The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-08-03
A JAIL WITH MANY EXITS.
AVID CAN OPENERS, TOO, HAVE
RrEN SMUGGLED TO PRISONERS.
An End Of II Now. at Least as Far 90
the Tin Roof IL Concerned Live Wires,
n Network OF FIN, Are the Thing - Let
Any Prisoner Try to Escape Nowi

n Network OF En-, Are the Thing - Let
Any Prisoner Try to Escape Nowi
To-day the seventy prisoners In the Mid
d)esex papier maohe county Jail, at New
brunswick, n. j., will have positively their
last chance TO break Jail with a can opener
nv way of the roof. Exits 2, 8, 4 and s will
ril be available, but before tonight Warden
Charles Rogers hopes to have the roof, or
EYit I. Dramatically scaled with a network
Of live wires that are being strung from
tbe brand new sixty foot pole that was
planted in the Jail yard yesterday.
Owing TO the disagreeable weather none
of the prisoners broke Jail yesterday or
last night. just how much the Jail will be
bowid" to-day, however, cannot be old
until Night Watohman George Bach comes
ou ne Job this evening and chases the re-
naming prisoners into their cellsto be looked
mo for the night. Then George can check
of those that have decided to stay, n by
snbtracting the total number he had last
night the exact number of escaped prisoners
can be told to the dot. It's on the plan Of
N gas bill. George knows we'll that even
A. man is as slippery as an eel he can't beat
mathematics.
The Middlesex county Jail began it's record
of the most broken out Jail In the country
about seven years ago, when one OF the
prisoners thought to pass the time away
by throwing a hard rubber ball against the
ceiliug of his cell and catching it on the
rebound. When he happened to hit the
same spot twice the ball went though the
chin shell Of lath and plaster and the single
coat of rusty tin that forms the roof. The
prisoner, who was Of an inquisitive u of
mind, straighway placed his cot on end
and Skinned up the iron bed stats as II the
cot we're a ladder to see II the hole a
by the ball could be enlarged. Sure
enough it could. As the ball didn't belong
10 the prisoner he naturally went outdoors
shrough the hole to look for it. He Is still
searching.
Ginger Jack Snyder, who got a ninety
day sentence in Perth Amboy on general
principles about two months ago and who
has just completed two-thirds Of his term,
was standing idly at the front door Of the
fail yesterday afternoon when H Sun
reporter called to see the new electric roof
protection. There were %raindrops on
Gin ger Jacks hat and foam drops OF his red
mustache. Ginger Jack gave evidence of
having just returned from al afternoon
stroll. just back Of him could be seen the
iron barred door leading to the cell COR
BpDl' - "u "hiShiB Any W "Ae Aho
Just under a large sign that read: Admission
BY permission only"
Ginger announced the visitors presence
and the warden came from the depths to
explain his electrical co~ntrivanoe. At the
top of the new pole in the centre of the jail
yard, said the warden, an arclight will blaze
tonight, or tomorrow night at the latest.
The current that feeds this light will come
through a network Of wires strung along the
koof, and 80 hereafter a prisoner will have
to clip through these charged wires after he
makes a hole in the tin over his head. Any
one can see where this leaves the prisoner.
The current will be diluted through 30
many wiras that it viii not be strong enough
ht any orts SPOT to kill q man the warden
explainea plsasantly. Nevertheless when
d man 1t Che top Of an iron cot connects
his can opener with one OF the live wires he
will doubtless be in the same position as the
man who remarked as he fell of the Flatiron
building, Now for a peach of a bumpl''
Warden Rogers said that no prisoners have
the has been in office only a short time
but that he has noticed seven holes in the
roof through which men have gone away
from there. Two years ago nine left to-
gether one evening permanently, but as q
fule they prefer to go out one by one.
'Andby the way, Snyder, said the warden,
turning to Ginger Jack, the Judge down in
Perth Amboy that sentenced you for ninety
days sent me word to-day that If you've
been a good boy you can 60 home. So
discharged
4Y'aint goin' to toin me out In dis rain,
are yuh, warden pleaded Ginger Jack,
gazing fondly toward the iron barred door
idly swinging to and fro.
sob, well, said the warden kindly, III
you don't want to go trot in there and get
locked up"
One Of the saddest cases Of a prisoner
la.k o,,t 80 tlo ottra ot;,,a Nav Rr,to1prtaL
Jail is that of Mr.. Beany Ryan. The last
time Beany was up before the New Bruins
wick Magistrate his sentence was suspended
on the understanding that Il he was arrested
would be sent to the Trenton penitentiary.
As Beany hasn't been arrested lately he
Is technically sober, but slowly and steadily
he is floating of on the ebb tide.
longer" said Warden Rogers, a~nxiously
yesterday. If he does, then he can get
drunk right, be arrested and come back to
us. He comes in to see us almost every
day, because, like most of them that come
here steady, you can't chase 'em away
This week the jail is minus the prison
poet also. Limerick Guerin is his name,
and when he can get a little time of from
the cell that is always kept ready for him in
the north wing Of the prison he goes to
South River, five miles down the Raritan.
Besides Limerick, the village also has a
lew hundred houses and wen y-slx saloons.
a ravelling show called Little Coney
Island" is doing a weeks turn in South
River this week, and Limerick has added
himself to the attractions by reciting one
Of his own creations called THE Drunkard's
Dream" The poem is very touching. AS
an encore Limerick is reciting another
selection from his collected works, the
well known ballad that begins:
Little Joisey bodies poiched upon the cobb
Hear 'em chop; hear 'cm chop; hear
EN- chop!
coily headed boys and COILS, prithee don't
distoib
The little Joisey bodies poiched upon the
cobb.
For If you hoil that stone. my goil. you'll
c~oitainly pertoib
The bodies pretty chop. chop. choipi
Every now and then Mayor Joe Marks Of
South River feels the spirit move him to
send Limerick Guerin up to stay with War
1en Rogers for a month or three. Limerick
heads straight for his own cell when he is
taken to the Jail and straightway sits down
to write poems at the Warden. Between
times he writes and mails to Mayor Joe