The Richmond palladium. (Richmond, Ind.) 1906-1907, 1906-05-01

Continued From Page One)
novice would not have gained posses
sion of were spirited into the Jail and
into his custody sometime during the
brief period of his confinement. Bar
ton Bell, of Cambridge City, awaiting
trial on a burglary charge was drawn
into the meshes of the plot by Locke
the preparatory plans of the delivery
but like many another accomplish, he
failed to enjoy the fruits of the daring
plot and is still in Jail, though the
same means of gaining liberty were
presented that offered the way to free
dom to Locke.
Plenty of Tools.
With saws of the sort that the hard
est steel and iron give way to, Locke
and Bell both sawed through the
bars of their corridors. 1t is generally
believed that several nights were TAX
en- in this preliminary work. Besides
the two saws, only one of which look
ed as if it had been used, Locke left
behind him a steel chisel of the best
make, brand new, which had evident
ly been made to cut through the
toughets of iron bars, and a steel
drill. The drill was not needed, but
the chisel was covered with brick
dust sande mortar, when found at the
,bottomt OFFS the >ventilator. Locke prob
ably used it to- brace himself in his
ascent.
An .Arduous Task.
Saving iron bars and crawling
throughs a space between them THAT
wassjist severn inch'esEwideFwa what
wasfaccomplishedhby both Locke and
Bella before ,the final* coup was made.
In the bathroom at the west end of
the corridor lis a colds air shaft,,,9 by
IA inches. the bottom Of which was
coverediwith1 an>iron3 CRATE (which was
inserted in the wall at the point
where the floor and wall meet. The
fastenings of this crate were>loosened
and Locke started to climb through
scarcely enough room to breathe. He
was followed by Bell, but the latter
was handicapped by having but one
hand and arm to work with and after
going about half the distance told his
partner that he could not make it,
and went back to his cell. Locke con-
tinued to climb and after an hour,
reached the iep of the forty-six foot
shaft.
. ..a.Descendinu to the Roof.
The top of the air shaft is about
Nffteen feet above the roof but Locke
was prepared for this emergency and
produced rope made out of sheets
knotted together. BY the aid Of this,
ne descended to the roof and walked
across the building to the front. Here
he again used the rope and let him.
self down to the top of the veranda.
From there he gained terre firma by
way Of the water spout.
Work Was Very Slow.
According to Barton Bell, who was
evidently one of LockeS tools in the
escape, but who did not reap any of
the benefits of his daring, says that
they commenced at a little after one
o'clock in the morning and from then
until nearly daylight. were busy at
different stages of the getaway. Bell
says he does not know how Locke got
away after he reached the roof. but
there are three ways in which the
man could have gained the outside of
the walls,
It has been suggested that he low
cred himself to the jail-yard and
from there managed to get over the
twenty-foot brick wall and the iron
fence which surmounts it, by the aid
of ladder. This idea is secuted, how
erer, inasmuch as there are no traces
of his having used ladder.
Sheriff Smiths Theory.
According to the Sheriff, there is
only one way in watch Locke could
have gained his liberty after reaching
the roof of the Jail. and that was the
manner told of before, of walking
over the roof to the 'front.' part of the
house and descending via the porch
roof. To anyone less daring than
Locke, it seems as if the path would
be impossible. but it is the only plaus-