Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1881-12-02
ANorHEk ATTEMPT To BREAK JAZZ.

John Lippincott and Abo lsuzzard's kuowl-
edge Of AN lrOn-Clnd Cell.
The officials at the prison this morning
discovered that two moro desperate men
had made an attempt to break Jail, and by
tomorrow morning no doubt both of them
would have succeeded at least in getting
out Of their cell, if not over tho wall. The
names Of the men who made the at
tempt are john Lippincott and Abe
Buzzard, two long term prisoners.
They occupied cell No. 80 ON the ground
floor on tho east side of the prison, which
is among those which were iron-clad re-
Gently BY Joseph Huber. This morning it
was discovered that waste pipe was
An examination was made and it was but
short time before it was ascertained that
dirt had been thrown into the water closet
Of cell 81, thus filling mp the pipe so that
water could not pass through. As soon
as this was learned the officials thought
that something was wrong, and Under
keepers MUIR and Mentzer proceeded to
examine tho cell. to satisfy themselves.
They found that the prisoners had sue
ceeded in getting through two plates Of
iron. This cell has double thickness of
iron on this end. Tho inside plates are
about two feet long and eighteen inches
wide, and are fastened with bots. When
the under keepers were in the cell they
noticed lot of stuff on the
floor. which looked much like iron
filings, and were then certain that
the iron had been tampered with.
They found that the prisoners had drilled
tho heads entirely off the bolts holding on
the inside iron. This they then removed
and came to the next layer of iron, through
which they bored holes until they were
able to cut out y piece large enough to al
low man to pass through. They then
began working on tho wall and tore out
tho stones and plastering. part Of
which they threw into tho water
closets and tied up in an old rag
which was under the bed. The men
were working on this for some time and
in order to deceive the keepers they
made small wooden plugs, which they in
serted in the holes Of the inside plate
Chilled irony where the bolts had been.
These plugs had whitewash put ON the
ends SO that they so closely resembled
the iron bolts that it was almost impOssi-
bic to detect them. In cell No. 30. which
is next to 81 ON the south side. Ike Buz
examination of the cell it was found that
Lippincott and Abe Buzzard had drilled
the heads from several bolts on that side
of the cell, it being their intention no
doubt when they did break out to take
Ike and Joe with them.
All Of these men arc employed as cigar
makers and the only tools found in the
cells were those used in that business
One knife had been filled up like saw
1t is not known with what instrument
they drilled off the heads of the bolts, but
they probably used piece of iron of some
kind and have been at work for some
time.
Lippincott is resident Of this city. His
crime was larceny he was sentenced to
10 years Imprisonment and had but \
couple Of years tASa1ve. Abe Buzzard is
name, and he was sentenced to thirteen
years after having been convicted Of nu-
merOus larcenieS. Ike BuZZard's sentence
is 10 years and Joe's is 4. They are also
in for larceny and burglary. All Of these
men have spent considerable time in pris-
on. They are we'll known as ingenious
cracksmen AMI like John FrankfOrd are
hard to hold.
The prison officials certainly deserve
creGit for preventing these men from
escaping. Within the past year number
of prisoners have been detected in at
tempts to get away, but none have been
successful in that time. These cells arc
not safe, it seems, as they can DO cut
through, and the work is generally done
with tools used by the prisoners in their
work, as men with little bit of ingenuity
are able to change them so they can use
them to make their escape.