Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1902-06-03

iiei.l ~ iloI pSSu lOF the III treatment
by his fellow prisoners of Frank Thorn
as, one of the prisoners at the county
jail, scheme for wholesale Jail de-
livery in this city might have been
carried out successfully yesterday and
the Wapello county Jail might have
been minus nine prisoners this morn
ing, seven of whom are awaiting the
action of the grand jury with regard to
their cases, the other two being in Jail
on charge of Illegal fishing,
The Plan.
The plan of the prisoners was to
seize an opportunity when Sheriff
Cremer was out of the city, bind and
gag Turnkey Alva Fielder disguise one
of their number. take the keys from
Fielder, and let the disguised prisoner
deceive Sheriff Cremer's daughters in
to thinking he was the turnkey and
thus effect his own and his compan-
ions release. The arrangements at
the Jail are such that if those in charge
were not on the watch it could be
worked successfully, but now that they
have been forewarned they will be on
the alert for an attempt at Jail de-
livery.
Gives 1t Away.
Thomas is a youth who was bound
over to the grand jury some few
weeks ago on the charge of larceny of
articles from local stores. He is I'M
dersized and was target for the
abuse of his fellow-prisoners. The
custom at the Jail is to allow the pris-
oners the freedom of the corridor on
the lower floor during the daytime
and to lock them upstairs at night. A
few days ago they held a Kangaroo
court" in the corridor and the judg-
ment of this tribunal was that Thorn
as should do all the work for the
whole number and should as well re-
|ceive all the abuse of the other pris
oners
Yesterday Turnkey Fielder became
aware of the fact that Thomas was
getting the worst Of it'' and he re-
moved him from the corridor and put
him in a cell on the second floor,
away from the other prisoners. In a
spirit of gratefulness the lad gave the
whole scheme away to the officer, say
ing that it had been in the course of
formation for some days.
Would Have Been Easy.
The scheme was good one and
would have been comparatively easy
to work had it not been divulged.
Whenever Turnkey Fielder enters the
corridor from the main hall of the Jail
he goes through two iron barred doors
about eight feet apart. The first one
locks on the outside only, and after
the officer enters the space between
the two doors someone on the outside,
usually daughter of Sheriff Cremer,
locks this door behind him and hands
him the keys through the bars. Then
he enters the corridor through the
second door, which he leaves unlock
ed while inside. When he gets ready
to leave he locks the inner door and
raps on the outer one with his keys to
notify those outside that he is ready
to come out He then hands the keys
to the party on the outside, who un-
locks the outer door for him. The
space between the two doors is rather
dark and it would be hard to distin-
guish features through the grating.
The prisoners had planned to make
their escape from Jail while Sheriff
Cremer and his wife were out of the
city, and yesterday was such a time.
1t was the plan to let the turnkey en-
ter the corridor with the keys in his
possession, then to overpower him,
bind and gag him, and put him in a
cell opening off the corridor, where he
would be unable to give an alarm. Cine
of the prisoners was then - take
Feidler's hat and coat and initiate him
by rapping with the keys on the outer
door. as soon as this was unlocked he
could release his fellow prisoners,an
escape would be easy, as none but
young women would be at the Jail to
prohibit the act.
Thomas gave the scheme away yes
terday before an opportunity came to
carry it out, and the prisoners were
probably afraid to attempt to make
their escape on account of the caution
taken by Turnkey Fielder when he en-
tered the corridor although he did not
tell them that he had been warned. At
any rate no attempt was made but
Sheriff Cremer is patting himself up
on the back, as it were, over the fact
that Thomas was prosecuted and that
| the fact was discovered