Weekly Calaveras chronicle., 1868-02-29
Escape of the Prisoners.

| S0kS VI IuS fI1SOHSIS.
About o'clock on Friday afternoon. o
last week, our citizens were electrified by the
intelligence that the prisoners confined in the
county Jail, had made their escape. The
officers, together with large number OF ex'
cited citizens. repaired as speedily as possible
to the spot, when it was found that Brian
Fallon, who murdered McKisson, at Rich
Gulch, some months since, and John Fer
guson and Jesus Miranda, convicted OF the
murder of B. r. C. Johnson. year ago last
Fall, had succeeded in cutting their way out.
Ferguson and Miranda were under sentence
of death and were to have been hung yester-
day. As they were seen shortly after leav-
| ing the Jail, the officers had no difficulty in
finding their trail, and had it not been for
the approaching darkness and the furious
storm which was raging at the time, their
capture would have been speedy; but owing
to those unfortultous circumstances, the
officers were compelled to relinquish the
pursuit, for the night, without success. -Four
prisoners remained in the Jail: Bob. Lawson,
charged with murder committed at Vallecito.
recently "French Jack" arrested for grand
larceny; Evans, under bonds to keep the
peace, and a Chinaman. They probably
preferred taking their chances on the inside
az they could have made their escape if they
had wished to. The escape of the prisoners
created the most intense excitement wher-
ever it became known. The men are all no.
toriously desperate characters, the murders
for which they were incareerated were the
foulest and most brutal on record, their
arrest and the conviction of the two who
were condemned to be hanged had necessi-
tated great deal of labor and expense, and
people were extremely anxious that they
should meet the doom which their crimes SO
richly merit. More than this, the belief has
become prevalent among the masses that
there never will be criminal hanged by the
authorities until a mob has set the example,
So strongly has this conviction become set
tied in the minds of the people. that several
attempts have been made to take the pris-
oners from the Jail and hang them. Under
these circumstances the intelligence that
they had escaped. created an intense feeling,
and almost everybody turned out to assist in
their capture. The particulars of their es-
cape, as we received them from one of the
prisoners who remained, are as follows: The
murderers, instead of being confined in their
cells, as they should have been, were allowed
the fire. edom of the corridor. A portion of
the walls of the Jail, which are wood. are
lined with iron; but the ceiling over the
corridor is composed of inch boards without
covering. The ceiling is about eleven feet
in hight from the floor. Friday, about
noon, Fallon, Ferguson and Miranda, in
formed the rest of the prisoners that they
were going to escape, and told them
that if they attempted to make the fact
known to the jailor, they would kill them
on the spot. By piling the buckets used by
the prisoners upon each other, and placing
the bottom of an old chair upon them, the
negro, Ferguson.) the one selected to do the
work, was enabled to reach the ceiling with
out difficulty. Being at the back end of the
building, he was effectually screened from
observation by the cells, while Fallon and
Miranda stationed themselves at the doors to
prevent any one giving the alarm, and by
dancing, singing and clanking their chains,
drowned whatever noise the negro made in
cutting through the ceiling. Two boards
were cut through, about eighteen inches
from a joist, and the pieces broken out, max
ing an aperture large enough to admit of the
passage of a mans body. Some sharp point
ed instrument, probably three cornered
file, was used in breaking through. as the
boards were "gouged' instead of being cut
off. While this part of the operation was
being completed the jailor was not present,
but Joe. Douglass. man who stays at the
Jail, was sitting in the front room unaware
of the attempt which was being made. Only
about half an hour was consumed in cutting
through the ceiling. The prisoners had
shackles on their legs. which had to be got
rid of before they could hope to make good
their escape. Their ingenuity was equal to
the emergency, however. Waiting until
Douglass had gone to dinner by main
strength they wrenched one of the bars
which fasten the cell doors, out of its sock
ct. and forcing the catch down broke the
bar off. This. besides giving them the
means of breaking their shackles. also placed
an effective weapon in their hands. Before
Douglass returned from dinner, the three
had broken the couplings of their irons, and
were only awaiting for favorable oppor-
tunity to make their escape. They supposed
that after getting overhead that they would
be compelled to to jump down the hatchway
into the room where Douglass sat. and it
was their intention to have killed him d; but
there is ventlator in the back end of the
Jail. overhead. large enough for man to get
through, the existence of which they were
ignorant until they reached the loft. The
ventilator saved Douglass life. The negro
climbed up first, and stealing stealthily to
the hatchway. watched Douglass while the
other two got up. No alarm was created
however, although they made considerable
noise. They then crawled through the ven
tilator, jumped to the ground. distance of
twelve feet, scaled the jailyard fence in the