The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-10-10
WOMAN KEPT THE JAIL.
Followed a. Escaped Prisoner 600 Miles .
Quelled q Riot with Pistols.
From the Chicago Record.

FROM the Chicago Record.
BELv1pERE, ILL.,, Oct. Mrs. Sarah ].
Ames is the wife OF ex-Sheriff Albert T. Ames.
Mr.. Ames was elected Sheriff Of Boone county
for several terms, serving in all twelve years.
At the start he appointed his wife as his head
deputy. 4 life Of excitement was fairly begun
before the Ames family moved into the jail
building. as one night there was q Wholesale
delivery Of prisoners. However. oil were re-
captured. During u large portion Of the inoum.
bcncy Of Mr.. Ames he was obliged to spend
considerable time in South Dakota, and on such
occasions the Jail was left in sole charge OF HRS.
Ames, who. in relating her experiences in the
with twenty to thirty men in the cells and with
"A l4:yesr-old Boy once led me the longest
chase I ever had said the lady, who was
sort Of rusty. and one day he disappesred. /
got track Of him and followed him 900 miles
over the States of Iowa and Illinois, l over;
brought him back to Beivfdere.
"A jail full of the most hardened criminals
getting away from us one Saturday ngiht. l
had noticed for several days that the prison
Two men were on the door continuously and
l ! n9ttos %as that pali they o afeP Of q 9Be their M aiFs . wa1ls sns
secretcd myself to listen. The men were dane
ing away on the floor. but above the shutiiing l
ter. 1t was that caused by the drawing of a
file across u hard substance, and l at once de-
now knew TO be an attempt to escape. Call
Ing my husband, we entered one Of the cells
bed we found an excavation largo enough to
pass out the whole gang. save that an outer
e erss u had 'h e0 ston les. a indas sirt T Msid %e ana had Sa sr1 re.
moved, and put them inside their bedticks,
thus avoiding discovery.
tween prisoners In which one of the men who
had teen confined for some time described me
came to form that opinion Of me. We had a man
n named med GeoFTRE s b Paa1tSS ss, who brov was under io eps sentence easnfs
from Kane On a change Of Venue, and at that
VA. "oH Ss! mGTni r e. fs;o Sss | ST. W b t A. s Syis.D sri
when Panton and q German prisoner got into a
quarrel. In the melee the. German was caught
twice his size, and the two went down on tho
floor, Patton on top; trying to choke mol the under
" to death. She burst open my door and, hay;
ing been scared out Of al the English she had
5sSrn tS . she p Tas R SeSt VIII Wbst ~ was rn III an or 81,
] drew II black skirt over my nlghtdress, and in
my. bare feet went down stairs with u :ix.ahaot.
er in each hand. Panton had the other man
still on his back, and i could zee that he wac u.
ready black in tho face: ,o,,o, .,,-. u,,,,
was much too largo around the collar. l
dropped one revolver, took hold OF this shirt col.
into mine. The fellow almost tainted. Over
him j stood with my hair hanging down my
back and In my shoStliEc garb. It was only
in order to completely subdue him.. In q min
ute l had the men all back in their cells.
"Once ! heard a prisoner tell another that I
would like nothing better than an opportunity
to shoot one OF them. One OF the County Board
fSiq ju @i IS 'f IN Killing Rfissn one Oo OF t hf@S hit Il i was sG nee;
essary to do 80 in order to subdue them, and
every man of them believed / would do 1t. The
facts are that / did not want TO kill anybody,
and had done much to induce Gov. Oglesby to
commute the sentence OF Panton to life i'm.
| priaapTnanf for m nna In Hnnna county wanted
q hanging within its borders. The neck Of tho
Kane county man finally was saved"
and Is now quietly conducting a millinery
store in Belyidere. Her townspeoplle know her
as a refined, educated. and kind hearted wo;
circumstances.