Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes County, Ohio) 1856-1865, 1858-04-08
The Jail Delivery at Indiana.
pOIfs.IngentOus Jail Rreakin1-

pOIis-IngentOus Jail BreakinT.
The telegraph telIs US of Jail delivery
at Indisnpolis, Sunday morning, An ex.
ira Journal of that town gives particulars.
J. B. Shears, J. Wood, J. McRay, George
Wagner, Jas. Vsnness, and ]. A. Taylor,
counterfeiters, made their escape. Lee
Oyerman, burglar, also vamoosed; and
Henry Brooklocker, indicted for the muir
der Of a man named Mr.. Fall, and Michael
Gallagher, who killed Costello, the mur-
derer that caused such an excitement
few weeks ago, are among the missing
The manner of the escape was most extra
ordinary. The Journal thus states it:
Shears, either from his wife, who visit
ed him day or two before, or by the as
sistance of Lakin, another eounterfeiter who
Is out on bail, obtained key with which
he could unlock his cell. This key he had
to use outside, ahils he uas INSIDE of the
great iron door. The way be did it was
ingenious, He got poplar stick about
three feet long, and about the middle of it
made mortice, in which the handle of the
key would fit and through the mortice,
and, of course, through the ring or bulge
of the key, be drove peg, so as to Keep
the KEY from falling out. This stick he
put through the grating, and slipped up
and down till he got the key into the hole.
Then he pulled it as far as it needed to 60.
Now the puzzle was to turn the key. This
he accomplished as ingeniously as be did
the other process. He fastened a string
to the upper end of the stick, drew it
through the grating, and pulled down as
far as the hole in the grating would allow
and then he passed it through another
hole lower down, and again pulled, and so
on till lie got the key turned round and
the door unlocked. He then went 10 all
the other cells, unlocked them, and set all
the prisoners loose.
Before doing this, he had planned the
way to get out of the Jail. He and the
prisoners in the cell with him had manag-
ed, probably BY using the timber of their
"bunks," to pry up the stone covering of
the cell far enough to allow the body Of. q
man to pass. This is the most extraordi-
nary part of the whole. feat, as it would ap-
pear impossible to move the huge block by
any means, much less by such contriyan-
ces as could be manufactured in jail cell.
Ii acas moved, however, and propped up.
The way into the garret of the Jail (Shears
cell being in the upper tier next to the
roof,) was now open. From the garet a
small chimney rises, and thus afforded the
only means of exit 10 the Jail roof except
by cutting right through. By some means
Shears forced himself far enough up this
chimney to be able to pick out some of
the bricks above the roof and finally to
make hole through which man could
crawl. In fact, as it appears from the
street, the chimney was nearly cut off at
the roof. The road out was open now,
and it is probable that at this time tha
other cells were unlocked. While this was
going on, the prisoners were singing as
they frequently do, vociferously, probably
to drown the noise Of their operations
When all was ready, about three o'clock,
they crawled out upon the roof and thence
let themselves down into the yard by 3
rope made of their bed clothes, which were
torn up and tied together. This rope was
lying in the yard when We were there yes
terday. By means of plank they scaled
the wall of the yard and were safe. The
feat is one that deserves place beside
those of Jack Shephard.