Hattiesburg daily progress. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 18??-1909, 1902-10-23
TRIED TO BREAK JAIL.
SAWS HAD BEEN SECURED AND A.
PISTOL AND CARTRIDGES -,
Empty Jail Tomorrow Had the
Plot Not Been Discovered

One Of the boldest attempts TO break
Jail came to light this morning and
was nipped in the bud.
Jack Richardson, charged with,
numbering man named HUMPHREYS
near this city few months ago; an
other white man named Hargroyes
charged with attempting to assault a
woman; Sam Davis, colored, charged
with murder, and John Henry, charg-
ed with grand larceny, are confined in
the Perry county Jail at this place.
Richardson, who. halls from Geor-
gia, but who has been living in this
section for some time, is believed TO
be the leader in the attempt to break
| Jail and it is also believed that it was
through his friends that the necessary
tools were furnished the prisoners
with which they might saw out.
Sheriff Batson few days ago got
information that fine steel saw and
some other tools had been passed into
the Jail and from thence into one of
the cells occupied by the men charged
with murder The sheriff waited
a day or SO before making an investi
cation, but it appears that John
Henry, one of the inmates of the jail,
had gotten word that the sheriff
would make the investigation this
morning So when the sheriff en-
tered the Jail this negro, evidently
believing that it would help his case,
told the sheriff that the. men in the
cells had some tools and were in the
act of saving out.
With his deputy the sheriff began
the investigation and to his surprise
he found the saws as reported con-
cealed in the cells. He said they
were as fine steel saws as were ever
made and capable of doing the work,
for which the prisoners had them, i'll
short order. They had already been
tried on one of the bars of the cell
just enough to see how they worked
and in consequence one of. the bars
was sawed about half in two. 3 r---
But what was n greater surprise
was the finding of It 32-calibre pistol
on one of the prisoners with; several
rounds of cartridges. The sheriff
says that he has no idea how this
pistol came into the possession of
the Jail bird except on the theory
that he carried it5with him in the
Jail stuck down in the leg of5this Leot
as he was not carefully searched when
put in Jail. $685.. ~.
AS to the presence Of the saws a half
dozen theories are advanced, but the
sheriff has settled upon one which he
feels satisfied it is the right one and
which he will follow up until he is
satisfied and the guilty party brought
TO justice. .r
One day the wife of Richardson
came to the city and remained here
during the day. As she was still i'll
the city late i'll the evening and could
not return home that evening she
asked the sheriff to let her sleep up
stairs where is located the cell of
Richardson. She insisted; but the
sheriff refused but said that he would
let her sleep i'll the lower part of the
building, in which case there was
no way for her to get upstairs. In
the floor above her was hole in
which the plumber for some reason had
left open. The supposition is now
and the sheriff has the statement from
an outside party that this is true-a
negro came to the Jail that night and
passed the tools to Mrs. Richardson
who in turn passed them upstairs and
into the cell of one of the prisoners
through the hole in the floor In this
manner the prisoners got the saws,
and as the sheriff knows the negro
who passed them intOthe Jail to- Mrs
Richardson he will go out and bring
him in 49,
This was On-of the sharpest tricks
ever played in this section TO break
jail, and had the prisoners another
night duobtless they would be gone.