Omaha daily bee., 1906-04-22
ATTEMPT TO FREE O'HEARN
Plot Discovered by officials at County Jail
Just in Time.
GOOD HtADwEY HAD BEEN MADE
Certain Persons Are Under Suspicion
for This Movement 10 set st
Liberty NeIs Lausten's
Murderer.


A plot to release from the county Jail Jay |
o'Hearp. condemned to death for the MUIR |
der Of Nels Lausten. was unearthed satur-
day just in time to prevent an attempt to |
carry It out
A brace and three bits were discovered i
concealed in the bath room connected with |
the corridor OF the cage In which O'Hearn !
is kept. Eleven rivets In the rear wall of |
the cell had been bored partly through and |
other evidence indicates some OF the friends |
Of the condemned man had intended to aid |
him from the outside. probably Saturday !
night.
Jail officials suspected something wrong
Friday. but the plan was not tipped of to
them until Saturday morning and a search !
of the bound-over cage was at once made |
Crowded in back Of the fixtures in the toilet
room they found the brace wrapped up In
some heavy ticking taken from bunk.
The three bits were found later crowded
behind the bath tub and the we'll They
were also wrapped In a piece of cloth. A
long piece of rope, taken from one Of the
hunks was stretched across the bath room
and was used during the day to hang
clothes on. II was evidently the intention
of the plotters TO use It in the scheme
to break Jail.
Tools Used Friday Night.
day night and concealed in the bath room
when the prisoners were let out OF the
cells Saturday morning.
Il required close examination OF Cell
No. 3, which was occupied by OHearn, to
show where the work had been done. The
holes riddled in the rivets had been care
fully filled with soap, so that 1t was inn
possible to tell except by an individual
inspection Of each rivet which ones had
been bored out. Eleven OF them near the
center Of the rear door had been bored
out and only about eight more remained,
after which II would have been an easy
matter to have broken hole in the graf
ing large enough to pass the body of a
man.
It was evidently the intention to tie one
end of a doubled rope to the bars in
which the rivets had been destroyed and
the other end to the bars of the door on
The opposite side of the cell. With
broom handle for lever they could have
twisted the rope so tightly the bars could
easily have been pulled out
Once out Of the cell the prisoners would
have had the run OF the Jail The door
leading to the office is kept locked, but
entrance might have been effected into
the kitchen through a dumb waiter used
in passing food to the body OF the jail
II was evidently the intention Of OHearn's
Friends 10 be at the jail with carriages
and with tools to assist him in forcing
the way through the outside Jail door.
Two Others I'm same Cell.
Besides O'Hearn, cell No. contained
Charles Wilson, charged with breaking and
entering, and James Morrissey. charged
with a South Omaha saloon holdup. Wilson
has not been tried yet. The Jury in the
Morrissey case disagreed. It is believed
some Of the other men in the cage knew
Of the plan, but only those in the cell at
the time could have escaped through the
hole.
Sheriff Mcdonald and the police force
began at once TO look up evidence to show
who the outside sccomplices of o'Hearn
were.
Friday was visiting day and It is be-
1leved the tools were passed in at that
time. oHearn's mother and his wife both
visited him during the day and talked with
him in the presence OF an officer No di-
rect evidence has been found yet. according
to statements made by the officers. Sew
eraI persons are said to be under suspicion
and arrests may follow within few days.
O'Hearn was convicted Of 1austen's MUIR
der about a month ago. The jury gave him
the death penalty and his attorneys are
now making a strenuous fight to get a new
trial for him. II was the intention to
argue the motion Saturday and Immediately
after it was passed on he would probably
have been taken to the penitentiary.
Placed I'm Solitary Cell.
None of his accomplices was in the cage
with him. His companions in tho cage
were all charged with lesser crimes
oHearn was Immediately on the discovery
of the plot removed 70 tho Isolation cell
and placed In solitary confinement
The plan OF escape was much the same as
the one used last fall which was successful.
Since that time, however the door from
the bOund-over cages to the jail office has
been kept locked. which would have made
IL more dificult to accomplish the escape.
Sheriff Mcdonald and his men made a
thorough search OF the jail Saturday morn
ing.
As soon as the discovery Of the tools
made an oEder was issued to allow
no one to enter or leave the jail until a
thorough search had been made. The order
caught several lawyers in the Jail in con-
sultation with clients. They were held for
an hour two until the search had been
completed. A. w. Jeferis was in the Jail
Office at the time and the order kept him
In the Office for over an hour. During the
lime ha uea Of he IN