Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1884-04-29

Ought to be ed Into.
The three prisoners, mentioned in Sum
days SENTINEL, Alec Steel, Nit Prescott
and Burt Prescott, were brought in from
Fitzpatrick's Station Sunday morning by
Deputy Sheriffs Lew Willard and Joe Trip
lett, and yesterday morning were taken by
these Elko officers to the County Jail at
Elko. As has been stated, these prison.
ers are three of seven who escaped from
the Baker City, Oregon, Jail ON the 25th
OF last February.
THE MEN,
A SENTINEL reporter called az the jail
Sunday morning and, without allowing il
known what the nature Of his visit was,
fell into an easy conversation, through
the barred door Of the prison, with Alec
Steel, who was very communicative.
While engaged in conversation with Steel
the reporter got q good view of the Pres
colt brothers also as they stood back q
step or two from the door. We do not
know whether IL a man has stolen q steer
the theft will be very plainly marked on
his features; nor are we quite sure that o
man must have a bad look out OF his eye in
order to be q genuine cattle thief; but we
do know that il we were going through
q crowd TO pick out cowboy villains we
would not select the three prisoners,
After a close scrutiny our reporter failed
to detect anything particularly vicious,
bragadocio or sneaking in the appearance
OF any n of the three. A gentleman re-
marked to Joe Triplett: 'sIf you were
all strangers to me and / we're going
around looking for cattle thieves I'd GER
tainly arrest you before / would your
prisoners" They are altogether as fine
specimens Of manhood as you could wish
TO look upon, the Prescott boys especially.
Burt Prescott, who Is not yet rs years old,
10 over six feet three inches tall and built
like an athlete. Nit Prescott is not 81
years OF age. He is not SO tall as his
brother by an inch and a half, but weighs
nearly as much, and Is q sinewy fellow Of
splendid muscle. Steel, also, is we'll over
six feet, straight as an arrow, about "a
years old, well built, strong and active,
and one OF the best horsemen on the
Coast. He is well known in Eureka and
the adjoining counties. He has a father
at Reno and q sister at Beowawe. We
have inquired among those who knew him
in this neighborhood and they say that his
reputation was good; that they never heard
OF any charge against him previous to his
imprisonment in Oregon. He is q single
man. Nit Prescott has been married but
q few months. Burt Prescott has q wife
and four children on Q ranch some 60
miles from Oregon City. The Prescotts,
there is another brother, Ed, still at
large, were men tolerably well fixed in the
cattle and butcher business and had a
80 ~ haw ~ ualrahIa hnraaa AtaaI ruau
associated with them in the stock business,
and was also q man OF some means.
WHY HEY wERE JAILED.
The three prisoners, all tell the same
story, and officers Willard and Triplett
believe that they tell the truth. We must
take the statements Of men in their situa-
ton with some allowance, the facts raising
q presumption against the belief in their
entire innocence. Still, what they say is
plausible, and il what they state be true
they were the victims Of an outrage that
demands investigation, and suggests the
hangman's moose for their perjured enc
mics. They say that they we're butchering,
and, in . sharp competition. beat some
other men in the business and got q valu-
able contract to supply the railroad with
beef. A fellow came along and wanted a
Job. They gave him work for his grub.
Shortly afterwards q number Of hides were
found 200 yards from their corral, with
brands and ear-marks all on, buried in a
slough. Other hides in a similar condition
were dug up, in the yard OF n OF the
Prescott brothers. All this, they declare,
was o put up job. 1t could not be shown
where they had ever disposed OF q pound
OF stolen beef, while they could show for
all they had ever used or furnished.
They were arrested, and the man whom
they had hired swore that he saw them
kill the cattle and bury the hides. He
was a worthless fellow, they say; was
backed by their enemies, and went against
them 10 secure the reward that the Oregon
Stock Association offers for the arrest and
conviction OF cattle thieves-Sl, 900 each.
They had no show, whatever, at the pre-
liminary examination, u the feeling
manufactured against them was so bitter
that they would certainly have been
lynched, had not the Sheriff organized a
party to protect them. This he did for
policy's sake only, ss he was against them,
but wanted to appear as doing his duty,
because he is q candidate for reelection.
They speak OF him as an inhuman brute,
and they dread to fall into his clutches
again. In order so avoid being taken by
him from Elko up to Oregon, they offered
Willard and Triplett 500 each TO escort
them to Baker City. They say that he
would ball. and chain them, and iron them
together. The Elko officers, while keeping
them secure, allow them the free use OF
their limbs.
THE BRUTE AND HIS JAIL.
The prisoners tell q story Of the inhu-
mainly of the Sheriff who arrested them,
which, IL true, and we incline to the be-
lief that IL is. ought no only to defeat
him, but to cause his own incarceration
in his own Jail, which, from the descrip-
ton Of it given us by the prisoners, is a
more dreadful place than any pe%nitentiary
in the United States. This savage officer
came with his deputy to the house OF one
of the Prescott brothers late at night in
February and knocked at the door. Pres
colt, in his night dress, answered the call.
The Sheriff started to iron him. Said
Prescott: There Is no need Of that. I'll
go with you anywhere without being
shackled." The prisoner, after this par
ley, was allowed to go up stairs and put
on his clothes. The Deputy Sheriff fol
lowed him. At the threshold Of his wife's
bedroom Prescott turned and said to him:
"No man shall enter here" Another con-
troversy ensued, when the prisoner was