The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1896-06-09
TWO CONNECTS ESCAPE
ESCAPED FROM WETHERSFIELD
PRISON YESTERDAY MORNING.

They Made Skeleton Key and Unlocked n
Door-New Window in Contagious Ward
Allowed Escape--Dwight Il. Steere and
George A. Miner Are the Men-Rewarl
of 5000 misunderstanding Parties Out
for the Prisoners.
Hartford, June S.-"Two prisoners are
missing and have probably escaped"
was the announcement which greeted
Deputy Warden Baisden at the state
prison at Wethersfeld at 5:45 o'clock
this morning when he answered the
telephone in his house. Warden Wood
bridge was Immediately notified, and an
investigation begun.
The two men missing are Dwight A.
Steere, a life prisoner, aged forty eight
years, and George A. Miner, aged fifty
eight, in for twenty-five years as an
incorrigible. Steere was the chief at
tendant in the hospital and Miner was
in the hospital on account of rheuma-
tism. Both men We're seen at u o'clock
by officer John Lehr, who slept in a
small room partitioned off from the hos
pital About 4:30 this morning Convict
John II. Davis, who slept on cot next
to Miners, noticed that the bed was
empty, He did not give the alarm i'm
mediately, as Miner had done duty as
nurse and might be called upon at any
time. But when he saw that Steere'
cot was also empty he Immediately
woke up officer Lehr and when the Of
ficer was convinced that the men were
missing he sent in an alarm
The Escape.
Warden Woodbridge and Deputy
Warden Baisden made a careful ex-
animation of all the doors and windows
of the hospital and discovered clue to
the method by which the prisoners es-
capped. Opening from the northwest
corner of the room is a bathroom and
from the other side of the bathroom a
door leads into the contagious ward
This door is of iron grating and is lock-
ed with regular prison lock. When
Warden Woodbridge tried this door il
was locked but as he shook it there
was click as if one of the tumblers OF
The inference is that the lock had
been turned with an imperfect skeleton
key. If Miner and Steere had a key to
this door the remainder of the escape
was easy for them. Workmen had beer
engaged in putting a new window in
this contagious ward on the south side
facing the Wethersfield road Once in
the contagious ward all the prisoners
had to do was to walk out the win
dow onto the staging which was erected
Hor the use of the Workmen, and from
the staging it was an easy descent tc
the ground.
No Trace of the Men.
This is as far as the theory goes
Where the men went after reaching
the ground no one knows. There are
no traces around the building which
would indicate the direction the mer
took. Warden Woodbridge and Deputy
Baisden made a careful examination OF
the ground before anyone else was al
lowed outside the prison. There were
wheel tracks of only one wagon or car
riage in the roadway and those were
made by Warden Woodbridge last eve
ming when he drove Chaplain e. 3. Dill.
bingham home Whether the convicts
had any friends outside waiting to helI
them is not known.
Crimes of the Men.
Dwight T. Steere was convicted OF
murder in the second degree at Norwich
and committed to the state prison fol-
life, April q, 1876. He then gave his age
as twenty EIGHT, and is now therefore
rty-eight. With a companion of abou
his age he came from Massachusetts
to witness a college boat race at New
London in the summer of 1875. The
two men became intoxicated and inVOl
we'd in a drunken brawl in which SteerC
! stabbed his companion. His trial wa:
| long drawn out and strenuous efforts
were made by his friends to save him
| The cost of the trial to the state wa!
| $S2426
Steere has been q model prisoner ant
| it is probable that he might have beer
recommended for pardon within shor
time Dr. E. G. Fox, the prison sur
geon, said to a reporter this morning
that he would have trusted Steere any
where. He said that he was invaluable
| as an assistant in the hospital.
Steere's flight is remarkable from tn,
fact that he once had an opportunity tt
| escape. but did rot take advantage o
it. The incident happened about sever
or eight years ago, when General S. q
Chamberlain was warden. Steere wen
I to the warden and gave him a sum &
money and told him where some clothes
were concealed which he was to use il
case he could make his escape.
George A. Miner was an incorrigibl
prisoner. He had served eight terms il
state prison for burglary amounting il
all to about twenty-five years. His tria
sentence expired March and the dir2c
| tors decided to hold him for twenty-fiV
years under the law which allows then
to hold a man as an incorrigible, VIII
has served three years. Miner is abou
fifty-eight years old, according to TIL
| prison records. His last sentence wa
for four years and he was convicted
under the name of William johnson
and sent from Middlesex county Apri
27, 1892.
Miner is a very feeble old man and h
| could hardly walk faster than one 0
| two miles an hour. He is badly lame
from rheumatism. He escaped in hi
stocking feet, as both his boots and hi
shoes were found under his cot thi
morning. Steere took his shoes and h
is a younger man. He may be able t
| walk a little faster than Miner but h