The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-11-23
"YELLOW SAM.o
Recapture of Escaped Convict-His Ex-
ploits as a Child-Stealer.

hecapturc OF an Escaped COnVlct-d1S EX-
plOits as a Child-Stealer.
Joliet Ill.) Special,
A notable criminal and escaped convict
from Joliet prison, known under the various
aliases of yellow SAM" Walter Ames, Joe
Jeffries and Sam Smith, was captured at JEFF
fersonville, Ind, yesterday by Detective
Hanna, of this city, and brought back to
Joliet prison, from which he made his escape
on July 8, 1875. In the spring OF 1875 Sam
was arrested in Chicago for plundering the
rooms of guests at the fremont House, where
be was employed as a porter. He was con-
victed and sentenced to two years for the
fremont House robberies, but had not been
in prison long before he was placed at work
in the prison barn, located outside the prison
walls. One day his keeper ordered him to
assist the convict butcher to slaughter a
calf Sam was handed a knife to do
the work, but instead of doing so made
an attack upon his guard. The latter,
being unarmed at the time, had to run
for his life, while the convict darted out OF
the barn door and fled toward the woods east
of the prison. He succeeded in hiding in the
underbrush until dark, when he slipped
through the line of prison guards who had
surrounded the woods, and, under cover of
the dark, rainy night, got clear away, first
robbing farmhouse, three miles from the
prison, and securing there suit of citizens
clothing.
Sam was not heard of again until several
years later, when he turned up at Indianap-
oils, and came prominently to the front as
kidnaper OF little children. Hestole an eight
year-old boy named Adolphus Williams and
took him to Richmond, Ind, where he got
hold of another little child named Willie
Radcliffe This was in February, 1881. He
compelled the boys to walk over the rough
roads through Indiana and Ohio and, when
their feet were bruised and sore from their
long walk, their brutal abductor would whip
them with piece of rope to make them
tramp on. In this way they made from
fifteen to twenty miles a day, camping in
the woods at night, during which the
convict tied the boys with rope
so they could not get away. During the
day he made the children beg food from the
farm houses, threatening them with death if
they cried or complained about their treat
ment. City Marshal Shofer. of Richmond,
Ind, traced Yellow Sam to Troy, o., where
he captured him and returned the children
to their homes The desperate was taken
back to Richmond, tried for kidnapping, and
sentenced to the southern Indiana prison for
three years. His term expired there at
o clock on Tuesday morning. when he was
arrested at the prison door as an escaped
convict, and brought back to Joliet to serve
his unexpired term.
When Officer Hanna landed his man at
the prison, this morning, decided sensation
was created among the prison officers by the
confession of yellow Sam that since the
date of his escape, July 8, 1875, he came
back to this same prison, sentenced for three
years, on May %. 1878 from Bellville, for
horse-stealing, and served his time under the
name of Joe Jeffries. He declared he was
discharged in 1880 without an officer in the
prison having any suspicion that he was
yellow SAM" the escaped convict. The
records prove this to have been true.