Rats
During his interrogation by police, Frederick implicated his brother, Hilton.
Police in Granby, Connecticut, contacted their counterparts in Westfield, Massachusetts, after finding a 400-pound arc welder, welding cables, a welding helmet, and other items stolen from the abandoned Fruehauf Trailer plant at James Cavanaugh's home in nearby Windsor. Police picked up Hilton shortly after Cavanaugh told them that Hilton was his partner in crime.
Authorities in Western Massachusetts and Northern Connecticut became aware of the Davis brothers after police from Rutland, Vermont, arrest warrants in hand, traveled to Southwick, Massachusetts, believing that was where they still resided. Frederick, a Vermont parolee, caught wind of their arrival and hightailed it to Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania police handed Frederick over to authorities in Vermont. A judge sentenced him to three to four years in Windsor State Prison for breaking into the post office and the Goodwin Farm Equipment Company on July 26-27, 1958. (The brothers also broke into the Crosby Feed Store in Rutland, Vermont, on January 15, 1959.)
On February 9, 1959, Hilton appeared in Westfield District Court and pleaded not guilty to being a fugitive from justice. He then jumped bail and went on the run.
Hilton probably was not a bad guy. After all, when his friend Leslie Miller held nine responding Westfield, Massachusetts police officers at bay with a loaded shotgun (after he beat up and threatened to kill his wife) on November 19, 1958, it was Hilton who volunteered to go into the Miller home, effectively convincing his friend to unload the gun and surrender. (Trouble for the Hilton and Leslie began around 1956 when they were fined $10 each for illegally dealing in junk without a license.)
Hilton and Leslie either rented or stole two bicycles in Washington. They rode them to Pennsylvania before heading to Westminster, Maryland. Shortly after midnight on April 3, 1959, they broke into the Hampstead Motor Company and stole a safe. Since moving a safe using bicycles is hard, they stole a 1952 Cadillac parked in the company's garage and helped themselves to a blow torch. They drove to a wooded area and tried cracking open the safe, but after several unsuccessful attempts, they gave up. They covered the safe in some brush and drove the luxury sedan about five miles before abandoning it.
Around 8:45 a.m., the manager of Hampstead Motors called the police, who quickly found the Caddy and discovered the torch equipment inside. With the vehicle in their possession, they retraced the thieves' steps and found the safe, which had one of its hinges and dial burned off.
The police chief's gut told him that the crooks would return for the safe, so he assigned some officers to hide in the woods to watch it.
When Hilton and Leslie returned, police surprised them, and the pair took off running. The officers fired four shots at them. Leslie dodged the bullets by dropping to the ground; Hilton disappeared into the darkness. Police arrested Leslie without incident. Around noon the following day, they picked up Hilton, Leslie having ratted him out. (The safe contained about $800 in checks and $217 in cash.)
The arresting officers soon learned that the would-be safecrackers were wanted for more than twenty burglaries in six states: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont. (Police in Southwick were looking for the pair after they broke into Woodland Elementary School and the junior high school. The thieves did not take anything of value from the schools, but they damaged both buildings. The extent of the damage and the cost to taxpayers for the repairs are unclear.)
Unable to furnish bail, Hilton and Leslie were sent to the Carroll County Jail in Westminster, Maryland, to await a grand jury.
When Sheriff Conaway brought the two inmates their breakfast on May 3, 1959, he discovered they were gone.
The five remaining prisoners told jail guards that during a thunderstorm, the pair removed a three-foot 4x6 piece of wood from the bathroom doorframe and pried apart the century-old jail's bars. Then they broke through a window and screen and jumped out, dropping about ten feet to the ground.
The escapees walked about eight miles and hotwired a car. They were soon wanted by the FBI for jailbreak and driving a stolen car across state lines. Authorities in 13 states joined the manhunt.
Police in Massachusetts arrested Hilton and Leslie in Waltham after they fled on foot following a hit-and-run accident in a stolen car in Newton on May 18. Inside the vehicle, police found two sledgehammers, a crowbar, and a flashlight. (The other driver noted that each man had a mustache, which helped lead to their capture.)
