The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-07-25
BOLD PLOT TO BREAK JAIL.
SEVEN CoLUMBII COUNTY PRISON
BRS COME VERY NEAR ESCAPING.

SEVEN COLUMBIA COUNTY PRISON.
BRs COME TERR NEAR EsOAPING.
They pss . mig Hole In the wall ana sung 10
Drown the Noise They Made white ut work
-An Ready - Take French Leave when
Thstr Piet was Discovered By the sheriff.
HUDSON, July 2A.-sherif Jessup Is just now
eonsratulating himself that he Ia q light
sloeper, for his failure TO get his usual
nap yesterday afternoon nippod in tho
bud one Of tho boldest attempts to break
jan Columbia county has known. Seven
men, now securely chained up in the county
jail, would now be froe had the Sheriff been
three minutes later in getting out his gun and
getting outside, for by tho aid OF a big
Jimmy and q stout iron chisol two of
them, one o murderer, tho other a noted
crook. had taken out of the walls OF
the jail about q ton Of stone, making a hole In
the wall nearly largo enough for q wagon to go
through, and when the Sheriff caught them thoy
wero just letting down q ropo Of knotted blan-
kots preparatory TO taking French leave OF the
Jail.
Tho county Jail at present has seven men in 1t,
all OF them bad onos and two Of them we'll
known dosperadoos. The nrst and worst OF
them In Bernard Levy, o notorious Troy crook
and burglar, who was brought to the jail
Last June by Sergeant Cruise Of this city,
who chased him around tho country o month
before no landed him in New Haven. He 10
waiting trial for stealing q horse and wagon and
some other trihes. He was the ringleader of the
conspiracy to break jail. His chief aid has been
Charles Acker, who IL under indictment for
numbering his mistress, Jennie Hollonbeek,
last February in the town Of Taghanic. He has
the reputation Of being o desperate character.
The others are Ed Burrcll, o burglar; James
Butler. q chicken thief; William Smith, Patrick
Dugan and George Morris, tho latter three
boing bad men from Chatham. who are serving
out their sentences.
The jail in which they are confined 10 . long,
marrow structure, having three tiers OF cells. 1t
% very old, having been built In 1885, and az
nothing has been done to it since, It has been
repeatedly condemned as unsafe.
After tho fashion in most country jais, when
there IL not too much Of . crowd. the prisoners
have boon allowed to leave their cells each day
pleased, the 1ailers not paying much attention
TO them.
cells, that Is. none Of them save Acker, who,
only betseon tho hours Of o in the morning and
VI dsy EsiaSg The sheriff ., and his hi, deputies;
They sang and they danced. laughed and
shouted a. they had never done before. and
iot.' several RSe times in G'0 tho afternoon bepa-
" Sheriff Sheppard looked Into the Jail,
SS sb ss SUo pG sat Ior naIus sna ba 3n a I piaSin IN a asqds
SHINING Saa 1l1f IN IL fresS air. sat BurTfoii. and he sang
Tho Sheriff Is won't to take a nap every after
noon this hot weather. and about half past 3 no
to G' The & jail is p rope: Noticing The noise sos Is he Vent
past he closed tho frame door that leads
K tSt the %o ia1 M. SO th Fse No he sn pai asdl % l2 sis boots On Eh snd
Hbear" in winter could not have slept with the
The prisoners gave full vent to their lungs
and throats, and more music was mutilated in a
Tn sheriff tossed from one side to the other
and said cuss words and thought he would go IN
decided IsH that lat s %eh % step ssSp you'd eoS d%as mean too eai much e.
e eS,Gss :: e he dS't lay on tho bed and whispered
suddenly something happened that made him
wide awake. It was a heavy jar, az II some
heavy body had fallen against the support Of
the galleries In the jail The Sheriff sat up and
second afterward he heard another noise.
jan from . considerable height.
sa,d r az sS L siHI'ss1, n fS sssss s8 I'll h 6a q, out th what
He stole out to the door leading into tho Jail
and put bis car to the keyhole. The men were
lery and whisper to tho two men who had been
playing cards. The men Immediately began to
This confirmed. In the Sheriff. mind, that some.
saI mgC %sSdaSS Els s. d%ep sGliRs 81 shop as Te and o %eb sna
AID. and told them to arm themselves and go
into 9TH ie5l to zee what the trouble was: Then
teaehedth tho side fronting on East Allen sHs sare as
eight feet from the ground, a blanket rope hang
ing out of It, and in the hole the face OF Acker
With his riSe and told hin 'ta to get f back, Wh n,a
ASKer did very quickly.
men inside Of the jail. and ran around to join
them: They In tho meantime had entered The
three mon in the lower corridor. In the third
Jump Out tH SaitS lie 9' WflliSms.t and But isEG c{o Sc
g The mon made NO resistance when they saw
that they we're caught, and in q few minutes
oaees, and the other ave We're Chained to tn,
The men did not hesitate to tell about the plot
eSissI, and saws: Thiey, had al agreed to sscapss
cards and watch and make a noise while thu
As 1eier was locked up at S o'clock, the pla,
4 was to begin work ct i. just after dinner. whei
q they were nc, net likely 70 be interrupted and &c
stone work near the bottom of the wall. Blu
81 tSandr Friday Il t they s Started and at ftS Ss' td it e eR
Rsoting. TO, get down, on blanket ropes
They found the work easier than the,
expected, for the mortar did not hold, AM
when they were caught they were just prepar
ing to leave. They had removed all the insid
wall they wanted and had just taken out u 200
: pound stone from the outside wall. which ston
II was that gave the Sheriff tho clue that some
: thing was wrong.
1t had been decided to kill any one who or
tered the jail while the work was going on, bn
. thoy had not expected to SEQ the deputy sheriff
onter with their revolvers. The hole has bocl
patched up and the Sheriff thinks he stands
good show OF getting n new Jail.
COAL STRIKERS DEPRESSED.