, 1890-04-17
THE COUNTY JAIL
The Work OF Repairing the Recent
Break Begun--Testing the
Material OF the Jail.
Saws, Files and Drills Have No
Effect on the Broken Bars
Where the Fault Lay.
The work of repnirIng the dnmnge

The work Of repairing the damage
to the county Jail, caused by the re-
cent break, has commenced. The
broken bars have been removed and
the material for making the neces-
sary repairs Is expected to arrive
from ~, Louis to-day.
The work win he done under the
direction of II. II. IIolcomb, the
superintendent of construction, who
has been in the city for several days
investigating the matter and arrang-
ing for making the necessary re-
pairs.
Mr.. Holcomb claims, and with
very good reason, that the break
was no fnult of the material used in
the construction of the jail, and yes
terday afternoon caused a test TO he
made, which clearly demonstrated
that fact. Several Of the broken
bars were taken to u blacksmith
shop and subjected To vigorous
test in the presence of Agent Hall,
of the Half Safe and Lock Com
pnuy, Charles II. Hopkins, of
coliax, IL REVIEW reporter
and Others. One of the bars was
placed on an anvil, the center of the
bar being unsupported. a black
smith then took u sledgc-hammer
and struck the bar II dozen blows
before IL broke. The bar bent al
most double before II parted through
the center.
These bars are composed of five
"A al tt.Atal thn xifhal. lpi1.,
welded into u homogeneous mass,
three cighths Of au inch in thick
ness, The two outside layers and
the center layer arc of soft iron, and
the other two layers of steel, as hard
ms the metal can he made, The soft
layers are put In to give the bars
strength, for If they We're entirely of
steel they would be too brittle.
n file and cold chisel were tried
ON the bars. They cut through the
outside layers, but made no impress
sion ON the layers Of steel. a Nor
ris twist drill, one of the most pow
erful drills made, WINS next tried
The drill went through the first
layer easily, but had not tho slight
est effect ON the steel layer, the drill
point being turned without scarcely
making IA mark on the ilint-lil<e
steel. \ piece of the iron was then
taken To a jowclry store, whore a
jewelers. file was used on 1t without
the slightest effect.
The tests showed to the satisfac-
tion of all present that n prisoner
could he supplied with all the saws,
files and drills lac wanted and he
could not get out ofa Pauly jail I'm u
week. The material used In the in
ncr layers OF the bars H. absolutely
impervious 10 any cutting tools
madO.
The accounts of the juil.brcak
published ut tho time would lead to
the belief that the start was made
by saving tho bars with saws made
from case knives. These saws pene-
tratcd only the outer layer aud did
not vt all weaken the bars, as is
shown by the fact that in only one
place did the bans break where they
had been sawed.
The fact remains that the prison.
ors escaped, which Is only another
Illustration Of the fact that
man can tear down anything
built by human hands. The
Pauly company claims to have
reached the highest perfection to be
attained in Jail building, and the
material used can not be improved
upon by any known process. How
the prisoners succeeded In getting
oil The lever which they used to
break the bars will probably never
be known. One thing Is certain,
however, had there been no prison
M. H. .l.. .tl, I.I
no business, there could have been
no Jail break. The rules furnished
by the Pauly company strictly for
bid prisoners to be allowed in the
corridors, except for exercise, In the
daytime, and then only under
the watch of the jailcr. On the
night OF the break there were eleven
prisoners In the corridor, with no
one To watch them. Thesherlff WAS
not to blame for this. because the
Jail was so overcrowded that he had
no other piaceto keep them.
Sheriff Hinchcliii' says the break
was not In any sense due 10 faulty
material, but 10 the ovcrcrowdcd
condition of the Jail. The truth of
the matter Is that the Jail Is entirely
too small for the present needs Of
the county, ana jail breaks Will
continue SD long as the sheriff has
no better control over the prisoners
than he has Mt present. The jail is
IA good one, as far US IL goes, and can
be trusted to hold the most desperate
men, despite saws and files, which
prisoners are not supposed To be sup
piled with, so long rs the rules of
Tho jail company are observed aud
the prisoners are kept inside of the
jail and not allowed to roam around
In the corridors at night. There IN not
n dark cell in the building, and the
prisonerscan consequently be az OBJ
strepcrous and make as much noise
az they please, for the reason that
the sheriff has no dark coll In which
10 cOnfinc them IN order TO punish
them. The remedy lies with the
county commissioners.