The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1875-07-22
An Attempt Of Pomeroy to
Escape from His Cell.
DETAILS OF THE UNTIMELY DISCOVERY.
A Wonderful Method in
the Madness.
PUT A FILE IN A BANANA. {"


ography caused an abstract OF which has been
published ID the HERALD, has been tensLfed oy
an almost succe isiul attempt OF the young MUIR
derer to esca &c from the confines of the Charles
Street JAN. 1t IA scarcely necessary TO add. when
the story Of his attempt is read that the feelings
or sympathy walch were active Tor tue young
wreIcn have almost who ly disappeared, aud 1t is
ala ost certain That he will now suffer execution
for the cruel butchery OF young Horace Miilen and
little Katie Curran. If ne were an insane person,
as was claimed at his trial. the malAdy mas devel-
oped Itself In q form heretofore unknown TO the
profession who have made insanity study. For
BOY Of his age he has recently shown himself to
be a genius In cunning, aud has, within week,
made LOT himself a reputation for faculties that
are rarely found in Of mis- years, and which
proof positive that he not only IN the lu!l pos
session OF his senses. but has an extraordinary
adaptabhlty Tor concelving bold and desperate
schemes and plans for defeating justice and The
nerve to attempt their execution Believing that
ne to be executed, and That such an event could
only be thwarted by escape, he has made one OF
the most remarkable attem pts at jail breaking on
record. The circumstances are as follows: --Pone-
roy has Tor long time been confined In a cell
which is on the second tier Ia tile south wing the
door and window facing toward Charles River II
Is about midway between the rotunda and the
barber shop; the door and window can be seen
lTOIN Tue OulCeTs ueSk. Ing COL Is d large Que,
such as is used for the detention OF debtors, and
contained an iron bedstead, on which there was
the usual mattress and clothing common to the
o hers. 1t also contained hard wood chairs, TWO
buckets a tin washbasin and an iron spoon. The
other articles OF the room were books, papers and
a few small articles which had been presented to
the occupant.
THE DISCOVERY.
1t Is the custom of the III 10 have the cells thor
done by prisoners under sentence, and in the
presence OF an officer Yesterday morning, while
cleaning out Pomeroy's eel, piece OF white
paper paste TO the 'front.' wall by the top edge le IL
to the floor, when 10 ana benod there was large
hole IN the wall, with three bricks removed and
th ee or lour others In sucn condition as TO be
taken OUT with lew minutes work. The dis
placed bricks were at the right hand side OF the
barred window, on q level with the bottom. The
wall at this point Is about two feet thick, and
bricks were removed from the inside. HIS mode
OF loosening the BRICK was by several pieces OF
strong wire, when were in tho outer rim
OF his wash basin. He had somehow
worked this wire out, and had broken 1t
In pieces OF various lengths, with which
he dug in the mortar thus leaving the bricks
free. AS stated. thele were three or TOUR bricks
beside those entirely out which were nearly so,
the plaster being dug tut to the ends. BY bend
ing the wire little he could work on the back
side OF the bricks and thus loosen them. His
other instruments were the cover 10 a sardine
box, which gave MIN sharp edge, and his iron
spoon, wnlcn was much worn, twisted ana bent.
one VI the rounds TO MS caalr, very strong. lad
been wrencned or ana this was used as d lever
TO pry the brlckS. Its Strength, as well as Ponce
70, Is Is saown 10y the tact tadt one OF the bricKs
was broken IN Two pieces IN tae mlddle. The
mort ar and refuse were carefully concealed IN a
paper, whIcn was paced under MS mattress.
HhtlF Wac "A 0nU
pint, on the noor OF has cell when tne discovery
was made Tue break was IN such position as
edge was covered with an atlas, braced
up oy another book against the bars. Inc
white paper pasted together. aud tae top sheet
passed IL the wall by soaD Wnen the workmen
back against the break IN careless manner, aud
wnen tOld TO step aside tue soap paste gave way
and. Of course, exposed ms scheme.
An examination OF Tie rest OF the wall disclosed
the TACT that he mad made Two otner attempts 10
pierce 1t. one was just beneath the window.
wnere ne had dug int, the mvrtar around the
one brick, out mad abandoned IL. The otner was
the UrlckwOrk around tue ventilator over the
door; but TINS was also Abandoned as lt was dIfl-
cut TO WORK, he oeing Obliged 10 and on tae top
OF his CHAR pack and baanco himself Tue place
he finally selected was lne BEST, as 10y removing
SIX or elgut bricks and saving or one
bar nole would be maze sufic ently lrge TO
allow him TO crawl through. Had he succeeded
iu getting out Of ais cell without discovery, IL was
his purpose 10 secure the stout cord wnic1 draws
up Tue curtains 10 LuS outer WluuON5 OppOSlLe HIS
cell, over himself by II TO the basement and then
sa of tie bar, when would admit OF his passage
TO tue yard, wden escape over the wall would DC u
comparatively easy matter.
HE THREATENED MURDER
Pomeroy, however, snrewd aud cunning as he
was, recKOned without MS most. HIS BELIEF was
tnat on the retirement OF the night OGicer, at
twelve O'CLOCK, there was no one on guard. wnica
Is not the case, as wnen tue officer on duty the
first part of inc nigat retlres he Is relieved oy
olner. who stays on DUTY TILL morning. His idea
was that ne would nave everything 1one before
lFar " Aa
asleep he would have four or five hours IN whIcn
60 saw OIL the onter winu0w bar and make his es-
CAPE Had ne Deen interrupted In this latter
WORK. he says he should nave Killed wnoever ;n-
terered win him. AS the niglt officers have
weapons handy he would not have escaped with
his lie II he had made any demons tratlons or
vloleRce and II Is perhaps better Tor him that has
PUT FILE INTO A BANANA.
IL may seem strange now Pomeroy was allowed
TO get possession of tne instrument VITA winch TO
cut the iron oarsi out alter he was removed from
the cell another remarkable discovery was made.
Among the things found by the officers were two
letters from Pomeroy. one written to his mother
aud the other To his brother. These letters were
quite lengthy and described In ul his pan OF es-
cape, going so far into tails as to give diagrams
OF the section Of the prison wnich he was con-
nned-the fOtunda windows and everything
watch was to be cut away Tor his escape. Ia
these letters he begs them Gods sake to BRIG
him die, and describes the KIND OF oIe, as told
about before, indicating that ne had talked or
written about IL previously. lie wanted them to
put the nle into u banana, as NUT could he passed
TO prisoner without examination. He even goes
alter escaping; that nc should 60 TO canada and
become O citizen OF that country; that he should
travel by night, ana that sucn a thing would be
much better thau wasting a way MS life in prison,
even If his sentence should be commu.ed,
as he had no nope 1t would be alter tle
vote In the Executive Council lie adjure5
both his mother and brotner not TO diyuige
the plans ne has made even to each otner, but
begs and mplores them to get tne files and bring
them TO the jail the next time they come twhlcn
was yesterday. Mrs. Pomeroy called 10 see
encc after what had transpued, nor has she since
been granted an interview.
REMOVED To A STRONG CELL.
After the discovery yesterday POmer0y WAS
searched and placed In one OF the strong cells In
the lower tier Of the north wing wnere he Will
remain Tor the present. These cells are built OF
large PrdDite BLOCKS .wHicn no one could cut
tnIoughiu year. When his scheme was known no
appeared defiant, but soon settled into suilenness
and indifference and SAID but little. In reply 10 q
question Pomctoy said no had been at WORK In the
break since tuesday, the 13th inst, and expected
70 make his escape last nignt
THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
The autobiography published IN the HERALD on