The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1892-10-01
SAWED THE iron BA9
Tobacco Robber Ha
Escapes by Night
From the County
Jail.
HIS CELL LEFT UNLoC
Hall Man Jim's Queer Proc
No Callers, So How .
Get the saw9
HIS CELL LEFT UNL0Cs

Henry Harris, a truck driver
rested in New York week ago CT
with being implicated in the the
$4,000 worth of tobacco from dc
Hoboken. He was locked mp In
County jail. Yesterday Harris was
raigned and pleaded not guilty.
night he escaped from the jail and
trial is indefinitely postponed.
When Harris was first taken to ii
County Jail Prosecutor Winfield rt
quested Jailer Davis to keep him apar
from David Barry and James Dee, who
had pleaded guilty TO the indictment
charging them with the larceny of the to-
bacco.
Jailer Davis complied with the wishes
of the Prosecutor a nd caused Harris to
be locked up in w4rd on the second floor
of the west side the bullying. The
thall'' man was given strict orders not to
permit Harris to nave the freedom of the
corridor and TO keep him locked up in his
| cell all the time. fhe s'halP' man is q
| prisoner serving out time sentence. 1t
| has always been the custom to take some
| prisoner whose time has nearly expired
| and make him "hall" man. For keep
| ing watch over the other prisoners he re-
ceives certain privileges and he can gener-
| ally be trusted, for it would be folly for
him to attempt 10 escape, having but 3
short time to serve.
HALL MAN JIM
| The ''hall'' man in question is known
as Jim and Ward is devoted to The use
| of time prisoners, that is, prisoners who
| have from ten days to three months TO
serve for petty offences. Jailor Davis
| had some misQivings about putting
/ Ia 1aTrfz In this and In MOI haUa
done so If Harris could not have been
| kept locked up constantly.
| When Harris was arraigned yesterday
and taken back to Jail, Jim the "hall"
man was specially enjoined to keep the
desperate prisoner locked into his
who had been very surly
and Quarrelsome during his weeks im-
| prisonment, became unusually good ma
tured yesterday, and he persuaded Jim to
! let him walk in the corridor. Harris took
this opportunity to make thorough ex-
animation Of the surroundings, aad par
| ticularly the closet at the south end of the
| corridor. When night came Jim failed.
to loc1: the door of the cell Harrise
cupied.
SAWED THROUGH THE
| When every ons-ERs- -aslee5
| Harris softly stole from his cell to the
corridor and made his way to the closet.
The window which gives ventilation
to this small room was secured by a mum.
Der of iron bars each an inch in diameter.
| Harris sawed through three of these bars
| and with his tremendous strength
| wrenched the bars from their position,
bending them sufficiently apart TO per-
NIT him to pass through aud drop to the
ground in the jail yard. To run to the
rear of this yard and climb over the ten
| feet high wall was but the work of q
/ moment and this done Harris darted
through the shadows of the Court house
grounds to Pavonia avenue and liberty.
The escape of the expert thief was not
| learned until this morning, when the
Keepers made their tours of inspection
| through the Jail. As soon as Harris was
missed the jail was searched. aud then
the police of this city, Hobokeu and New
| York were notified of the escape. A man
| was Immediately sent to New York to
OBTAIN from the Rogne's Gallery picture
of Harris. which will be copied and sent
| to the police all over the country.
HOW DID HE GET IT?
Jaller Davis, TO-DAY, in speaking of the
week he was in the Jail never had a
| visitor. Not single person called TO see
him or ask after HIM. This is the saw be
| used' Showing me fine steel saw six
| inches long and one-half inch wide, with
very fine teeth). when he HAD no fur
| ther use for it he threw it on the f1oor
| You can see the wv had hard usage, for
| II is cracked in the middle. suppose
| Harris had the saw secreted in his cloth-
ing when brought here"