The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1901-03-17
BRILLIANT
ESCAPE OF
SOL TEMPLE
Secured His Escape in a High
ly Attractive Manner
HELD UP THE OFFICERS
And Robbed the Jail in Which
He Was Confined.

Ponk Greek. o. T. March 1s.-The VI
! dette announces the jail delivery Of Sol
Temple, the desperate. in the following
interesting manner:
As stated in these columns yesterday,
! Sol Temple, the desperado. burglar and
| jail breaker, broke jail at this place. and
all efforts 10 aprehendd him proved fu-
tile
! At noon yesterday John Myers. the
! guard at the jail went to his dinner.
leaving Sol Temple and the other prison.
ers in the corridor leading to the office.
For about twenty minutes after Myers
| left, Temple walked up and down the cor
ridor. the then stopped at the iron door
between the corridor and office. reached
his arm through the bars and with a
steel bar IS inches long he had detached
from some Of the filings in his cell, he
twisted the lock to pieces with one miga-
ty twist. He then walked into the ofhce.
| armed himself with shotgun and pistol,
| and Uniformed the other prisoners that
those who wished could descape, but as
none seemed TO want TO leave, he then or
dered them back into one Of the cells,
locking them all in.
In the course Of time John Myers the
guard, and Win D. King, who was work
ing al the Jail. returned and were receiv-
ed dby Temple and his shotgun. who re-
quested them to hold up their hands.
Through Difference to Temples age Che
being the oldest) they both complied with
his request-they were not afraid-no It
is said that they held their hands SO
high that their finger tips were badly
damaged against the ceiling-the ceiling
is only eleven feet seven inches high.
After searching Myers and King, and
relieving Myers OF his gun and watch,
he locked them in the cell with the pris-
oners and quietly and cody proceeded to
ransack the Jail, appropriating the shot
gun, six-shooter and dthe keys to the Jail
He returned Myers watch and remained
in the jail about twenty minutes longer
then taking long. lingerr'; farewell Of
the Jail, he departed, unsc IN, to a more
congenial cline So far not the slight
est trace of him can be found
Sol Temple is the man who several
months ago got the drop on Sheriff Butts
posse, who went to arrest him for burg
larry, locked them in a cave. took their
firaa rms and team and left for parts IN
known. Sheriff Butts offered a reward Of
one hundred dollars. which was supple
mented by a similar amount offered by
the county commissioners for Temples cap
ture. Three unsuccessful efforts were
made to arrest him, but on each occasion
he got the drop on the posse and sent
them back to town. Two OF these unsuc- /
cessful efforts TO arrest Temple were
made in Kansas and one In the Indian
Territory. At last two detectives in Kan
sas City. No, caught him when he was
drunk and unarmed having pawned his
only about hair an hour be-
fore and succeeded in arresting him. An
effort was made while enroute from Kan
sas City to Ponk Greek to rescue him /
from the officers, but owing to the viRi-
lance Of Sheriff Butts the effort failed.
About three weeks after landing him in
the Grant county jail it was discovered /
that he had four of the finest steel saws
and frame ever taken into jail by any
burglar. Only by the strictest vigilance 4
Of Sheriff Butts was he prevented from
saving out. The sheriff is keeping those
saws as remembrance of the most des-
perate man ever incarcerated in the
Grant county jail.
No blame attaches TO Sheriff Butts or
Robertson for the escape. as they had
given strict instructions to the guard
never TO go outside Of the fail without
locking Temple in his cell.