1919 To 1939
After his arrest in New York, and while awaiting extradition to Britain, Duquesne pretended to be paralysed and was sent to the prison ward at Bellevue Hospital. On 25 May 1919, after nearly two years of feigning paralysis, he disguised himself as a woman and escaped by cutting the bars of his cell and climbing over the barrier walls to freedom. Police Commissioner Richard E. Enright sent out the following bulletin:
This man is partly paralysed in the right leg and always carries a cane. May apply for treatment at a hospital or private physician. He also has a skin disease which is a form of eczema. If located, arrest, hold and wire, Detective Division, Police Headquarters, New York City, and an officer will be sent for him with necessary papers.
About a year later, he appeared in Boston, using the pseudonym “retired British Major Frederick Craven”. He is known to have used several more names, among them “Colonel Beza”, “Piet Niacud” as well as “Captain Fritz du Quesne” (his real name and rank).
Of this period in his life, little is known, only that he worked as a freelance journalist and an agent for Joseph P. Kennedy's film production company. It is also during this time that he worked with Clement Wood to write his “biography”, The Man who Killed Kitchener, with rights sold to a film production company.
In 1932, Duquesne was betrayed by a woman who revealed his true identity to the FBI who arrested him. British authorities again requested be extradited, but he fought this charge in court. The judge ruled that even though the charges had merit, the statute of limitations had expired.
Read more about this topic: Fritz Joubert Duquesne