The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1893-05-31
ONE OF THE HEROES OF CRIME.
The Sort of Fellow You Read of in Dime
Novels-Wonderful Escape from the
Columbia Penitentiary of
Cripple Negro Prisoner.
Especial to News and Courier !

Especial to News and Courier
COLUMBIA, May 24 ALBERT Jen-
kins, alias Moses Williams, alias Her
schel Curtis, could put the most cele-
brated escaped convict to shame. He
deserves the laurel wreath for skillful
and daring Jail breaking. 1t was a
miracle how this supposed unsophisti-
Gated negro worked his way out of
prison walls, and if he were not such a
daring character he might deserve his
liberty for the unusual cleverness of
his escape. In all the years of peniten-
tiary life another such case has never
been heard Of; it was bold from begin
ming to end, and the convict showed
almost master mind in the way he
worked out every detail Of the escape.
It was several hours after bis escape
before the guards knew that he had
gone, and on that account they have
been unable to successfully follow him.
Williams is an old Jail bird and has
once before made an escape from the
Penitentiary, but not near as daring as
this time. He was looked upon as
somewhat disabled on account of a
spinal affection and was not given very
hard work; most of the time he was
employed in cutting wood, and in that
way had access to the grounds and
may have picked up the piece of iron
he used in making his escape. The
tracing of the footsteps Of the convict
is almost as interesting as the reading
of any of the stories of Old Sleuth.
But to the story. Williams was put
on the ground floor of the main prison
in order that he could he the more
closely watched. AS he worked inside
of the enclosure and had escaped on q
previous occasion be had ball and
chain fastened to his foot. 1t appears
that be had in some way broken the
iron from around the rivet 50 that he
could take off the shackle just when
he wanted to. For weeks, or perhaps
months, he has been fling away at
the bolts of his cell, and left the pieces
of them in the holes, and it seems
made false heads for them with some
cold tar which he stole from the
grounds. 1t was only necessary for
him to take out two Of the bolts to get
the door disconnected from the main
bar which locks the tier of cells. It is
supposed that when the guard who is
on that beat was going the rounds
Williams stole out of his cell, and,
either by going up the front stairs or the
iron screen, made bis way to the fifth
floor of the prison, which connects
with the roof. AS soon as he got to
the top story Of the building he made
his way to the shortest piece of ceiling
and with the iron instrument be had
with him tore off the board and made
his way into the roof. He then had to
walk fifty feet in the roof to project
ing part of the roof and there he
knocked off a board which was directly
over column that extended from the
roof to the ground. The descent down
this column must have been exceed
ingly difficult, as it was about a nun
dred feet high. Exactly what became
of Williams after he got to the ground
the authorities have not been able to as
certain, but they suppose that he was
shrewd enough to find some way to
get over the wall, and that he is now Sc
creted in some house in this city,
where he lived for number of years.
The first that was known of the
scrape was when the guards went to
let Williams out of his cell and found
the ball lying there. The bolts had
been put back in place. It is not re-
garded safe for the guard to stay inside
of the building as he may at any time
be overpowered or injured by desper-
ate characters. One guard is at the
front door of the main prison, and as
there is strong light there ne can see
through the building. 1t is thought
that Williams watched his chance and
left his cell when the guard went to
the neighboring building, which is
also in his circuit. The guard could
not see what was going on on the fifth
floor. 1t appears that the guard who
is stationed in the hospital thought
that he heard noise about the main
prison, and that be notified the corpo-
raj in charge. The officer went around
the building and made q careful exam
ination, but could not find anything
wrong. The guard at the hospital re-
NAMED out on the porch for an hour
to see if he could detect anything
wrong, but Williams must have al
ready gotten away or waited until the
guard went inside of the hospital.
Superintendent Neal has had a thor
ough examination of the guards made,
as he is not altogether satisfied that
Williams has left the prison enclosure.
The prison officials are unanimous in
the opinion that this has been the
"record-breaking escape"
The escaped convict first went to the
Penitentiary under the name of AL
bert jenkins from Edgefeld County
under sentence Of five years. He
escaped few months afterwards and
was sent back flom Chester under the
name of Moses Williams under another
sentence of five years for bousebreak-
Ing and larceny. jenkins is described
as follows: Five feet seven and a half
inches, red hair, dark gray eyes, bright
mulatto, burn in corner of left eye,
third and little fingers off left hand at