St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-11-01

Nnlcn WAS open. Immediately two or
| three other prisoners f1ocked in, and one
| put sponge in the watchman's mouth
as a gag and tied it fast back of his
| neck. They then threw him on the bed
in the cell and bound him hand and foot
with straps. This cell was occupied by
Andrew Miller, who had been convicted
short time previously for supplying a
| prisoner with a file with which to
escape, and who was awaiting q new
trial. Ed Heath occupied the cell with
Miller, but the Waterman was positive
that it was Miller who seized and choked
| hlm-he being unable to tell the names
| of the others who attacked him. They
| took his revolver from his pocket. and
one of them stood guard with it pointed
| at his head, threatening to blow
| his brains out if he uttered word. But
this precaution was entirely unneces
sary, as the poor Waterman could not
have made an cutlery il he wanted to.
| owing to the restraining influence of
the gag. When he was fully secured
they took his keys from him and went
out of the corridor, locking the door
after them. There was still the iron
door leading into the Sheriff's Office,
! but as they had secured that key also,
| they quickly passed out. locking the
| door behind them and taking the keys
and revolver with them. When they
had gone. Robinson struggled until he
rolled off the cot in the cell, and
| as the fugitiveS had forgotten to
eek him in the cell, he rolled and
| dragged himself out into the corridor,
| and to the door of the adjoining cell,
where he awOke prisoner bv humping
against the door. The prisoner, whose
name was John HOuck, reached through
the grating of the door and united the
1 Il,
! calling for help. Some one of the en-
ploycs in the sheriff's family heard his
cries and awoke Sheriff Richter. who
hurried down with duplicate keys and
| entered and released the Waterman. An
| Investigation showed that three cells
containing two prisoners each had been
unlocked, they having by some means
| obtained keys. The names of those eS-
| Gaping were:
A. Miller, Ed Heath, j. Hamilton, NJ.
Gahr, John Lavalee and john Schmick
er. Their offenSes were as follows:
Miller, aiding prisoner to escape;
! Heath, ENLIGHTENMENT from George Far
| we'll & Co.; j. Hamilton. blowing safe
of Breen q Young; Michael Gahr. held
for Wright county on charge of forgery;
John Schmicker. forgery: John Lava
lee, held for Mcleod county on charge
| Of forgery.
The investigation which followed
showed that the escape was the direct
result of careleSsness Oh the part of the
night Waterman. He had been given
strict orders by the sheriff never to
enter the prisoners corridor alone at
night without first notify ing his su-
perlOr officer. His story that the gas
had been blown out in the corridor and
that it was while on his way to relight
it that he was attacked was denied by
the other prisoners in the jail, who
stated that he was called into the cor
| ridOr by prisoner who asked for
drink of water. Robinson bit and was
soon in the hands of the PhillIstines.
The next escape of Importance took
place on the 18th of February. 1888. when.
three ambitious followers Of Spike
HenneSSey" took unto themselves wings
and Heated away to freedom and a good
| time. Early on the morning in Ques-
ton, when Jailcr Peterson, who holds
the same responsible position to this
| day, opened cell No. q, the last cell down
the corridor on the north side of the
county Jail. he discovered that it was
empty, the two prisoners, Frank st.
Clair and William Thomas, who had
been locked up the evening before, hav-
| ing decamped. Peterson FASTENED to
examine the other cells along the CORR
| hardt, but his cellmate. wv. O'COnnors
! the notorious Minneapolis po5toflice rob-
ber had flown. III the remaining cells
| the prisoners were sleeping safely.
| Peterson quickly gave the alarm and
! proceeded to make thorough eXamina-
ton of the building. The method of es-
cape was soon discovered. The bars in
! the door of each cell had been cut
through by saving, and pieces removed
| down near the floor III such manner as
| to leave an opening about ten inches
| square, through which the prisoners had
| squeezed their way into the corridor.
In the rear part of the corridor, in the
| Cedar street end of the building, is an
elevated platform upon which are the
waShStands. Over this platform another
aperture had been cut through the bars
and ceiling into the attic above. Once
up in the attic the escaping prisoners
| had but to cut hole through the
roof, and they stood in the open air
! They then lowered themselves to the
! ground by means of ropes constructed
! of strips of blanket twisted together,
| and also by means of strips of the can
vas cots used in the cells, the ends
| buckled together by the buckles used to
! fasten the cot to the iron bed frame.
/ The rope thus formed was fastened to
one of tie rafterS of the roof and then
! allowed to hang over the side of the
| building next to the court house, the
! prisoners descending i'll the snow.
Their footprints were found in the
SHOW, together with an impression
showing that one of the men had fallen
in the descent. Drops of blood were
| also found III the snow showing that
one of them must have injured himself
| in the escape. The apertureS in the cell
doors, as we'll as those in the roof,
were exceedingly small. so that it
seemed impossible for full grown man
TO SQuirm through them. The hole in
the roof was but eight by nine inches
square. The work of saving the bars
must have been long and tedious op-
Grafton, and the prisoners had probably
been at work for several weeks. Each
night, when they had completed their
work, the cut in the iron bars was filled
with shavings of soap and this co,ored
black with ink which was at hand.
| Since the occurrence in question the
bars have been painted white, so that it
is next to impossible to screen a cut
A broken saw was found In O'Connor's
cell, being made OF an old knife. A
saw was also found in the snow outside.
The moving spirit in this delivery
| was, without question, O'COnnOr's, a
man that can get out of any jail that
| WAC NfOl Ouiib. ltO 10 olli " ltlNC
capped from Sing Sing at one time in
his career, and so, of course. it was like
rolling off log for him to get out of the
Ramsey county Jail. So thoroughly had
he ingratiated himself into Jailer Peter
sons affections that when lie asked the
small boon of having his valse passed
in to him that he might affect change
of clothes, Peterson, in the kindness of
his heart, handed it to him with his
compliments, having carefully exam
ined it first, however, to see that there
were no cannOns or bombs secreted
therein.
When that valise was in the hands of
O'COnnor he was as good as free, for
carefully hid away in false bottom
was kit of the finest hair-spring saws.
which he always carried with him in the
| event of being cared. The rest has