Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1907-05-02
PRISONER BREAKS
OUT If JAIL

Charles Sutton, alias Wray, prison
er at Fort Williams, broke jail Sun
day morning. Eluding pursuit he sue
1 ceeded in getting out of town on foot
aud had nearly reached the borough of
/ Milton when he was captured. By 3
/ O'Clock in the afternoon he was back
in his old domicile behind the bars.
Sutton succeeded in getting out of the
! cage into the corridor of the Jail, after
| which by dint OF hard work he manag
ed to loosen and remove six brick from
under the southernmost window on
the west side of the Jail producing an
aperture sufficiently large to admit his
body
This was between 2 and 3 o'clock
Sunday morning. Had Sutton taken
Immediately to the hills there might
| have beeu some chance of his escap
ing Instead of this, however, he pro-
ceeded directly to the residence OF a
family on A street. with whom his
wife is living. Notwithstanding the
unseemly hour he aroused Ehe family
and asked TO see his wife
Explaining TO the latter that he had
broken jail he begged her 60 accom-
pany him to Mausdale, where her sister
resides The woman evidently not car
ing to cast her fortuue with Il fugitive
from Justice declined to accompany
I l. oh r.
! alone.
Tue news that Sutton had appeared
in that part of town soon foani its
way to the Hanover brewery, Spring
street. One of the men on duty called
up Chief Mincemoyer. Informing him
| that prisoner was at large. This
was at 3 10 o'clock aud both police
men had just turned III.
Chief Mincemoyer called up Sheriff
Williams and Informed him that his
prisoners or at least one Of them, vas
running around town. The sheriff
could hardly believe it possible, but an
investigation showed that it was only
too true.
Sutton was missing. The door Of the
cage was found open. while the big
hole dug out under the window ful H.
er revealed how the escape had been
effected. Two other prisoners, Peter
Dietrich and Edward Davis, the latter
serving a short term, could also have
easily escaped, but they declare that
they heard nothing of Sntton's move 4
ments and had no idea that he had
planned to break Jail.
Chief Mincemoyer soon arrived at
the Jail and, accompanied by Sheriff
Williams, he went over to the P. q
R. station and inspected all the empty
freight cars. A freight train was just
pulling out for West Milton. Ac-
curate description of Sutton was Civ
en- to the crew and they were asked to
be on the lookout for him. The chief
and Sheriff Williams then went down
to the Hanover brewery, examining
every place in that section where he
might be in hiding. Officer Voris was
called up, who joined in the search.
The chief of police and the sheriff
hired vehicle and drove out TO Maus-
dale, where the sister of Sutton's wife
resides Finding no trace of him there
the two men drove on to the krum
home in West Hemlock township, but
they were soon convinced that he was
not to be found in that direction and
they returned to Danville having COM
pleted a drive of some fourteen miles.
Meanwhile Officer Voris had gon
up to the second ward and searched
the premises of some of Sutton's rela-
tives The officer also called up Mil
ton, Pottsgrove and some other points
by telephone, giving good descrlp-
tion of Sutton and asking that look
out be maintained
The chief of police and the sheriff
returned from their drive between
and o'clock. Shortly afterward word
was received at the p & r. station
here from the crew of the freight
which left in the morning with de-
scription of Sutton to the effect that
they had seen man who correspond
ed to the description given walking
along the railroad in the vicinity of
Pottsgrove.
The chief and the sheriff mounted a
"pusher, which was generously plac-
ed at their disposal and started in pur
suit of the fugitive They passed
Pottsgrove and were within mile of
Milton when they espied Sutton tramp
ing along on the track ahead of them
As they came up to him the engineer
slowed up and Chief Mincemcyer leap
ed from the engine and collared his
man.
! Sutton was taken wholly unaware
and was very badly frightened. He
was perfectly willing to return. He
/ said that no sooner had he found him
self outside the Jail than he regretted
what he had done and felt like crawl
! ing back through the small aperture
that barely admitted his body. Ever
since he had been considering the ad-
visibility of returning and giving
himself up.
1t was between two and three o o'clock
when Sutton was lodged in his cell
Sunday afternoon. He explained
that he opened the lock of the cage
door by means of a piece of wire IN
geniously bent. How he obtained the
wire he would not tell. Neither wonid
he explain how he came into posses
sion of short iron bar and handle of
a mop, which he used i'll rom9' ing the
brick and which were found Oh Tie
spot In order to get at the brick the
prisoner had to break stout iron
1 ,,1a+a tuo inches wide and n 0uarter