The Bryan daily eagle. (Bryan, Tex.) 1895-1898, 1896-08-28

most ingenious Prison cscapeh III 'i'''
inal history.
Shepard O. q very ignohle KIND Oh
murderer. who was convicted ana SEN
fenced to be hanged In ST. Iouis Fcia.
ing execution he was occupying &c"
No. 80 In tho city prison. shepard Gooa
not nog occupy ccli SO. 90 cen NO
20 commands % pleasant Wow Of the
sallowa in the iaii yard Perhaps VI
was this view ard the continuous am
Of workmcn's hammers ANA saws
which stimulated Mr shepard 20 cheat
tho gallows OF It's due. One Of the
local papers. with unconscious hamor
lays that tho coolnoss Of the muir
icret and his utter callousncss Is
evidenced by the fact that one
o. the prominent instruments In his
delivery from the strong arm Of the
Law vte The scaflold on which he was
soon 70 be hanged for bis brutal
crime"
shopard's roommate "a cell No. 80
ras George Reed. a wife murderer who
q under sentence OF ten years IN the
rcniiontiary. He docs not seem TO have
been admitted 10 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 slum-
boring IN another cot At 4 o'clock
Monday morning Reed woke up. a
storm was raging outside. with accom-
panimcnt OF thunder and lightning
The thunder doubtless had awakened
The wife murderer. 4 fash OF light
uing revealed to hln the fact that his
.aeighbor was gone. There seems to be
very little esprit dc corps among muir
derers. Al ell events Mr. Reed prompt
" gave the alarm. That was the first
the guards knew Of the unceromonious
departure Of Shepard
The last seen Of him was at 3 O'Clock
IN the morning. when one Craig, a Jail
guard. after answering request Of
Shepard for matches. gave up his post
to n guard named Loillch. What be-
came o. Herr loilioh from that time
until the escape Of the prisoner was
discovered Is buried In the profound
Intelligence OF Herr Lcllich. So far he
has modcstly roiralnod from oxplana-
lions.
As soon as the change Of guards had
been Effected Shepard must have gone
10 work. Ills cell opened on the main
area o. the jail and there was also
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 10 the bull pen. On
the bottom Of the door WAC an iron
plate. fastened hy iron ryctH In the
mattress on the bed OF shepard was
found an ingonlously constructed saw.
Il Is the theory OF Jallcr Wagner that
Shepard had been working on the
ilve,s holding the plate with his sev
Tor a LONG time Anyhow he had *
rlvets sawed through when the guards
changed. and. with a piece OF broom
stick Whitfield on on one end to the
shape OF q wedge. ne prlcd loose the
other four and the fret door In his
avenue OF escape was open.
Before making hts start he took a
chip basket he had In hll cell. and
with the aid OF a couple Of blankets he
made q prcsoutahle dummy Tor his cot.
on the other cot Of the cell Reed snorcd
roundly After the dummy was ar
ranged Shepard lay hat on the floor
and began TO work himself through the
aarrow opening Now he was In the
bull pen and right Ga front OF him was
the BIG hole that had been dug for
the SAL sewer For days he had been
standing at the rear door OF his cell