Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1904-04-08
ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE
Rivets Cut From the Iron Crate.
ing in Newfane Jail
At Least Three Prisoners implicated In
Plan for Jail Breakine-Fred Charron
Had Peculiarly Shaped Knife.

\ desperate attempt to break out of
Newfane Jail was discovered this week
and Fred Charron. the man who knocked
down Policeman Ellis @. Wordcn of Brat
tleboro last October endured. with other
prisoners, the chagrin and disappont-
ment of seeing their work i'm cutting off
four rivets in the iron grating of the Jail
come to naught Charron is a tough Gus
toner, and from now on he will he under
guard i'm the Jail Sheriff y. w J. VIII
kins of Putney has in his possession pc
culiarly shaped pocket knife with de-
tachable handle and niclkcd blade as a
souvenir of the attempt
Several weeks ago. after the prisoners
had been given one Of their meals ana
had passed the dishes back to the stew
ards it was discovered that one case
knife was missing Jailor Frank Davis
went into the Jail and told the prisoners
that unless they gave the knife up there
would be more to it They promptly
gave it up. About two weeks ago it was
discovered after one of the meals that
two knives were missing Tailor Davis
made the same demand as before but the
prisoners denied having any knowledge
of the whereabouts of the knives. Jailor
Davis telephoned to Sheriff Wilkins. who
had a search of the iail made, but the
knives could not be found.
on Monday afternoon of this week a
tramp in the Jail got word to Mr.. Davis
!
that he ought to know about Mr. Davis
knew well enough what it was, and as
| some repairs were being made in the jail
under the direction Of Assistant Judge
| Worden he asked Mr.. Worden on Tues
| day morning to look around carefully
while he was doing his regular work, to
see If he could discover anything wrong
| Judge Worden did so and reported that
| he was positive that at least one rivet
had been sawed off. VIII Pentland Of
/ Brattleboro was doing some work at the
! jail and without waiting longer Mr.. Davis
/ had Mr.. Pentand and VIII EameS as
sst in making general inspection. They
/ found that four riVets had been sawed
off in the grating which separates the
1 Jail room, occupied by the prisoners dur
ing the day, from the corridor leading out
door Mr.. Pentland and Mr.. Eames put I'm
! some new rivets.
! After the riVets were cut in two the
points where they were cut were covered
! with soap and the soap was painted over
with black paint Which was scraped from
the iron work. The plan was to spread
the bars after enough riVets had been
cut off which would allow the prisoners
to get into the corridor Then when any
person went in to feed the prisoners il
| would be an easy matter for the pris-
| oncrs to overpower him and escape
/ There were six prisoners in the Jail, and
| at least three. if not all Of them are be
/ Heved to have been implicated In the
plot to escape.
As soon as the discovery was made
Tailor Davis telephoncd to Sheriff wilkins
who went to Newfane that night to make
/ another search of the Jail Chief-of-Po-
lice Hall went up Wednesday morning
sheriff wilkins chief Han ana two other
men made the prisoners remove their
. clothes ANA in Charrou'S pocket was
found the knife which is supposed L.
have been used in cutting the rivets. Tn,