The sun., 1896-10-26
ESCAPED FROM THE TONBS.
TWO WOMEN "1RUSTIES,, GET our
BIZ 4 men WINDOW

| They Outrun Two Men who saw Them
Jump from the Window and Gave Chns..
Two young women escaped from the lombs
| last evening ut o ;55 O'clock by jumping from
| second STORY window to tho ground a distance
Of fourteen feet. They were Mary Mclaughlin,
25 years old, of go East Seventy second street.
q perennial vagrRnt, and Nellie White, 28 years
old, OF 81 King street. who has .been arrested so
often for petty misdemeanors that all the
Police Magstra of the city consider her In
corrigDe. The escape was made from win
dow in Deputy Warden O'Shay's rooms which
are on the Centre street side OF the prison, at a
time when tho streets of that quarter are
usually alive with people. 1t happened that
there were but few about when the women
made their flying leap for liberty, and none saw
them save two young men who stood across the
street talking politics. Tho spectacle OF two
women. one OF them wearing n hat crowned
with tall feathers. and the other dressed in q
rich brocade silk dress, jumping from a window
OF the gloomy prison. so pnraly2ed the men that
they could do nothing but gaze open -mouthed
while the fuVitives cinked the iron openwork
fence that skirts the Tombs the Centre
street side and made off toward Canal street.
Finally one OF the men found his voice.
It's another case Of der chall is owdt!" he
gasped
oShcNc Sou, onIu tue BlNo
'em q chase"
With that both men, who were young and
nimble footed. started on a run after the women.
Tho Mclaughlin woman happened to turn
| around. and she saw the men running toward
her.
They're after US. Nelie!" she said. Lets
give them run for their money"
I'm ont you" said Nellie. and. gathering up
their skiIts both women sprnted around into
Canal street. When the pursuers reached the
corner they saw the women disappearing into
Baxter street. They concluded that further
effort on their part to retake tho prisoners
would be futile, so they gave up the chase and
returned to tho Tombs where they told the
story of the escape to Night Warden Middle
ton, who had Just come duty.
Mr.. Middleton was skeptical at first, but the
young mon were so positive that the women
they had seen jump from the window were not
ghosts that the night warden became interested.
lie ran up stairs, and, on going to the window
which the young men had designated as the one
through which the women had escaped. he
found that the heavy swinging grating which
protects 1t was unlocked and the window wide
open. The window is the second one on the
second aonr south OF the main entrance OF the
building. and it is OF row which look
into the living rooms of Deputy Warden O'Shay.
The key. which was still in the lock OF the
swinging grating, explained how the women
had made their escape. Keeper Flynn was sent
out TO hunt for the fuGitivcs. but. when he re.
turned he said that he could find trace OF
them. Deputy Warden O'Flynn and Matron
Smith were summoned. but neither knew any
thing of the escape.
BY this timc Warden Middleton was sure in
his own mind that he was.twO prisonorA shy.
but he did not have the slightest idea of who
yar The pniire wOnar's DriaOn
lighted up. and Matron Smith. armed with the
records Of the institution, began to take n
census OF all the female prisoners. At the end
OF an hour she reported that Mary McLauGhlan
| and Nellie White, two workhopse TRUSTEES"
not to be found. On searching his room,
d, putty Warden O'Shay found that the keys OF
the window gratings had been taken from his
desk. which was unlocked While he was ex-
planning to the Night Warden just how the
women had entered his room and walk ed Off
with the keys. Matron smith rushed up in hot
Il have been robbed" she cried.
Anything else - groaned Middleton. feeling
for his watch.
= What did you lose ?" asked o'shay.
why they took my new brocade silk dress
and hat that cost me Sl4," said the matron,
A husty search Of all the living rooms on the
missed except the hat and the dress 1t WAS evi-
cent that the women divided the plnnder before
hat and Mary donned the dress.
The White woman was committed to the
NOrRnOuSo Dy magistrate lJeuel on July - lOr
vagrancy. She had been in the police courts so
often that the Magistrate determined to give
hsr 50 hs 0T9sfa & hs @ e +. G%ansa
signed to the Tombs TO work about the rooms OF
the Warden; She was bright and and attractive.
and she did her work so we'll that the officers OF
tho prison came To look upon her as II model
servant. The McLoughlan woman was com
mitted to tho workhouse for six months and l4s
days because the policeman who arrested her
said that she was "A ycrItnb!e lane Cakebread.
The next day after she was sentenced shc was
assigned to the Tom bS to wall the MRtrOu,
The rooms OF the latron and Warden are on
did the work assigned to them and never broke
any OF the, rules OF the prison. they were not
watched closely. At night they silent in sep
arate cells. but during the day they were
allowed to roam about at Will in the part Of the
building in which they were employed
There are no cells on the second floor and the
regular prisoner. have no access to ths apart
the bottom OF the stairs loading to this hoor Is
heavy iron gate which Is a ways locked. The
the night I promptly at q O'clock, but Nelie nnd
Mary, whose duties precluded the idea of regu-
lar hours. seId2m vent to ther cells before
watch to tho night watch. 1t was during tho
confusion incident to this change that the wo-
been planning for some time Atthat particular
hour there was no one on the second floor except
Matron smith, rooms first, and after making a
leisurely search. selected the dress and the hat
wen to nS Of rasS
O'Shay. few doors away, and taxing the keys
from the open drawer of the desk, opened the
heavy grating which protects the window.
When they jumped they landed on the soft
turf OF the grass plot between the wall OF the
building and he iron fence which separates the
lawn from the sidewalk.
Night Warden Middleton admitted last night
that too much freedom had been allowed to the
women, but he said they would surely be re-
captured within forty-eiCh ht hours The drawer
from which the keys had been ttken was al
ways supposed to be locked, h- said. Police
Headquarters WAS notified of tho escape OF the
prisoners and genera alarm was sent out TO
kcribed as being short and stout, with light
hair and fair complexion. The Mclaughlin
woman Is ) feet inches tall, with fair com
pux ion and dark eyes
About six months ago a woman named Mamie
Gallagher escaped from the TOmbs. She got
away by picking the lock Of the Leonard street
gate with an oyster knife.
WEST SIDE CHURCH AFIRE.
The Pastor Stays in the puiuIt Uutll All