The Saint Paul globe., 1897-07-02
AUGUST PRUDEN, AN ALLEGED
HIGHWAYMAN, ESCAPES FROM
POLICE COURT.
HE CLIMBED OVER THE CAGE.
AUTHORITIES LEARN NOTHING
FROM THE ESCAPE OF THREE
OTHER MEN.
PRUDEN WAS OUT ON PAROLE
Man With n had Record Who Will
Probably BE Hard to- Catch
Again.

August Pruden, arrested and identi-
fed as one of the men who held up.
robbed and brutally beat w. ]. Booth,
keeper of the Ryan hotel check room,
near the Rice street bridge a week
ago, made his escape from the 'bull'
pen in the municipal court, yesterday
afternoon. Every policeman in the
city was at once notified of the escape
and the Minneapolis authorities COM
municated with, but Pruden is said to
have made straight to the depot,
where it is thought he must have
caught train out of the city, as no
trace of him could be found.
Pruden escaped by the same methods
employed by three prisoners who got
out of the "bull'' pen several months
ago. He had been brought over from
the county Jail in company with James
Lynch and Frank Steffany, also ac-
cused of completely in the Booth hold
up, and locked in pen with half a
dozen other prisoners. Shortly after
2 o'clock Bailiff Mcmahon took two
men out of the pen into the court
room to allow them to converse with
their attorney. The door separating
the pen from the court room closed be-
hind him, shutting off the view from
the court attendants Selling the op-
portunity Pruden climbed to the top.
OF the iron cage constituting the pen.
The top Of the cage does not reach 20
the ceiling, and pointed spikes seven
inches long are screwed in place along
the top cross piece of iron to bar this
opening. Pruden loosened the nuts on
two of the spikes and a third he bent
out of place sufficiently to make an
opening large enough for his body to
pass through. A few minutes was all
he needed to make good his escape
and while he must have worked des-
perately, it is supposed that Lynch
and Steffany kept the other prisoners
in the pen from giving the alarm.
Crawling through the opening Pruden
let himself down on the outside of the
cage. Here he found himself baked
for a moment as he could not proceed
through the court room, but an un-
locked window aided him in gaining
his liberty. Pulling the upper sash
down, he scrambled out into the area
way adjoining the court room and dis
appeared. When NBailiff Mcmahon
came DdCk Win the men WnOn ne ndu
taken for a conference with their at
torneys, Pruden was missing.
Pruden was out of the penitentiary
on parole when arrested for the Booth
affair, having been serving centence
for burglary, a fact which undoubtedly
determined him to effect his escape,
If possible, as he realized another term
of imprisonment stared him in the
face Lynch and Steffany, have not
been identified by Mr.. Booth as among
his assailants, as Pruden was, and it
is thought that Pruden was given the
first chance to escape by his compan-
ions as his was the most desperate
case.
When the prisoners escaped from the
pull pen some months ago, the un-
safe condition of the cage was COM
mented by every officer connected with
the court, but nothing was done save
bending the displaced spikes back into
an upright position, leaving the op-
portunity for general delivery any
time that those imprisoned cared to
make break for liberty.