Arizona weekly citizen., 1888-03-31
A HOLE IN THE WALL
A Break In the Tucson Jan and two Prfs-
 oners Escape

H DheoA An the tucson Jafi and two Prfs- Oners Escape
 The officials about the county jail had
 an unlocked for surprise in store fou
 them this morning. in the shape of 8 va
 cant cell In which two prisoners had beer,
 so far as he door was concerned.
 securely locked the night before. The
 explanation to ihe surprise WAS foupd in
 the shape of hole in the north wall of
 the county cour. house. leading trom
 cell ID question, to Ott street, tbe stree.
 or alley by winch the building is bound-
 ed on the north.
 This cell was occupied by two men
 John Johnson, and Antonio Chain. both indicted by the grand jury, now in ees
 slop, and convicted at the present term of court. The former, it vil be Be memoered, is the party who murderous- ly assaulted Judge Lowell and robbed him of stated sum of money soma two months since. The latter was convicted of embeZzling $50 from Frank F. Blair. Final county stockman who entrusted his money to his keeping. and both of whom escaped.
 Thls escape, evidently the work of thts man Johnson, IS without paralell ID the annals of jail breaks in Arizona. for nor only did he succeed in cutting through the wall of the building, but through the walls of his iron tank as we'll. These tanks are made of boiler plate sS of an lnch ID thickness, and it was through thls Johnson cut his way to freedom. but how he dld It IS mere conjecture, as ne leit no memorsDds behind, nor did hs apologize for his abrupt departure.
 The hole in the Iron tank is in the shape Of paralellogrsm aud is I6a.1sSx inches ln size; this being accomplished. the work of getting through ths two orick ln thiokress wall, appears to have been somewhat of an easy matter, ss the oricks Tn hIs haste had been thrown in both dlreonons-in and out. The un- ravelled mystery however, is how did he cut through the iron tank. The plate taken out IS almost msthemsticslly straight and clean cut and was generally acludged to have been done with a saw, but MT Snyder, practical machinist, who examined the plate, believes other wise, as the newly cut edges show DO saw marks. In his opinion the plate has been cut through with & thin blsded knife or similar instrument The two sides and one end only had been cut through, the other end had been weak eped and then the plate broken of. The lower edge of the plate appears to have been done by a former occupant as evi- denced by the rust, but this probably was his first work, the newer portion belnR done st later date. This cell Johnson had occupied but month, but that IS considered sufficient time for the purpose.
 Johnson wss tried on Saturday last and the case given to the jury late ID the day. On Sunday they returned & Verdict of guilty, so Johnson thinking t time to skip, skipped. He is sup posed to have gone about midnight and probably got away on the outgoipg passenger train west, as his tracks up Pennington streets were plainly to be 'een. Johnson unquestIoDsbly IS a dss- perate tough and will give some trouble before again captured.
 The cell from which he escaped IS sit- cated on the opposite side from the room oecuped by the jsilers, who heard DO noise and knew nothing of the esoa- pade till relieved by the day guard at ';3O this this morning.