The Oskaloosa herald., 1900-10-18
JAIL DELIVERY.
Four Prisoners Dig Out and Es-
cape From Court House

Four prisoners escaped from the
Mahaska county court house jail some
time Monday night,-probably soon
after support was served to them by
the turnkey. The mean of escape
was a hole dug through a brick par
tition Or wall on the west of the cell
house. The prisoners passed through
the hole made in the wall out into the
furnace room,l thence into the coal
room and out of the basement by
means of the coal chute at the south
east corner of the building. Once
into the alley escape was easy.
The names of the escaping men
are John Cameron, E. E. Clarke, Bert
Wilson and Joe: Myers. Cameron and
Clarke are the men who r held for
the crime of forgery and attempted
swindling and were arrested after at
tempting their game on Jerry Everett
and others north of the city. Wilson
was held for larceny and this is the
second time that he has broken from
the jail. Myers is a mere lad and was
detained as a witness in the cases of
car breaking at the Iowa Central. lie
was booked for the reform school.
The men dug through the wall by
getting upon top of the steel cages
and working at the brick arch and
wallthat separates the cell room from
the room in the southwest corner of
the basement of the court house. The
place where the prisoners were at
work was very dark and it would
have been impossible for their work
to have been cen by an officer of the
jail unless he were by the side of the
man doing the work. From the out
er door of the jail room it would have
been impossible to see a man at work
at the place even if the officers had
been looking for trouble at that
particular spot.
1t is likely that the men had been
at work at the place for some time.
The bricks had been carefully re-
moved one at a time until all but the
last layer of the wall had been taken
down. 1t is probable that when the
men we're not at work they piled the
brick removed back into the hole and
it would have been impossible to have
seen the hole from the front of the
cages.
All the prisoners were in their
places Monday evening at supper
time and it is very probable that they
made their escape soon afterwards.
The turnkey locks the cell house at
about 9 o'clock and also all of the
possible exits to the court house. 1t
would have been impossible for the
men to have left after that hour.
The usual precautions of looking
over the steel cages was taken at the
closing up hour and even then there
was nothingEseen and the four men
were not missed from their cells and
hunks. The absence of the prisoners
were not discovered until Tuesday
morning.
Sheriff Cricket was absent at Mt.
Pleasant at the time of the escape of
the men, but he was advised of their
breakout early in the morning. Tele-
grams were sent in all directions i'm
mediately in the hope that the men
might be apprehended. Mr.. Cricket
greatly regrets the escape of the
prisoners but he is in no way to blame
for the loss. The escape may be
charged directly to the imperfections
in the Jail itself. The place was never
intended for a prison and hence the
construction is at fault. Every eff
fort possible will be made to recapture
the escaped prisoners.