The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1896-08-15

-~@OSt AheNhAOho ~ AoOh CSNNRNS -
inal history.
Shepard is a very ignoble kind OF
murderer who was convicted and SEN
fenced to be hanged in st. Louis. Pend
ing execution he was occupying cell
No. 33 in the city prison. Shepard does
not now occupy cell No. 80. Cell NO.
SO commands a pleasant view OF the
gallows in the Jail yard. Perhaps II
was this view and the continuous din
OF workmen's hammers and saws
which stimulated Mr.. Shepard to cheat
the gallows Of it's due. One of the
local papers, with unconscious humor,
says that "the GOODNESS of the muir
derer and his utter callousness is
evidenced by the fact that one
OF the prominent instruments in his
delivery from the strong arm OF the
law was the scaffold on which he was
soon to be hanged for his brutal
crime"
Shepard's roommate in cell No. 80
was George Reed wife murderer, who
Is under sentence of ten years in the
penitentiary. He does not seem to have
been admitted to the confidence OF
Shepard. He knew nothing OF the
proposed escape. On the evening OF
Sunday he calmly went to sleep about
o'clock His companion was SUM
bering in another cot. At o'clock
Monday morning Reed woke up. A
storm was raging outside. with accom-
paniment of thunder and lightning.
The thunder doubtless had awakened
the wife murderer. A fash of light
ming revealed to him the fact that his
neighbor was gone. There seems TO be
very little esprit de corps among MUIR
derers. AT all events Mr.. Reed prompt
ly gave the alarm. That was the first
the guards knew of the unceremonious
departure of Shepard.
The last seen OF him was at 3 o'clock
in the morning, when one Craig, Jail
guard, after answering a request of
Shepard for matches, gave up his post
to a guard named Leilich. What be-
came OF Herr Leilich from that time
until the escape of the prisoner was
discovered is buried in the profound
intelligence of Herr Leilich. So far he
has modestly refrained from eXplana-
TONS
AS soon as the change of guards had
been effected Shepard must have gone
10 work. His cell opened on the main
area of the Jail and there was also a
rear door opening on the bull pen, a
narrow enclosure which runs around
the Jail between the cells and the out
side wall. A door, securely barred,
leads from the cell to the bull pen. On
the bottom of the door was an iron
plate. fastened by iron rivets. In the
mattress on the bed OF Shepard was
found an ingeniously constructed saw.
II is the theory of Jailer Wagner that
Shepard had been working on the
rivets holding the plate with his ssw
for a long time. Anyhow he had Six
rivets sawed through when the guards
changed, and, with a piece OF broom
stick. whitfield off on one end to the
shape of a wedge, he rried loose the
other four, and the first door in his
avenue of escape was open.
Before making his start he took o
chip basket he had in his cell. and
with the aid of a couple of blankets he
made a presentable dummy for his cot
On the other cot of the cell Reed snored
soundly. After the dummy was ar
ranged Shepard lay fiat on the floor
and began to work himself through the
narrow opening. Now he was in the
bull pen and right in front of him was
the big hole that had been dug for
the Jail sewer. For days he had been
standing at the rear door of his cell
watching the men at work, and he