The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-07-25
DUG INTO WALL.
Prisoners in City Jail Near to
Freedom.
Stone and Mortar Removed in
Night.
A DISGRACE TO CITY.
Prison Is Little More Than a
She'll.
Bad Men Taken to the County
jail.
DISGRACE TO CITY.

What had . been planned for a
wholesale delivery from the city Jail
was frustrated by the discovery this
morning Of hole half way through
the masonry of the large room in
which the prisoners are confined. one
large stone had been removed and
bushel basket full of plaster. cement
and smaller stones. and the suppo-
sition is that the opening was to have
been completed tonight and all of
those who desired could crawl through
to their freedom
The city Jail is a misnomer, for it
is a mere shell and with a few hours
in which to work any prisoner who is
willing to do even a limited amount of
labor may make his escape. Deliv-
cries in the past have been so COM
mon that at all times careful watch
is kept on the cell room when there
is a prisoner confined who is liable
to place a high value on his liberty,
or else he Is transferred to the county
Jail
The rods on the window directly
/ above the hole which was started last
night show plainly where they have
/ been sawed in two at different places
1 when prisoners have escaped. This
1 window is hid from the observation of
one standing at the one door which
gives admission to the room by two
steel or rather iron cages which have
been constructed to retain unruIy
/ prisoners. The work last night was
done with an old blunt ehisel, a piece
| of a case knife and a strip of steer
which had been removed from the
outside of a barrel
Charles Rhodes. who was picked up
/ by the police several days ago while
sleeping in barn in the resident por-
ton of the city and fined fifty dollars
as a vagrant, has confessed that he did
all Of the work and says that he was
! not assisted in any way though the
police believe that II his statement is
true that the rest were only waiting for
the completion OF the opening so that
4 they could follow him to liberty.
He has been locked up as a bad
man from the time that he was arrest
ed by the police and jailed on a ''vag''
charge with the purpose of holding
is suspected of being an escaped con-
Wet from some state penitentiary and
an all around crook and his desperate
attempt last night to make his escape
goes a long ways towards verifying
+ the suspicion of the police.
Just at present the city has more
bad characters and long time men
men within its walls than it has had
IOE d tOllS llI0e ana only last week Two
OF the prisoners made a dash for lib
erty but were reca ptured almost i'm
medfately. There are fifteen men
serving sentences varying from ten to
4 fifty days and the place which under
the best conditions is anything but
tanning the position which it has oc-
cupied for several weeks there Is
something akin to the punishment
promised the wicked in the next world
CT fr,,-f 1.
to convince Police Judge Urmy of his
innocence.
The fines which Judge Urny has
been dealing out to those brought be-
fore him of late and who are old Of
tenders are anything but light as he is
determined to break up several of the
gangs which have been in existence
ABOUT the city for number of years,
or keep them locked up.
The little colony who are most of
them known to the local police was
augmented yesterday by the capture
of j. A. Lind by Detective Pavey on a
charge of larceny from q dwelling in
St. Joseph, and it is understood that
there are other charges against him
which Will be filed as soon as he
reaches Missouri soil
W hen arrested yesterday he ex-
pressed a Willingness to ACCOMPANY an
officer back to st. Joseph and this
morning W. T. Wheeler of the st.
Joseph police force applied for him
and he declined to go with him without
a requisition which will cause a delay
of day or SO. If the hole in the
wall had been completed in time as
planned he would have been able to
leave the Jail tonight. He has been
transferred to the county Jail where he
Will be kept until the papers arrive
from the governor which viii enable
the officer to take him back to Mis-
souri,.
While Lind is charged with larceny
from a dwelling and the St. Joseph
police say that they have plain case
against him on at least two counts
they look upon him as a bad man
and -ccnsidera that 1t is highly prob
= est OF several that he may be COM
PEELED to face when taken back to his
home town in Missouri. He has been
in st. Joseph but a short time and the
police have had him under surveil-
lance ever since his arrival there, as he
is suspected Of several other crimes.
As result of the numerous at
tempts at escape made lately several
of those in confinement are wearing
what the police characterize as the
department jewellery which consists
+. of pair of neat fitting ankle irons
connected by a heavy chain, or a single
bracelet attached to one ankle and
having as a pendant an iron ball weigh
ing about twenty-five pounds and
: which IS expected TO hinder swift To-
comotion when the prisoner becomes
possessed with that "rabbity' sensa-
ton which has been so prevalent OF
7 late
Just at the present time the ''bul
r pen, which is q darlkened steel cage
s