The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1875-07-22
A STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY.
Two Convicts Attempt to Jump from n
Train-Desperate Fight with Passsn-
gers and Officers.

Train-Desperate Fight with Passen-
gers and Officers.
[From the Chicago Tribune July 81
One of the most desperate attempts at
escape on record occurred yesterday
morning on the train which conveyed the
convicts recently sentenced i'll the Grim
inal Court from this city to the Peniten-
tiary at Joliet. There were nineteen
prisoners in all, and they were guarded
by Sheriff Agnew, Deputy Ed Longley,
and Assistant nt-Turnkey John Connell.
Several ordinary passengers occupied
the car with the jail-birds, who were, by
the way, manacled and chained one to
the other, in couples, after the most ap-
proved fashion. They were, indeed, n
terrible gang, hardened in sin, and ready
to risk, or even to lose, their lives rather
than submit to the long confinement and
hard labor which came to them as just
reward for their divers crimes against
society and the laws.
All passed off quietly until the train
had passed Lemont, when it was running
at its maximum speed-about 35 miles
an hour. Sheriff Agnew stood in one
end of the car, facing the locomotive, SO
as to command the convicts ON one side,
while Deputy Longley, at the other end
of the car, commanded the prisoners on
the other side. John Conneu did gen.
eral duty common on such expeditions.
AT the point indicated, two of the pris-
oners, each sentenced to three years in
the Penitentiary, asked permission to go
to the water-closet, which was situated
on the west side of the car. Connen
was directed to accompany and keep
watch over them. He kept the door
partially open, but the men crushed
against it, and he could see only one leg ;
but, knowing that this limb was con-
nected with the other convict by an un-
breakable fetter, he had no suspicion of
anything wrong until he saw the leg
gradually sliding,away from the dominion
of his optics: Then he pushed open
the door, and saw that one of the pris-
oners had actually gone through the win
dow leading to the platform, and was
dragging the other worthy after him in
a most jealous and scientific manner.
Connen shouted an alarm, and caught
the rear guard of this most forlorn hope
by the foot, hanging on like grim death.
In the meantime Mr.. John Byrne, the
lawyer, had noticed that something was
going on, and rushed to the platform of
the car Just as one man had emerged
from the window and the other was par
TALLY out. He seized the outsider by
the arm, and signaled to Deputy Long
ley, who at once comprehended the situa-
ton, and rushed out on the platform.
There he found one of the convicts, q
ruffian named McCarthy, hanging on the
side of the train, and making superhu-
man exertions to release his comrade
from the grasp of Connell. Longley got
his arm arotnd the neck of the fellow
coming out of the window, seeing which
Connen released his hold and came to
the plucky Deputy's assistance on the
outside. Both men were now out of the
window, and were only held from going
off the cars by the amazing efforts of
Longley and Byrne. The former, in
order to save himself from being drawn
off the platform to certain death, wound
his disengaged arm around the iron rail
ing, and thus, although strained in
fearful manner, prevented the oonyicts
from taking the terrible jump until sew
eral passengers, together with Connell,
rushed to aid him. Then ensued ter
rible struggle. Mccarthy and the other
prisoner, whose name is forgotten,
fought with the fury of wild beasts, and
seemed to court death with unexampled
hardihood. McCarthy's foot sometimes
almost touched the ground. Mccarthy
worked SO hard that he almost tore the
hand off the fellow who was held by
Longley. The struggle, for the time it
lasted, was intensely exciting, but finally
numbers prevailed, and the sullen cap
tives were led back to their seats.
Meanwhile Sheriff Agnew, who OBJ
served the movement in-front of him and
at once comprehended its meaning, was
placed in an unenviable position. When
the remaining convicts saw the attempt
made by their comrades, they simulta-
neously sprang from their seats and at-
tempted to make rush. Agnew drew
his revolver, and shouting, '~Eake your
seats this minute or I'll fire upon you p
overawed the rascals and compelled their
obedience.
The attempt of Met cCarthy and his con-
federate was most audacious. Chained
together, and the train proceeding at SO
rapid rate, they must have inevitably
been drawn beneath the wheels, and SO
have miserably perished. But even such
fate, Mccarthy afterward admitted,
would have been preferred to three years
of Penitentiary discipline in the Grim
inal palace at Joliet.