Arizona republican., 1905-07-07
NERVE OF BEN PERKINS
His Escape From the dag Cell" on
 Wednesday Night.

The arrest late on Wednesday night
 of Ben Perkins, colored, for spreading
 terror through the lower part of the
 city with a gun and handful of
 rocks was duly chronicled but his es-
 cape from jail the same night was not
 learned until early yesterday morning.
 and he escaped in a most unusual
 way.
 It was about II o'clock when Per
 kins was locked up. Prisoners brought
 in late at night, without commitments
 unless they are desperate characters.
 are never put below" until they come
 into the custody of the sheriff, but they are put by the arresting officers.
 usually constableS, in what is known
 as the jag cell" outside the jail proper. That is a pretty strong cell,
 but it has once or twice been broken. Not long ago three men escaped by cutting through the ceiling into d cell above. This cell is used for a ware room, and the door was not locked. The men went through the upper cor ridor and came down to the street through the courthouse. They were picked up on the street the next morn ing, After that the door of the upper cell was kept locked.
 Perkins escaped from the jag celT' the same way, but finding the upper cell door locked by means of an ax which he found there he cut a hole in the ceiling and cut his way on through che roof. From the roof of the annex he passed to the roof Of the court house, thence into the clockroom ot the tower and through a door whose spring lock opens from the inside. he reached the upper corridor. Then he had clear sailing to the street.
 His next crime was to break plate glass at Harry Friedman's place and steal a Colts revolver from the win dow. The instrument with which he committed this burglary was a wagon wrench, which was found in the win dow. It is not known what time the burglary was committed, but it was discovered at o'clock in the morning. It was not known at that time that | Perkins was out of jail. But one man | who knew him, but did not know that | he was supposed to be in jail, saw him l in the alley south of the Hoffman | about o'clock in the morning. The | burglary must have been committed | about that time.
 From that time on until Perkins was | entirely out of sight he gave contin- uous exhibition of nerve. He went back to the jail and, climbing up to the windows, exhibited the revolver which he had stolen to the prisoners.
 He went from there to the Roma | saloon, and the proprietor. Ferry Payne, asked him what he had dOna with the gun which he had stolen from behind the bar the night before. He exhibited the gun he had and which Payne says is undoubtedly the one stolen from Friedman's. Perkins said that the gun belonging to Payne ] was in the hands of Constable Harry Troops, who had arrested him the night before.
 Perkins next turned up at the Sis ters' hospital and asked for the use of the telephone. He called up the resi- dence of Constable Proops and was answered by the officers wife who said that her husband was asleep and she did not like to arouse him. Per kins said that was all right. He di- rected her, however, to tell the con stable that Ben Perkins was about to start off on a long trip and that he de- sired to say goodbye to the officer.
 Next he called up Officer Tipton at the police station and reminded him that the officer had applied an oppro- brious epithet to him the night before. He said he would be at the station in five minutes to settle with him for it. After that, little is known of the of Perkins It was re- ported that he had been seen about town as late as 10 o'clock yesterday. He was seen earlier in the morning with a pair of spurs. from which it is surmised he contemplated the theft of horse, but no report of any was made in the course of the day.