The herald., 1897-05-22
TO BREAK JAIL
Attemptcs Escape at the
City Prison
THE SCHEME FRUSTRATED
THE DESPERATE CHARACTERS
PLACED IN DUNGEONS
Two Saws Found Hidden-A Bar Cut
Out Of q Window-The Off,
GERS Alert

But for the vigilance OF the officers 1t
the city jail that institution would prob
ably by this time have been nearly
empty Of star boarders, for on Thursday
succe ssful Jail break wasfrustrated, and
at present nine of the ringleaders Ian
guish in the small steel cages on the
top floor or are thinking over the error
OF their ways in the dark dungeons on a
diet of bread and water
To no one person does the credit Of the
discovery of the plot appear to be due,
but rather to the combined vigilance of
several. Police Captain Roberts was
the first one to grow suspicious of the
actions of certain Of the prisoners, and
two weeks ago noticed that in the even
ing there was an unusual amount of
singing and hilarity going on among
the prisontrs in the top tank OF chain
gang cell, during the hours when the
prisoners are locked in but allowed to
amuse themselves until bedtime. To
the captain this fact looked very sus-
picious,s as he remembered the time
when, in the old jail on Second street,
the same game was worked to lull the
suspicious of the jailer and drown the
noise made by saws a work on the bars
At that time he caught one OF the pris-
oners at work on the bars over sky
light vigorously saving an opening to
liberty while his companions raised their
voices in anticipation of the good time
coming when all should be free.
Remembering this, and noticing pc
culiar but undefinable change in the de-
meanor of certain hard characters, he
kept close watch, and was soon satisfied
that all was not right in the Jail, al
though where to look for the trouble was
quandnry. About four days ago, in
company with Detective Auble, the cap
tain went all around the outside of the
building and on the roof of shed ad-
Joining the rear of the Jail a cold chisel
was found, but nowhere was there any
evidence of the tools having been used.
Meanwhile Jailers Richardson and
Flammer had been on the lookout and
had spotted the men whom they thought
were most likely to be concerned in an
attempt to break jail.
Among the hard characters at present
confined are Ed Brown and George
Richardson, alias Casey, who are doing
terms of six months each for passs'ing 6
imitation Confederate bills. Both are
desperate men, and ex-convicts Only
two weeks ago huge butcher knife was
found concealed on Casey's person and
as he has repeatedly threatened to do
up the jailers, it is supposed that he in
tended killing the one on duty if neces-
sary to facilitate his escape. Another
of the bad men is q negro called
Frenchy, who is serving 100 days for
vagrancy. being also suspected of having
robbed an old drunkard named Miller,
who was found dead, in a Commercial
street lodging house some weeks ago
from chronic alcoholism. Frenchy was
with the old man the night before he
was found dead In bed, and as no money
was found on the corpse, while Frenchy
had displayed. quite a sum in a saloon
shortly afterward, it was more than
suspected that he had robbed Miller
while the latter was unconscious from
drink. The coroner's jury could, how
ever, find nothing definite upon which
to hold him, but as he was known as a
hard character, and had floater Of 100
days hanging over his head, he was
placed in Jail to serve his time.
Or the ground floor Of the Jail stands
the huge steel tank where the ordinary
prisoners are confined. 1t has two
floors, each containing twelve cells, six
on side, with wide corridor between.
In all. there are twenty-four cells, with
capacity for four prisoners each. The
top floor is what is known as the chain
gang cell. and here forty men are con-
fir in tr bn w
not sout working on the streets. Around
the outside of the steel tank runs mar
row balcony, enabling the jailer to walk
completely around the cage and see into
each cell should he desire.
Each evening as the gang comes IN
from work they are allowed the run of
the whole upper floor of the tank, where
they wash and prepare for supper, which
Is served shortly afterward in the dining
room. Then all are marched back again
and are locked in the tank, but allowed
to mingle in the cells and corridor
smoking, reading, talking, etc, until
bedtime, when all are locked in the
cells for the night. 1t was one or more
of the prisoners in this tank who at
tempted the Jail break, and the work
was done from the balcony which sur
rounds the upper tank.
The huge cage is separated from the
walls of the building by space Of per-
haps two and one-half feet, but the bal
cony fills up this space from wall to
wall. Standing on the balcony In the
southwest corner of the building at the
back of the tank, where detection was
almost impossible, saw vast used on the
bars Of window looking out on the
back yard, and when discovered one OF
the bars was sawed completely through
and needed but a touch to pull It from
its place and leave an opening to liberty.
AS stated, the fact that the bar had
been sawed through was not discovered
until late Thursday night, and only a
most Systematic and thorough search
brought 1t to light at ALL The incisions
made by the saw had been filled with
dirt, SO that it-was only by the closest
scrutiny that anything was found. At
the time nothing was said. but close
watch was kept, and yesterday morning
ii quiet search was instituted for the
implements with which the work had
been done. Finally the saws were found,
two of them Of tn finest steel about ten
inches long and half an inch wide, hid
den away under the oilcloth covering Of
table standing In the corridor Of the
chain gang CELL Immediately Brown,
Casey Frenchy and six others were con-
l