The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1900-08-31
Robert McClelland and Ben
Smith Make their Escape
from the County
Jail.
SAWED OUT A WINDOW BAR
Supposed Saw Was Fur
nished in a Cake by Mrs.
Ben Smith - No
Trace Of Flight.


from the Allen county Jail by saving
out one of the bars on the window at
the northeast corner of the building.
Smith is one of the parties who as
saulted Mike LATHE, the pedler at
Gas City last spring, beating him so
severely that he came near dying.
Mrs. Smith and her father, T. j. Will
liford, helped him and all three were
arrested and found guilty. Mr. Will
liford paid his fine and was released
some time ago and Mrs. Smith got
out last week. Ben Smith had the
heaviest fine and sentence. After his
trial he thanked the Judge for his leni-
ency and then when nobody was look
ing walked out of the court room and
disappeared. August 3, he was
brought back from Geneseo where he
was found by accident buying grain
for Hutchinson firm.
Robert McClelland was a cement
plant employee and was arrested on
complaint of a man named Sharp who
said McClelland threatened his life.
Sharp and Mrs McClelland icmedate-
ly ran off when McClelland was locked
up. He confessed that he and Sharp
had been Systematically robbing the
cement company of copper wire, rope
and other valuable material. On July
4th he attacked man named Hadeen,
fellow prisoner, with pocket knife
and wounded him severely.
1t is the custom at the county Jail to
allow the freedom of the corridors to
prisoners under jail sentence and
to sleep in open cells. Those prison
ers who are liable to get trip to the
penitentiary are locked at night in
an inner cell. Last night deputy
sheriff Hutton passed the keys of this
cell through the main doorway as is
the custom, for one of the jail prison
ers to take to lock up McClelland,
Tate and Emery in the inner cell. The
prisoners were playing cards and Ben
Smith, whose time expired tomorrow.
took the keys and pretended to lock
the door. The keys We're returned to
Hutton and he went out to seryea war
rant.
About 3 o'clock i'm the morning the
escape was discovered. Every pris-
oner in the Jail could have escaped
but only two went Nobody else iu
the jail coutesses to any knowledge i'm
the plot except Ham Emery, the
negro who pointed a gun at officer
Brister and fed He lay in his cell
and declined to Join the ruuaways.
Emery was afraid Of getting caught,
he said, or he would have run of. He
alone was in the plot but thought they
let him in to throw the blame on in
case of failure. When the other pris-
oners found out an escape had been
made they gave the alarm and Hutton
Investigated.
A saw about Il foot long, bottle of
nitric acid and cake of soap served
the men to cut the bar of iron at the
window. Where they secured the out
fit is largely a matter of conjecture,
but Hutton thinks that the saw was
probably Struggled into the jail IN a
large cake which Mrs, Ben Smith
brought for her husband a few days
ago. 1t was large enough tohave con-
tanned it. Smith has bitterly accused
his wife all the time of having given
his hiding place away, although she is
really innocent, and she probably
agreed to assist him to clear herself
of his accusation.
A suspicious thing about the cake
is that Smith divided with none but
McClelland and it was huge cake
The bottle of acid was concealed in
the bedding where it leaked out and
ate hole through the mattress. The
saw looks like piece of meat saw
and being too long was broken in two
before using. There are eight one
inch bars up and down at the windows
crossed by three cross bars. The bar
removed was about two feet long, was
sawed of where it entered the stone
window base and then broken abov g
This left hole about eight inches
wide and two feet long and that it was
tight squeeze is evident. A piece OF
suspender buckle outside proved that
one man had been squeezed. The
prisoners went north to the fence cor
ner and climbed over to the back
yard and then fed.
Investigation at Gas City next morn
ing showed that Mrs. Smith disappear
ed during the night with her horse and
buggy and she probably has Ben with
her. If taken she will be held for as
sisting the prisoners to escape. She
has haunted the jail for some time and
in spite of orders and threats insisted