The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1897-01-15
PRISONERS BREAK JAIL.
Daring Escape of -Four Men from
Ludlow Street Jail.
ONLY ONE OF THEM REoAPTURED.
Two Of Those still at Largo Are ~kccused
\ Counterfeitera and the Other Confessed
!. Mall Robber-A Dan ngerous Leap for Lib
erty--Sheriff Tamsen's Tr0hbIes.

NEW YORK, Jan. 15.-Four prisoners
escaped from Ludlow street Jail last night
They were Peter Mdsso, accused of Inn
porting French girls for immoral pur-
poses; William Post, confessed mail
.Tobber, and Michael Egan and George
Polyenannys, accused Of counterfeiting.
Masso was subsequently retaken by the
police, but the others are still at large A
woman living in tenement house next
20 the jail found man In her kitchen
trying to open the window to the fire es-
cape. Her screams aroused the neighbor-
hood, and the man fed down the stairs,
TO be captured as he stepped into the
street and turned over to the police At
the police station he was held rs suspi-
cious person. AFTER he had been locked
up he admitted that he was Peter Masso.
The top tier Of cells at the east side, tho
windows OF which look out upon large
yard which divides the Jail from the Essex
market prison, had until lately been. oc-
oupied by United States prisoners. A few
days ago these prisoners were transferred
TO other parts of the Jail, and the upper
tier on the east side was given over to
plumbers for repairs, leaving tho cells
empty. The four men, who had the free
dom of the corridors, made their way in
the semi-darkness to the upper tier, twisted
the lock off one of the unoccupied cells,
and then removed the windows from tho
Cell. ~e
Then one of the men, probably Masso,
took dangerous leap across an open
space of five feet and landed on the sill Of
the outer window. He had a sharp saw,
and he sawed stout iron barin the upper
frame of tho window. After the bar in
the window had been broken the halves
were twisted so that Il space about foot
wide was made and sufficiently long to
permit n body to squeeze through.
The window Sill on which tho men
stood when they had clambered on side
was only little less than sixty feet above
the ground Five feet above them was
the roof OF the Jail with u large, overhang-
ang cornice How it was done, no one
can teh but tho men in some way swung
themselves from the cornice, with tho yard
sixty feet below, and by ,.,ain strength
lifted themselves to tho roof On the roof
they wore safe for amoment but there
was sharp spiked fence, ten feet high, be.
tween them and the adjoining tenement
house roof This was scaled and then the
men had access to the stairway of the ten
ement house by way Of the roof. Masso
was the first of the fugitives. Whilo the =
srene which ended in his recapture was
enacted his companions socreted them
selves on the roof, and afterward walked
down stairs
When Sheriff Tamsen heard the news Of
Che escape he WIS acting as host at Dol
Monico's, where 209 guests, including tho
mayor, comptroller, district attorney and
several judges, were enjoying the sherins
annual dinner. He left the table in hot
haste, saying goodby to no one.
Mayor Strong tried hard to look at ease
and sought solace in the company of Dis
tsict Attorney ,Olcott Comptroller Fitch
lsughed heartily, and Judges Giltlersleeve,
Bookstaver Bischoff and Macadam tried