A Newton District Court judge set bail at $40,000 each, and they were bound to the grand jury for possession of burglary tools; the judge issued a continuation of the fugitive charges for June 18.
A Newton Superior Court judge placed the men on probation before handing them over to authorities in Westfield on June 24. At their arraignment in Westfield District Court on June 25, Hilton and Leslie answered to charges of nighttime burglary of Fruehauf Trailer and other businesses, larceny counts, and being fugitives from Vermont. (Leslie also responded to charges of spousal nonsupport.)
Westfield District Court judge Arthur Garvey had the men bound to the grand jury.
In 1960, a Vermont judge sentenced Hilton to two and a half to four years in jail on each of four counts of breaking into four businesses. (Hilton pleaded guilty to breaking into the Green Mountain Diner, Benedict's Garage, the post office, and Godfrey's Farm Equipment.)
Maryland State Police flew a helicopter to the Vermont jail to pick up Hilton on January 27, 1961, and take him back to answer charges relating to the Hampstead garage break-in and jailbreak. (Leslie was still jailed at the time.)
 |
| Green Mountain Diner (est. 1947) |
Edited Out/Author's Additional Research Notes
That same year (1958), police arrested Leslie following an automobile accident for driving without a license and not having an inspection sticker. He lied to the officer, claiming he forgot his license when, in fact, a judge had revoked it for reckless driving in 1955.
Frederick was driving a tractor-trailer truck when New York State Police pulled him over in 1966. His passenger fled on foot. Frederick refused to cooperate other than telling the officer they were heading to Massachusetts. Police found $300 in cash. Police held him for ten days before releasing him.
Frederick, driving a tanker truck (milk), is believed to have been killed in an accident on a Massachusetts highway in 1981.
Sheriff Charles C. Conaway: 11/11/1918 - 5/28/1993.
Hilton Richard Davis: 1/6/1932 -
Frederick Herbert Davis: 8/26/1936 - 12/22/1981.
Mary Naomi Backus (Davis) Bishop: 3/30/1934 - 2/28/2019.
David Frederick Davis: 10/06/1959 -
Rodney M. Davis: 10/1962 -
Roy Leslie Miller: 7/25/1928 - 7/11/1982.
(Some of the above dates need to be confirmed)
Over the years, Hilton and Leslie either gave authorities fake addresses or the pair moved around a lot. (The Massachusetts addresses they used included Southwick, Westfield, and the YMCA in Boston.)
Hilton lived in Southwick at 25 Wood Street.
Hilton and Frederick were born in Vermont to Herbert and Helen Davis. Their father was a farmer. They had an older sister, Marjorie (sometimes spelt Marjory).
The Davis brothers broke open the safe during the Vermont post office robbery.
Hilton and Leslie's jailbreak in Maryland was that prison's first one since January 30, 1955. Police used a reconnaissance plane in their search for the Hilton and Leslie.
The stolen car in the Newton accident may or may not have had a license plate stolen from Russell, Massachusetts, on it. The car itself may have been stolen from Russell.
The pair broke into the Green Mountain Diner and ransacked the office. They got away with $15 taken from a cash register and cigarette machine.
At Goodwin Farm Equipment, they broke in through the rear doors, but unable to crack the safe, they apparently left empty-handed and headed to the diner as they continued their crime spree.
At Benedict's Garage, they stole some money, a transistor radio, cigarettes, bullets, and a revolver, which ended up in a Massachusetts river.
Frederick broke into the United Farmers Creamery and the Whiting Feed Store, where he stole a check machine and blank checks from four banks. (A Rutland man was arrested for passing some of the stolen checks.)
Frederick Davis married Mary Backus in Vermont on January 31, 1961. She filed for divorce and sought custody of their two children, David and Rodney, in 1964. Their divorce was finalized on January 30, 1965. She remarried in 1978.
If you enjoyed this story, please click the appropriate button below, as this helps me gauge the type of content readers like when developing future story ideas.
As an Amazon Associate, the Southwick Time Machine may earn a commission from qualifying purchases.