St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-03-28
Gill Proved A GILLY.
Daring Escape of a Matricide
From the Michigan
Prison.
He Poisoned the Gate Keeper
and Procured His
Keys.
Confidence Of the Night Keep
er Gained by a Fairy
Tale.
The Night Keeper Now Oe-
cupieS a Cell in the
Prison.

Prison.
JACKSON, Mich, March 27.-At an
early hour this morning +. Irving Lati-
mer, serving life sentence for matri-
eide, walked into the world of liberty
and freedom through the wide prison
doors and disappeared in the darkness,
and at this writing I'll p. m.) not
trace of him has been found
One of his keepers is dead and
another is prisoner, charged with being
All acc0mpice. Maurice L. Gill, night
keeper at the prison, was the indirect
means of the escape. About $50 o'clock
he and Latimer took lunch together in
the administers office. 1t was against
the rules for Gill to take a convict out
of his cell, and that he did so was en-
tirely unknown to the warden. The two
men, Gill says. drank pink lemonade.
He thinks it must have been poisoned,
for soon after he felt sick. and doubled
up in his pain. About the same time
Gill and Latimer heard cry in the
guard room, above and entirely separ-
ate from the office. In this room was
George Haight, the gatekeeper. 1t was
evident that he was sick, and help was
needed at once. Gill could not go on
account of his illness. He did not know
what to do. Finally Latimer spoke up
and said:
Il will 90 and whistle for DR.. Mason"
"All right. go ahead" replied Gill.
Trying TO Lock the Door.
Shortly after Latlmer left Gill, Night
Guard Rice also went towards Halght's
room to see what was the matter. There
he found Latimer trying to lock the door
from the inside of the stairway. He
roughly said to him:
"What are you doing at that door,"
Latimer made some evaSiye reply,
and Rice took the bunch of keys away
from him. When Rice got inside the
hall where Latimer was, the convict
told HIM Haight was dying UP stairs.
Rice then went up to HaightS room
and found that Latimer had already
succeeded in unlocking the upper door
into the administers office. Haight
was found on the floor in an uncon-
sciOuS condition. The two men carried
little private office just across from the
main hall. They had no sooner done
this than Gill appeared on the scene.
Gill was still complaining of being very
sick, but he at once saw that Haight
was in very dangerous condition, and
said that some one should go for tho
prison physician. Latimer, who was
bending over the stricken gatekeeper
Strengthened up quickly and said:
81 will run and get the DOCTOR"
Gill took Latimer's place beside the
sick man and said:
"All right; hurry as fast as you cam"
LatiE,er Disappea
Rice and Gill saw Latimer disappear
through the door as though he was
going for a doctor, and then turned
their attention to Haight, whom they
thought was dying. Just how long they
remained with Haght before it daWned
on them that Latimer had not gone
for the physician, is not very clear.
Within not more than five minutes
Rice went out to look for Latimer. The
moment that he got IN the hall he saw
that the front door of the administers
room was partially open. 1t only re-
quired few minutes to find that Lati-
mer had not gone for the physician
at all, but escaped by the
front door. The key to this
door was always carried in Haight'S
pockets. Latimer had removed this
key from Haight's pocket after he was
unconscious. and. using it. effected his
escape. The sleeping guards were all
aroused. and those that could be spared
were sent out to look for Latimer.
kilograms were sent to the officials
of nearby cities last night,
and all the trains were carefully
inspected. Before daylight the houses
of many of his friends had been
searched. Circulars were issued with
two good pictures of Latimer, and all
accurate and detailed description mailed
to every police officer who it might be
thought would have an opportunity of
seeing him. A reward of $500 was Of
fered for the body dead or alive.
The search is being continued by the
whole available prison force, and to
some extent assisted by the city and
inner had been in the habit of taking
cup of chocolate late nearly every night
to Gatekeeper Haight, passing it
through slide in the grating, which
Haight took with his midnight
lunch. There is no doubt Lati-
mer had planned to poison Haght
and Gill and the chocolate at
plight was only to gain confidence, and
until he could get the poison. Last
night Latimer carried up glass of
lemonade to IIaight instead of chocolate,
and the poison was no doubt in that, as
Haight was taken sick in about twenty
minutes after drinking it, and Gill was
attacked with sprams almost instantly.
Haight died at 5 o'clock this morning
without regaining consciousness. Gill
and Rice were placed under arrest, but
Rice was subsequently released.
CHIPS Statement.
Capt. NJ. P. Gill was seen at the Jail
today, and made the following state
ment:
about two weeks ago Latimer said
to me that he wanted to make bargain
with me to go to Rhode Island and
collect claim for $4,000 due him.
Saturday night Latimer again ap-
preached me on the subject, and an inter-
view was fixed for last night. About 8
o'clock Latimer was unlocked and taken
to the hall office. He remarked that he
had box of Sardines and some lemons,
and we would have a lunch. After en-
tering the hall Latimer made some lem
onade and we ate the lunch. / was
taken sick Immediately after, and was