The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1890-07-30
Prisoners Break Jail.


orne of Washington. Weaver, it will be
remembered, is the horse-thief who gave
Deputy-sherif Heath such a desperate
fight few weeks since. He was at the
bottom of the business; the others seem to
have been frightened into assisting him.
All were awaiting trial this fall. The dis
covery of the flight of the birds was made
before the last one had left the yard, but
they all succeeded in getting out of town.
1t seems that another prisoner had been
brought in at about half past eleven o'clock.
AT tins time the others appeared to be in
their cells asleep, but the fact was they
were very much awake. Sheriff Dudley
says he had fallen asleep, when his
wife, few minutes after twelve o'clock,
woke him up, saying that there was a
noise outside, which she thought due
to the arrival of a prisoner. Mr.. Dud-
ley went to the window and discovered
a man in the yard. He shouted out to him:
What are you doing there? Get out of
that, or | will put a bullet through you"
The man agreed with Mr.. Dudley that it
was better to go, and he went like flash
The sheriff then went to the main room of
the Jail, to see il everything was all right.
He saw at once how things stood. Two
bars and cross-bar had been sawed Off at
the second story window next the dungeon
making hole twelve by fourteen and one
hall inches, and through this hole the men
had made their escape Mr.. Dudley at once
blew his whistle to call assistance, and this
failing TO bring any one, he fired four shots
from his revolver Soon others arrived on
the scene, and some one rang the bell. In
a short time large crowd appeared, and
the excitement ran high. Sheriff Atherton
was telephoned, and by good luck he caught
a freight train, which brought him to the
junction in an hour and five minutes from
the time at which he was telephoned The
officers set to work at once to track the pris-
onerS from the Jail The footprints plainly
showed that the men had headed for the
Junction. When the train from the south
arrived it was learned that the engineer of
the south-bound train had found two men
on the cow-catCher of his engine at Bethel.
When he ordered them off, they inquired
how far it was to White River junction.
Here was clue, and at quarter-past ten
o'clock Sheriff Atherton started for that
place on freight train. Meanwhile dis
patches had been sent to various points, in
forming officers of the escape. Throughout
the forenoon there was a crowd in front of
the Jail looking at the window through
which the men had crawled. The two
bars, each of which had been cut in two
places, were an inch and one-sixteenth in
thickness, and the cross-bar was three
| inches wide and five-eighths of an inch
thick. The cut surfaces were very smooth.
The cuts had been filled up and covered
with wax or sticking-plaster when the men
were not actually engaged in saving. 1t
seems that the job was nearly completed
two weeks ago, for at that time, so jenkins
says, Weaver said he was going out in the
daytime. The way the escape was made
was by rolling up blankets and putting them
in the bed Of Armour's cell in such a way
that one would suppose the bed was occu-
| pied. Armour went into jenkins cell.
About ten Mr.. Dudley, as usual, came into
the room TO see that all was right. The men
all appeared to be in their beds. Think
ing all was right, he turned the switch
which locks the cell doors, and went out.
tf q oh aH hnA Il Il
aid not work, and the men were free TO
play their game, which they did a
| few minutes after twelve. The arrest of
| the prisoners on the same day was due to
the dispatches sent out, and especially to the
| decision and tact of Sheriff Atherton. The
! latter captured jenkins and Armour a
short distance this side of Hartford bridge
between three and four o'clock in the
afternoon. The men were walking along
the track, and had stepped into some bushes
| to let the train pass. The sheriff knew at
once that they were the men Wisely tell
| ing the conductor not to stop his train, he
kept on till he reached Hartford, from
which place he started back alone. Coming
| to the house of an acquaintance, he ex-
! planned matters to the latter, and the two
went up the track. 1t seems the men were
! lying in some bushes near the track and
! close to some woods. Sheriff Atherton and
| the friend at first passed them, but looking
| back, the former saw "A hat in the bushes.
| Soon they came on the men lying under
the trees, with their coats off Sheriff
Atherton spoke to item about going to
work, and at the same time he looked into
| the pockets of the coats, to see if he could
identify the men by letters. Sure enough,
| there was a letter addressed to Jenkins at
the Montpelier Jail. This move of the
| sheriff did not seem to be observed by
| the men. Then the sheriff said he
was looking for couple of men who had
run away from Chelsea, and he thought
they were the men. They denied having
come from Chelsea, but submitted to being
| ironed. Sheriff Atherton took his prisoners
to the Junction, where they had supper
and there he told them that they were
wanted at Montpelier. The group returned
on the late night train, and once more Jen-
kins and Armour were inside the Washing
ton county Jail. In the course of the after
noon it was learned that Weaver had been
arrested at Essex Junction and Hathorne
at Richmond, Weaver having been taken to
Burlington. Accordingly Messrs. Ather-
ton and Dudley went to those places on
Monday morning and returned with them
at noon. Quite a crowd greeted the officers
and their prisoners at the station and fol-
| lowed them to the Jail
Weaver and Hathorne had taken the late
train from the south at Waterbury, and
were recognized at the latter place. Sheriff
Atherton was informed by telephone, and
| by his direction message was sent to Els
tion when the train arrived. Deputy
sheriff Warren Nichols was on hand, and
as the conductor pointed out Weaver to
him, he took the horSe-thief into custody.
! Turning him over to some trainmen, the
officer sought Hathorne. The latter, how
ever, had managed to get away and had
struck for the woods. For several hours he
remained there. and then started toward
Richmond. When near the Richmond line,
in the middle of the afternoon, he came
upon some boys and young men who We're
playing ball. In a joking way, they asked
| him If he was not one of the prisoners who
escaped from the Montpelier Jail. He evil
IDENTIFY took them seriously, for he started
away on the run, with some Of the young
men, who now saw how things stood, after
him. Others went for an officer, and in a
short time the man was secured. Weaver
was taken to Burlington early Sunday fore
noon. Since Jenkins returned to the Jail
he has talked freely about the way
the bars were cut. A fine steel saw,
with arched handle at the back, was
used. 1t was evidently made espe-
cially for the purpose of cutting prison
bars, Weaver said he found it in the ven
tilator OF his cell, but very likely he him
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