The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1891-11-24
TuNNzLLso TWO YEARS.
Three Convicts who Escaped from Poison
and Wore Recap tured shortly After.

Three Conviots who Escaped from Pflson
aud Wore Recaptured shortly After
WAuPuN. Wis, Nov "a. Robert ~
West, John Stacy and Ferdinand Mack
the three life convicts who tunuelled
their way out Of the penitentiary and
were recapturel p hours later, have
just been released from the solitary
cells where they were placed after their
return. All three men were employed
in the prison wash house. In the west
end Of this building is the boiler, at the
south end of which is brick wall open
- feet deep.
The men began operations on the east
wall Of 5bis we'll about eight feet below
the floor surface. They removed enough
brick to make square passagew large
enough to permit the passage of a mans
body. They then fastened the removed
brick to a board, making door which,
when closed, left the wall with every
appearance of undisturbsd soldity.
Beginning here they turned east about
four feet, turned 10 the north and went
distance Of six feet and then west
directly under the washroom boiler and
through the wall OF the house, thence
under the alley to and through the main
foundation wall OF the workshop iato =
ditch beneath the floor made for con
| venisncs in running water and steam
pipes about She building.
Altar using the full length Of tho
ditch they dug under tho shop wall
again, beneath an alley roadway, q dis
| tAEce Of 20 OF 90 feet, and then under
the wall surrounding the priSon build
| inRE ARd to the suFfAcs ARd thS Out-
side world.
The nasn eouh work emily few mo-
msnts At Hme eonsecutively, and they
were Obliged to remove and dispose OF
all the dirt and rock encountered in the
tunnellins Of over 90 feet wi without
( taking it outside the walls or awaken.
| ing suspicion.
The three men worked by turns in the
| tunnel for nearly two years, and
| through the administration of three
wardens A system of telegraph kept
the digger informed Of the moveme n to
of prison officials above. Occasionally
the plotters became alarmed, and aban-
! doned their work for weeks at time.
! But fear of the coming of winter and its
attending obstaoi es in tunnelling in the
earth set them at their labor with re-
newed energy. At last everything was
ready for the escape.
While the rest of the prisoners were
! in the yard at 3 o'clock, the mur5arerS
dropped into their hole aud began to
! burrow their way to freedom. They
were not missed until the guards made
their report at o'clock. 1t was snow
ing and raining when the murderers
emerged from the tunnel. Although
still clad in their prison robes they
l. l. H. Al
snow oblitarated their tracks for a time,
but when morning came the tracks Of
heavy prison shoes were plainly seen in
the slush.
After leaving the prison the fugitives
went north. They circled around the
town to the east, and again started
west, for the purpose of throwing their
| pursuers off the scent. Before o clock,
and when they had covered thirteen
miles, old man Stagg weakened physi-
cally and sank exhausted by the roadside.
He could go no further, and the questi on
of leaving him by the roadside to die or
of being recaptured came up for con-
sideration,
West took up Stage, with the aid o
Mack, and carried him to the neares
farmhouse. The granger was averse t.
receiving them, but West had So, anC
| Tor 20 Genus eaCn secureu SuSlIeF lOr wv
rest of the night. The trio were awake
, and up at daylight, and when they
( emerged from the house they found the
+ road full of men looking for them, ant
without resistance they surrendered.
West had spent % years in the prison
and his work of two years as we'll a
3 that Of his comrades, with finger nail
A and a worn-out hatchet through hare
a | CLAW and stone walls, was sold for
hoars of freedom.