The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-02-14
PoMERoY, THE BOY MURDERER
HIS INGENIOUS AND TIRELEss At
TEMPT 10 ESCAPE.
characteristics of the Monster Who
Twenty Years Ago HOrrifed the
world with His Crimes.
FROM the New York journal


of America. He is the most ingenious. S
credve and utterless tireless worker f
freedom that any prison holds TODAY.
The mechanical skill, the cunning an
the perseverance displayed by this lif,
sentenced murderer beggars description
- lie has made nine notable attempts to @.
cape, and nobody knows how many other
that have been frustrated by circum
stances and not by his keepers.
Convicted when boy of crimes NOR
dendish than those with which Jack III
Ripper startled the world-for the Rhine
muulated the dead, while Pomeroy pre-
ferred to torture the living-this creatur,
has never ceased TO plot and to work
Considering his marvellous skill in Great.
ing edged tools out of almost nothing, and
cutting iron with them as if it were
cheese the wonder would seem to be that
Pomeroy in more than twenty years of
imprisonment has never succeeded in get
ting outside the prison walls.
The expert in such matters. however
knows that it is not by cutting bars ana
digging IN stone walls that a captiV > WINS
liberty The prisoner who realizes that he
is guarded not by bolts and locks and
walls. but by men, is the one who stands
the best chance of escape.
Pomeroy cannot learn this lesson IIa
makes no friends in prison. He does not
win the confidence OF any guard He is
not and never Will be trusted in the sim
plest manner. He makes an enemy al
every one who comes in contact with him:
not, indeed, by violence, but silnnIv nv
mis- power of being otfensive--sL gift for
saying dlsagreeable things which is al
most womanish. His language is never
coarse; he escheWs profanity but he can i
embitter the heart of a warden or a |
guard to degree far beyond the limit |
Of the most violent brute ever put be- |
hind the bars.
Boston people know all about Pomerov,s
EXTRAORDINARY RlftS. and good o.
-ieve that he Will some day escape if he |
does there VIII be panic the like of
which the city has never seen. He is re-
membered as the torturer and butcher of
7 9ildren, and If. some morning, the Bos-
Qapt Hers sho 9Sn5i print the news of his
Vets of the city by noon of that | ;
@hers would not let their chill
daySAeir sight and fathers would | !
Sr ail 81 protect their loved ones. |
say ast attempt At Jail breaking
Pomerel Ian: of this year. How !
was disco working upon it is only /
long he hfture. He win never a
matter IL his work lie always o
zen anytlEN certainty. He never |
GENES it n1nAkae. when the work T
SHOWS an XII TO ma tNSht by discov- I
er nlo9 1nl laughs, anosAwheen Jesse II
Pomer Irs DE iron bars 0f%lS door "
shiver stones in the wSll get ]
@oI6er' laugh of a fiend lncsr59 o
nafed in Il 1t is the. only sign or q
tba IN ~ mas in the boy when he | t.
7ortnre5 6ren nearly to death and
l|iiIod Gu Eated two others. For | b
PoIneroN krous mania, in the opin- "
ion 81 Uniformed men who know Il
hin, Ia Bred by the lapse of years.
he nrotE no impulse to kill; and | II
Vet VII He had no impulse 10 "
lfiIj ~ Brown persons in the old | a
DAYS al not seen child in TWEEN O
- yea Births he has been impris- Il
oreI NO. / of the building in Ii
f'bar1es Hison yard, that is known | II
as S,boN, from its resemblance 10 a
the Pe Hnia prison of that name.
rrbcra bis building siXty-four cells, | -
i'm i've II The lower tier is used for y
HE woE-those who refuse to work q;
nv XII violate important prison | -
rules 30. l is in this tier, and next =
10 The room which is entered direct =
y VIalIo.Eght or by day is the guard 2
room ID. Every minute there is an II
armedhel within ten feet of Pom =
Tbe lis by feet on the floor and F
al lea bzen feet high The wall that
is nexI lard slopes inward at the hight e
or tenIand in it are two narrow Sits 1t
for WI The cell is comfortable. II d.
is he ~ steam, and ventilation ana a
heat ] regulated by the prisoner. "
eoverhe original floor of brick, and "
restinon great joists of spruce. Side c.
W.flsI the grated door are strong and W
Oflthlwst construction. The exterior "
WI ! inches of brick and cement. "
,bHuld any man get out of such a f
plleIen with tools, and Pomeroy had
nf3 he had had pickax and drills he d
cdflt have used them, for the guard b
NIadNS WltllI uedTlHS. 1Gl 1OnlelON | III
Nklost out of that cell when discovery h
III tin cup, the edge of which is i
slaheneds with a wire in ne usual ii
YWith Only his bare hands to help O
PIE bent back the rim of the cup, re- p
IA the wire, and then mended the rim fl
sfVerly that the absence of the wire a
ho ne n 0hS d. BY By endlSsss rubbing
doden handle Nobody knows where Fl
the piece of wood. q
obtained thin strip of metal, prob h
RIrom broken utensil that was in his -
cpr few minutes months ago. This h
metal was about three inches long,
as thin as paper and without a II
~ or cutting edge. He sharpened it
fotched the edge with the knife furn- =
II TO him when ne eats. With this saw o
HIM C a1er Lnfne Of boards ta o Of the floor
boards were so fine as to be almost T.
lfole, and they became entirely so II
W rubbed with soap cleverly colored II
hight he could lift these boards and
4 Teach under them toward the outer Is
" But that wall was protected by one b
oF golsis under the floor. 1t ran right h
Il the bricks. II was spruce timber q
ttches deep and 21s inches thick b
percy cut that timber in two by re- h
pfd punctures with the wire. What g
,fsting patience! Having severed the L
II he drew out the nails which held II, r.
afupplied their place with bits of soap 4
he pulled out piece of the ioist' | b
fhort end, which rested on the main v
running under the wall that sepa- d
wing removed the ioist he pecked Il
Ie brick wall with the awl. and with 81
inIt patience made an excavation about a
\ long, ten inches wide and ten inches Il
~ To get through was only a ques- p
ti1of time I,
tether he could have escaped by this Il
rs IS doubtful, for he would have h
,lFed from the prison yard directly OPP T.
l9f the, station OF one of the guards.
T had eluded the guard he wouid Is
"a had 10 climb a twenty four-foot h
VA The warden says II could not have X
ie9 done without rope provided with n
1pk, and Pomaroy had no such thing. h
nuPhe present writer believes that that b
tdI can be scaled In a certain place. "
~ hfher Pomeroy would have known "
".lhfe 20 go whether at the last moment, i
T. Would have had the courage 10 face q
10 guard IN the yard and the other guard
me wall may be questionable They
M. n, ne rs a,coward. But there is another
lue7uon; Would man possessed of such
tihassmg ingenuity have been limited Il
H., t1 i, ordinary means OF getting out of
Hover the plot was discovered. be-
9Ise the prisoner left a little white bit {,
Y cement on HE HOOF. PonoroV NOW ba | !,