Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1900-04-24
DUG HIS WAY OUT.
Con Stafford Makes His Escape
From County Jail
WENT THRU CEILING AND WALL
Carried Out Bold Plan in a Rcmark-
ably Short Time-NIight Have Been
In Attic When Omcers Wers
Looking for Him.
From MONDAYS Daily.

( From Mondays Daily.
Cunningham Stafford, recently con-
yicted in district court of the crime Of
robbery, was not sentenced today by
Judge Fee for the reason that Connie
is not in town at present. He dug bis
way out of the Wapello county Jail at
7:45 o'clock last evening, and notwitn-
standing the efforts of the sheriff 3
Office and the police within a very few
minutes. of the occurrence, Stafford
was very much a fugitive from that
Justice which Judge Fee intended to
mete out to him this forenoon. The.
sheriff has offered a reward for Stat.
ford and is doing all that can be done
to get him.
Stafford is a bold, bad man, and has
made his boast that he would escape.
Accordingly yesterday evening while
confined in the lower corridor of The
Jail, which is two stories in height,
Stafford procured piece of iron used
as a brace for one of the benches pro.
vided for the use OF the prisoners.
Running along the east side of the
wall are steam pipes which, for man
of his agility and daring, are easy TO
climb. Accordingly, he mounted to
the ceiling which is made of pine
scantlings, with the iron. He inserted
it between the cracks and ripped oft
one Of the pieces, making hole which
must have required some effort and
not little squeezing for him to get
thru. Above the place where he made
the hole is another ceiling, which, how
ever has an opening along its entire
i west side in the attic. Crawling under
3 this second ceiling. Stafford found him
self in the attic with a tin roof and a
brick wall between himself and lib
erty. He chose the wall for some rea-
son, and selected place just over the
kitchen, a wooden one-story addition
with gravel roof, to the south side OF
the Jail. Being familiar with brick work
he rapidly and intelligently set to
work to dig a hole thru the wall at the
point where the roof sets on the wall.
Without allowing any of the bricks to
fall outside, he removed four rows,
four inches. All the bricks removed
} with the iron bar, and Stafford, it is
supposed, went out the aperture feet
first. He dropped to the roof of the
kitchen, made a flying leap to the
ground, and snealiing west in the alley
which runs alongside the Jail, was
free.
Turnkey Robert Anderson and Dep
uty Sheriff Slayens were sitting in the
Jail office and had heard no suspicious
noises. Shortly after 1880 Mr.. Ander-
son, as is his custom, went to attend
to his duties of locking the prisoners
s,,+o AZ
side Of the corridor. He missed Stat
ford's familiar face and began a still
hunt for him. The other prisoners
about five minutes before, gone thru
the ceiling. The turnkey gave the
alarm, but having the rest of the OUT
fit on his hands, was compelled to
watch them. A hasty search was
made, but owing to the noise the other
4 inmates made, Stafford's whereabouts
could not be located. All this time lie
was working for dear life on the brick
wall, it is supposed, and succeeded in
Y making the hole and getting away be-
4 fore it became known on which por-
ton of the building he was working.
4; The Dolice We're summoned as quickly
as possible, but Stafford was either
setting good pace across the country
or was safely hid in the house of some
of his old time Smoky Row friends. All
trains were watched, the crews of all
outgoing trains were instructed to
keep a lookout for the fugitive and
Il today Sheriff Suits is mailing cards TO
4 peace officers all over the country Of
feriDg a reward for Stafford's appre-
hension. The police think Stafford
will be caught and will in all proba-
bility either go to his fathers house
and lay under cover until plans are
matured to get him out of the coun-
try or that he will go to the place in
the south where his brother has large
contracts.
8 Roy and Sherrod, who had been con-
yicted of the same crime for which
Stafford was to be sentenced TODAY,
intended to make their getaway, but
Sherrod was too fat and Roy was NOT
spry enough, while the other fellows
Z confined in the corridor evidently did
not think it worth while or did not
have time enough.
The crime for which Stafford was
convicted was that of robbery. The
indictment against all three men al
leges that they held up a man named
n Abbott, resident of Hillsboro, near
the Santa Fe depot, one Sunday even
ing last month and relieved him of
4 some small change, a silver watch and
Il certificate of deposit for $500 on the
First National bank, of this city.
Stafford was taken into custody after
an earnest endeavor to give the police
the worst of it and was only prevented
by the liberal use of the locusts in the
hands of the blue coats. After STAT
& ford was indicted determined efforrs
4 were made by counsel to get the case
continued on account of an alleged
prejudice which existed against the