Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-03-09
SWEETS OF LIBERTY
That Induce LaWbreakers to
Take Long Chances.
SOME ALLEGHENY ESCAPES
That Are Remarkable for Their Reck.
less Audacity.
SOME ALLEGHENY ESCAPES
SMITH WATCHED VERY CLOSELY

"OIlu DIS tutCIudllH dS udLSluS anu AOCA
more cheaply, extraordinary precautions arr
being taken to prevent the laws being
cheated OF its prey.
The law has rarely, in Allegheny county
been frustrated by the suicide of criminals
Edward Coffee's death in the county jail
January "a of last year, is so recent that al
remember it. He was under the sentence o.
death for the killing of Policeman Benja.
min Evans, and he cut his throat with a
penknife, living six days after the wound
was inflicted.
Justice is more frequently thwarted by
the escape of desperate and ingenious Grim
inals from jail and penitentiary. Some of
these escapes, which have taken place in
Allegheny county, furnish interesting e
stories No condemned murderer has ever
broken Jail here. but a recent unprovoked
murder is ehargeable to the escape of a
burglar from the Western Penitentiary and
Dixmont asylum.
A COSTLY ESCAPE.
Peter Griffin and Larry ellison robbed a
store at No. 3515 Butler street about the
time OF the holidays, 1887. ellison was
caught soon atterward in Allegheny,
but Griffin was not arrested until
March, 1885, when he was taken in
Cambria county and brought back to Pitts
burg by Detective Fitzgerald. He was tried
soon afterward and was sentenced to six
years in the Western Penitentiary. He re-
manned in that institution about year,
when he grew tired of confinement. He
pretended insanity. He ate the soap and
1rothed at the mouth as if with violent
spasms. He sucked blood from his arm and
spat out the blood with the soapy froth.
These iuon for him frap rar
to the insane asylum at Dixmont, where he
remained only three weeks. Escape from
Di1mont, police officers say, is not difficult,
and one day Griffin was missing. 1t ap-
pears that, for some months, he remained in
hiding with old friends near this CITY.
On the night of December q, 1889, Mrs.
Paul Rudert was murdered in Tarentum.
None Of the detectives who have worked on
the case doubt that Peter Griffin was one of
her murderers. 1t is even believed that he
fired the shot which killed the woman. His
photograph has been sent broadcast over this
country and Canada.
FULLY EARNED HIS FREEDOM
One of the most desperate criminals to at
tempt escape was Flatty Boyle. He was
born and raise in the Sixth ward, and in his
school days developed an Unsuitable desire
TO steal. One night he assaulted and robbed
ID
liceman caught him almost in the act and
started with him to the station house. On
the way Boyle tripped the officer and ran.
He was recaptured shortly afterward and
conveyed to the lookup When arraicned
the following morning before the magistrate
he broke from the room, and was retaken
only after hot chase. He was sent to the
old county Jail, but before he reached
there he escaped by bold dash, and was not
e. H. TasI -
he planned an escape from JAIL which was
nearly successful. He was tried and found
guilty. After sentence was pronounced he
sprang out of the window of the courtroom,
ran across Grant street into a hallway, and
made his way by the stairs to the roof of the
building. When the officers attempted to
follow him, he tore bricks from the Chin
EeYs and hurled them at his pursuers.
Rifles aimed at him from the street finally
brought him down. Two men were sent with
him to Allegheny, where he was to be incar-
cerated in the old penitentiary. He broke
away on Seventh street, disregarding the
bullets which whistled by his head
COULDN'T STOP HIM.
A man was putting ice into the cellar ofthe
old Robinson House, now the Hotel Bower
The ice man lifted his graphing hook to
strike the fugitive. BOYLE sent the ice man
heels over head into the cellar and ran on.
After a wild pursuit along Duquesne way he
was again made prisoner. This time he
was safely locked in the penitentiary. A
few weeks later he left the penitentiary in a |
mysterious manner, without saying good |
by'' to the warden. He has never since |
been heard of.
A celebrated prisoner who escaped from |
the Western Penitentiary when it was To- |
Gated in Allegheny park was Joseph L. or
Il1nl8
the vault of the old Farmers and Mechanics |
Bank on April z, 1918, stealing S104 900. !!
Pluymart was captured few days after |
ward in Cincinnati, but forced the Jail there |
and escaped. About the last of Nav he /
was taken at Ogdensburg, n. Y, but broke |
that Jail. That time his liberty was short, |
for he was caught the next day and brought |
to Pittsburg. He,was sent to the penitentiary |
for three years. He escaped by digging un- |
der the wall and remained at large.
SEEN DAILY ON THE STREET.
Two men who escaped from the peniten- |
tiary in recent years are to be seen daily |
upon the streets of Pittsburg. The story of |
'Shoebox" Miller is so we'll known that il |
needs no repetition here. He was recap
tured in Canada, served out his time, and is |
engaged IL business in this city. The other
escaped prisoner, for some reason, was never
still charged against him.
Some years ago Tom Blake and Clark
Cheering effected a difficult escape from the
new Western Penitentiarv. They were sent
down for burglary committed in this city.
They were Pittsburg boys and we'll known
as thieves by the police. Their escape from
the big stone prison, one very dark night
was at the time profound mystery, and the
manner of it has never been made public
Neither man was recaptured. A few years
ago Pittsburg gentleman, who has since
then become connected with The Depart
ment of Public Safety, Unexpectedly met
Blake in a small town in Ohio. To him the
convict told the story, and it was repeated
to the reporter for The DISPATCH.
SYSTEMATIC WORK.
The two men were set at work in the same
shop, and soon after their Imprisonment
they began working to get out An impress
sion of the ksyhole in the lock of their cell
door was taken in a cake of soap, and from
that impression key was made. Work on
1t was done during the daytime in the shop,
without attracting the attention of the
guard. The metal was from the spoons with
which the prisoners did their eating. The
tlrst key was failure, and it was necessary
to make second. That was at last finished,
and was found to be the correct thing.
The prisoners had ink in their cells and
with that they transformed two extra suits
of prison clothes. The light gray strines
were stained by the ink, thoroughly and
carefully, until the garments were ali of
one color. Without the closest inspection
they would not have been suspected to be
anything else than ordinary, cheap suits of
dark clothes. Donning these clothes, the
prisoners unlocked their cell door one night
rr1 -a1 h0ld H. L. |