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...
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.
