placed strategically on Route 84 by the prisons. The state would remove the signs and new ones would take their place, often crudely stroked with a wide brush in black paint on a piece of plywood. I really wish I'd thought to take a photo of the signs.
What few citizens in the area knew was that the notorious Robert Garrow was being held in the minimum security Fishkill Correctional Facility. He had been shot during his capture and claimed to be paralyzed. During his trial he attended all hearings in a wheelchair, but sympathy wouldn't play a role in his sentencing as he was shot after he opened fire on a Conservation Officer who tried to take him in. After beng treated by numerous doctors who LATER claimed there was little reason to believe he was indeed paralyzed, Garrow was sent to Fishkill from the more suitable Dannemora.
I remember the day he escaped Fishkill. Thousands of police-related people in orange suits stopping every car, doing house to house searches. The vicinity of the prison was truly gripped in fear. Roadblocks were everywhere and the cops even checked out the tiny trunk of my then new 1978 Mustang. I watched as the Orange Suited Guys With Guns made literal combs of nearby fields and woods. They would form a line with each person only about two feet away from the next and walk forward, thus actually combing the terrain for any signs of Garrow.
Life was Hell for three days as the hunt ensued.
I was home enjoying a day off when the Orange Suited Guys With Guns encountered Garrow, who was still hiding just inside the last fence before the freedom, yet on the grounds of Fishkill. I recall it was late afternoon or early evening when I heard a huge volley of gunshots. I thought to myself, "Sounds like they found Garrow."
It turns out he stood up and fired at a Member of the Comb. Eep. Silly move. That got them all firing back at once. I seem to remember it was estimated that over a 100 shots were almost immediately fired at him.
Yeah, he died. As he should have, of course. That was totally foolish and predictably would cost him his life.
The scandals went on a few days regarding Garrow's gun. How did he get it in? Well, his son came to visit and placed it in a bucket of fried chicken. Upon going through the metal detectors, he handed the chicken to a guard by the side of the metal detector. The guard handed it back to him after he passed through. DUH. The gun and the chicken NEVER went through the detector!
Another scandal was the medical condition. Garrow never needed the wheelchair. He used the ploy to get into a Medium or Minimum Security Facility to plan his escape. It worked.
For more on Garrow, check out
More soon...
