St. Paul daily globe., 1886-10-30
A CARELESS SHERIFF.
While Fred Richter Was Away Doing
Campaign Work Prisoner Broke
From the Jail.
he Had the Keys and It Was Mere
Chance That the Jail Was Not
Emptied.
Pursued by an Omcer, He FIees
in His Underclothing and
TrowserS.
He Broke Jail.

That all of the prisoners confined in the
county jail are not now enjoying their
liberty is no fault of Sheriff Richter. In
the Jail are some forty prisoners, several of
them held on the charge Of murder, Others
for highway robbery and larceny, and
among them are many desperate criminals.
On Thursday night Sheriff Richter and
Louis Peterson, the night turnkey at the
jail went out on an electioneering tour,
leaving as watchnan an inexperienced, and
as the result shows, very incompetent
man to guard the jail. Among the prison.
ers in the jail was Mike Nc
Carthy, who is under indictment
for burglary. For the last week
or so Mccarthy has been granted special
privileges by Sheriff Richter which are sell
dom granted to criminals who are commit
ted to jail to await trial on serious charges.
Several citizens and employees in the county
Offices aver that Mccarthy has frequently
been on the streets the last week, and his
being allowed such privileges is said to be
owing to his electioneering for Richter.
On Thursday night after the sheriff, his
deputies and turnkey had departed
TO ENTHUsE VOTERS
for the success of the grand old party and
Fred Richter in particular. Mccarthy made
friends with the new watchman. AS to
just how this was managed no one knows
except Mccarthy and the watchman. The
watchman cannot be found or his name as
certained, and up to late hour last night
Mccarthy had eluded capture. One story
is that the watchman and Mccarthy, who
occupied bed in the outer corridor of the
Jail, and certainly was not locked up in a
cell as he ought to have been. had several
drinks together. which resulted in the
watchmap getting drunk. The first known
of the escape was when a police officer
caught glimpse of Mccarthy, attred only
in trousers and underShirt, in hack on
East Seventh street, near Jackson. and
afterward in restaurant on Jackson street.
The officer thought as the hack went by
him that the occupant was Mccarthy. but
remembering that tho fellow was ia Jail,
supposed it was case of mistaken identity.
Shortly afterward he looked in the restau-
rant and seeing the same party there
started in. AS the officer entered, McCar-
thy started out the back door and escaped.
The officer at once
HASTENED TO THE JAIL,
supposing that there had been wholesale
jail delivery. After considerable pounding
the sleeping or drunken watchman was
aTOuScu, aiQ COlulDS W LILO uOOF dSkGu
what was wanted. The officer on entering
found the safe in which the keys Of the
cells and doors are kept wide open, as was
also the outside door of the jail. The
watchman up to that time did not knew
that Mccarthy had skipped, but search
proved that he had. His absence be-
came more apparent to the watchman
when he discovered that the missing
prisoner had stolen his watch from his vest
pocket. A tour of the Jail showed that
neae of the other prisoners had escaped,
although it was evidently the intention of
Mccarthy to libcrate all the prisoners.
This was apparent from the fact that the
safe in which the keys to cells and inside
doors had been opened. Mccarthy would
not have needed any OF the keys in the safe
to effect his own escape, and the fact that
he had opened the safe shows cOncluSiyely
that he intended to
LIBERATE ALL THE PRISONERS.
Some noise must have alarmed him be-
fore he had time to carry out the plan and
he concluded to take no chances but make
sure of his own escape. The fact that the
prisoner took the watchman's watch and
unlocked the safe shows that the prisoners
could have all escaped without any inter
ference on the part of the w2tchman had
Mccarthy not been scared away.
Dep uty Sheriffs Dana, Lunkenheimer
and Chapel. when asked yesterday about
the escape of prisoner from the Jail, said
they knew nothing about it. Deputy
Sheriff Dana said it was an electionscanard,
but when asked if Michael Mccarthy was
still a prisoner at the Jail was for minute
knocked out. The day turnkey, how
ever. came to the rescue and said Nc
Carthy had been released on bail
Sept. % and consequently could not have
escaped from the institution Thursday
night. Deputy Dana taking the cue, also
remembered that Mccarthy had been re-
leased on bail sometime in September. he
didn't remember the exact date. There
was no order from the court to the sheriff
to release Mccarthy, he said. and they never
had such orders. A careful search Of the
records in the office of the clerk Of the dis
trict court failed to show any memorandum
of bail bonds being given by Mccarthy for
his appearance. County Attorney Egan
said Mccarthy had been arraigned on the
indictment TWO weeks ago, pleaded not
guilty and was ordered
COMMITTED TO JAIL.
He had heard nothing about bail being
given and said if such was the case record
would be found in the minutes of the court.
r. w. Bell, clerk of the court, said ii a
prisoner gave bail it would be on the rec
ords unless it had been brought before one
| of the judges after court hours. Deputy
Sheriff Dana was informed of these facts
mentioned above. but still contended that
| Mccarthy had been released Oh bail and
had not escaped from Jail. The attempt
on the part of the sheriff and deputies
to cover up the escape of the prisoner and
shield themselves from the charge of gross
carelessness and negligence is very weak.
1t was learned last evening that County
Attorney Egan early yesterday morn
had consulted with Chief OF Police
Clark about the escape of Nc
Carthy and suggested to the chief that the
patrolmen be ordered to keep lookout for
the escaped prisoner. From this it will be
seen that notwithstanding the statements
| OF the deputy sheriffs, Mccarthy
escaped from the Jail. and that it
was pure luck and nothing else that the
| whole gang of prisoners did not walk out
of the Jail without any interference Oh the
part of Sheriff Richter and his subordi-
mates.