The morning call., 1891-01-19
ESCAPED MANY TIMES.
The Noted Convict, James Ota, Once A gain
M Liberty,


at Liberty.
Jim Ota, a Florida life convict, is again at
large, having escaped from Phosphate
Camp, under circumstances that add another
chapter TO a strangely eyentful career, says
the New y orK Times.
Ota came of mixed Spanish, Indian and
negro blood. He was almost white, with
the profile Of a Spaniard and the taciturnity
| that bespoke the Seminole in him. Eight
! years ago he was caught Ted-handed il
| burglary at Pensacola and sentenced 20 life
in,rrIsonment. HIS first escape was from
the turpentlne works, then under lease of
Major Wise. He dug beneath the hunks In
the dollhouse and concealed himself there,
When the prisoners ere taken out he stole
a suit of clothes, made his way to Jackson
vile, and was arrested just as he was getting
OH Il boat
a few months afterward he formed plot
with dozen others to oyerpOwer the guard
when at work. They cut their chains and
tied them together with bits Of tWinP ready
to be broken when the word was given, but
an officer by the merest accident noticed the
severed links, and the scheme was frus-
| trated. He was so closely watched that no
| other opportunity presented itself for over
year. Then one day he suddenly ran from
the stOckade. At the first bound his chains
full asunder. They had been cut. The
guard saw him and instantly fired load of
buckshol, striking him fairly in the back
Ota flung out Uo;h arms and fell on his face.
He was carried back and eventually re-
covered, SCARED for life, but with his viii
unbroken. Years passed. No fault could be
found with Ota's work. He was as steady
as a clock, rarely spoke to any one, and
passed his little leisure with his books. One
day when working in the woods the guard
| happened to look the other way, and when
| he turned his eyes again to the squad Ota
was gone. He had disappeared in the I'M
| der brush, no one could say how. The man
4 III, 4
| hounds were sent for and put upon his tract,
| and after chase of twenty miles he was
! caught. In time he had rid himself of his
| irons and obtained citizen S clothes nobody
| knows how.
Early one morning about a year after
| ward the night guard at the dollhouse
| called out "IrustesW as was customary, to
| prepare breakfast for the men. Ota was
! chained to his bunk at night, but he had cut
| his irons and passed out with them. As he
neaTed the night guard he picked up a club.
! knocked him senseless. took his rife and
| vanished. The guard lay for weeks be-
| tween life and death. and within month
Ota was captured just As he was crossing
! the Georgia line. Nemesis seemed to pursue
| the man.
His next escape was about a year and
| half ago. Major Dutton of New York was
lessee and the men were employed at his
turpentine works in Suwanee County: Ota
| and four others ran off one day in the
woods There were three guards and they
| all concentrated their fire on Ota. They
| were armed with Winchesters and pulled
triggers as fast as they could put in shells.
| There was stretch of open ground and
then little emiuence Ota made for the
| latter. When he reached the summit he
was fair target, and it was raining lead
but he stopped stock still, turned, raised
| his hand, bowed the astoniShed guards a
polite farewell, and then disappeared over
the crest. He was gone a month or two,
was then betrayed by an eX-cOnvict and re-
turned to prison.
When the prisoners were turned over to
Senator Bailey, the present lessee Ota was
taken to a farm In Jefferson County. HIS
was the last bunk in the dollhouse, and he
loosened the boards so as 10 crawl under
meath and attack the log walls with saw
fashioned from a table knife. He had
about twenty feet to crawl and could only
work n few minutes at time, and that by
feigning illness and stopping in. Never
theess, he contrived to sever two huge logs,
! and was ready to make his exit when the
cuts were noticed by a ''truSty" and the
officers were notified. His saw blade was
less than three inches long and he had been
at work two months.
His final escape was made from the large
storage-room, of the Marion Phosphate
Company, where the cOnVctS were tenn
porarlly sleeping. Last night they were
fastened by their shackles to what is known
as the building chain" On this particular
night the : eH-walker heard a noise and
went to the door to investigate. The next
instant Ota sprang upon him like a tiger,
knocked him down, and vanished into the
night, A Jacksonville burglar named Gay
McLain escaped at the same time. A pair
Of shackles, cut at the riyet and hanging
empty On the building chain, told the rest OF
the story. The camp was instantly aroused
and bloOdhounds and a strong posse went IN
pursuit, but jim's escape this time is likely
| to he for good,