Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1873-07-03
General News.
The Escape Of Wagner.

ing particulars of the escape OF Wagner
from AlAedjail: The jail Is an eighth OF q
mile from the village, and was recently
bum. Of brick. with granite trimmings. al
a cost of el0,0Oo. Tue intessor srrange-
me0ts are such that a prisoner can easily
get into an unoccupied attic and from
thence through the iailer's apartments to
the free air outside. Notwithsta landing the
newness and high cost OF the jail. the locks
are OF such primitive construction that the
prisoners have been In the habit OF picking
them with small strips ofwood and " aud.
ering about the building at will, Yet AZ
ter this was known, and Wagner had
boosted that he would soon be free, no
care was taken TO iron him. or provide nd
ditional security, except the employme mt
Of a night watch. The dummy" which
Wagner left In the bed. and which the
watchman vigilantly guarded all night.
vas very ingenious, and looked as IL a
man was lying on his left side ~ the bed,
as II in pain. with his head .buvAed In the
clothes. with perhaps large book under
his hip, his knees nearly ut right angles.
and he wrapped In a coarse blanket. One
would pass 1t uunoticed. This device was
formed by placing his prison stool ia bed,
with the seat toward the head. attaching
blankets at the foot. and covering it. ap-
parently. carelessly. This formed the
body and legs. The head, also covered,
consisted of an old "grub PAM" SO called,
and an old broom. Calvin Bennett, the
jalIer. makes the following statement.
"Ihave been jailer nearly seven weeks:
employ two watchmen; those on, last
night, were John Hall and John j. Mad
dox; | am positive Wagner was In his
cell at O'Clock one Of tho prisoners pass
ed him water then; Maddox and Hall con-
versed with several prisoners at odd inter
vals-not near Wagncr-once with a man
on the directly opposite side of the jail
from him; at 10 O'Clock James Avery saw
Wagner go down stairs: the watch soon
after went down stairs and convcrseI with
Avery, then returned and went round on
Nagners side; l can't tell whether they
returned 10 the Office or were seated In the
Jail when Wagner took the water; Prisoner
James Carpenter saw Wagner pass his
Carpenter cell in the evening: William
NcCarty and Charles Harrington ESCAPED
also. | suppose they went through the
scuttle in the jail, up through the ventiia-
tor, on TO the root. with the intention of
lowering themselves down on rope of
blanket strips, hut seeing the skyight, re-
moved pane Of glass put an arm in. I'M
loosed the window. descended the ladder
and made their way out through the family
part; there was nothing TO prevent one
from so doing. If he once got on the roof;
this morning. | was called AT 3 30 by Mad.
dox: he said Wagner is killed or Il miss
ing; asked If he had entered the cell he
said he had not: he was afraid OF " agncr
playing some game on him. or that he
might strike him with n stool; opened
the cell and entered | had no fear; / saw
what looked like a man on the bed: then
supposed ii to be Wagner; put my hand on
his supposed knees and found Il TO be a
stool covered with blanket said. he Is
not here; understood Maddox TO report
that Wagner had escaped before he came
notified Sheriff Warren at Sseo by tele.
graph Hall and Maddox had watched two
nights in succession, having been engaged
by Warren; the telegraph was not In order
when first sent the message 10 the Office
AT six o'colck, aud il was not sent till
eight"
John T. Maddox. one OF the watchmen.
tells his story as follows: Il arrived NJ
the jail about nine O'Clock. Wednesday
night; Bennett told Hall and that the
prisoners were all right, aud we entered
the Jail together and walked down the LEFT
corridor, past Wagners cell the prisoners
were all abed on that side; did ne, speak
To Wagner. though thought saw him In
bed; this morning the figure retained the
same position 1t had held all night; / was
specially charged 10 watch Wagncr;I sat
about twenty feet from him in the third
cell, constantly watching him, Hall AMI
always together; both sat in fun view of
all possible means of escape about eleven.
Hall entered the office and made the
rounds alone; he soon returned. and
mentioned that Wagner had not moved To-
nlght; Tuesday night, Wagner hid in hi-
cell. and when We passed | said, lie j.
not here Hall did not see him. aud We
asked Bennett If he had removed him.
and he replied that he had not; Bennett
came back with Us and went to the cell.
and Wagner, who was jnst lighting his
candle. said, Yes, l am here. laughed.
and added, i Ike 20 scare the watch :
"Wednesday night thought Il singular he
was 81 still, and at two o'clock missed
hi, stool. and at once thought he must be
out or dead, or he would not remain SO
still; left Hall, aud called Bennett 10 see
If he WAS gone; Bennett came and entered
the cell, while Hall and | stood outside
Bennett felt for his knees and said. He
amt here, we then made search for him.
aud found the staple Oh the scuttlc in the
corridor unfastcned: thinking he must
have gone TO the roof and got down, we
went outside Ia look for footprints. but
found none; We then went into the house
part 10 the attic. where we found 4 ladder
nj the scnttle window; Bennett mounted
the ladder and said Here's where he
came down. | went up and found the
glass removed and strins OF blankets tied
together, near the yentilator The Jail was
very still through the night, uncommonly
SO. As soon as possible we telegraphed
the facts TO Mr.. Hussey, the county com
missioner, to Mr.. eaton. the district at
torney. and 10 Sheriff Warren. who was at
Old Orchard. and who. we afterward
learned. was badly injured. Bennett dis
covered the escape of two other prisoners
while Hall and 1 We're looking for Wagner
| candidly think Wagner was ont of the
Jail when Bennett locked up"