Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1907-01-17
A "TRUSTY" PRISONER
ESCAPES FROM JAIL

Ties Six Wooden Blankets End
to End and Lowers Himself
From Attic Window, Forty
Feet to the Gronud.-Has Served
Two Months Of His Six
Months Term.
Out in the free air, with no one
suspecting an attempt to get away,
Jessie Congdon, ''trusty" at the
county Jail, chose rather to risk life
and limb, by winding his way to the
attic, and lowering himself to the
ground on blankets tied end TO end.
Liberty for the asking. and yet the
prisoner chose rather to slide out
through small attic window, over
the ewes to the ground forty feet
below.
This i'm fact, is the story in nut
shell of ore Jesse Congdon who has
been "trusty' prisoner in the
county jail for the past two months,
where he was sent on complaint OF
his wife for assault and battery. Dur
ing all his time as prisoner he has
been exemplary. Never a thought of
his attempt at escape had either en-
tered the mind of Ex-sheriff Little,
or the new sheriff Julian WEIGH. He
has cut the wood, busted the rugs,
cleaned the halls, and not half
hour before the time of his escape
from the perilous height of the attic
window, he was out in the air per-
forming work for the jailor.
Time and Manner Of Escape.
Monday afternoon Congdon had
been employed in cleaning rugs and
sweeping the corridors and halls of
the Jail, He had performed his work
faithfully, and aside from the fact
that he had grown sullen and quiet
during the afternoon, no regularity
had been noticeable by those about
him. He had returned to his place
in jail. and no attention had been
given to the man, until noise at the
rear of the building attracted the at
tention of Mrs. WEIGH and the turn
key. The latter rushed to the upper
rooms to ascertain the trouble, while
Mrs. WEIGH rushed to the window
just in time to see the prisoner drop
to the ground. She shouted to him to
halt, but under cover of the darkness
he was lost to sight. The turnkey
rushed out to call the under sheriff
and then to notify the sheriff, who
had been attending court all the after
noon. The two Immediately started
in pursuit One followed the track
of the prisoner, the other to the west
side to head him off. They met at
the west end of the railroad bridge of
the Green Bay & Western, but no
trace of the prisoner was discovered.
He had evidently crossed the river on
the ice, again taking his life in his
hands. No time was lost in starting
the machinery of the sheriff's Office on
the prisoners track, and it is conf
IDENTIFY expected that he will be placed
behind the bars, before twenty-four
hours shall have elapsed.
Prisoner Troubled
Sheriff WEIGH ceurteously conducted
the writer through the corridors and
cells of the county jail Tuesday morn
ing, and offered every opportunity to
study the man who escaped. AS we
entered his cell, we noticed first, the
| picture of an innocent little child, on
the escaped mans table. The little
face was wreathed in baby smiles,
and to the query: "Was this his
baby?" the sheriff responded eyes"
"He often looked at that picture
and showed it to me-" said Mr. WEIGH
''and not long ago when talking about
it Jess said that he was only sorry
that his term run SO long that he
would be unable to get summer
work"
81 told him." said Mr. WEIGH mot to
let that worry him, as l would do all
in my power to get him released in
time to go to work, and would see to
it personally that he found work.
ga few days later" said Mr..
WEIGH, 81 was asked to serve papers
on him in a divorce suit started by
his wife. Since that time he has
acted rather queer. Not ugly or less
trustworthy, but Monday one of the
prisoners came to me and told me
that Jesse had returned from looking
out of the window and said that his
wife and another man had been walk
ing up and down in front of the Jail
and were looking up and laughing at
him. No attention was paid to this,
and up to the time that the news
was brought to me that he had es-
capped, had given the matter no
attention.
''Why he escaped, and in escaping
took such risk, l don't know. He
had nothing to gain by so doing and
everything to lose. 1t is a mystery
to me, unless the man had become in
sane over his family troubles. He
seemed to think a great deal of his
baby, and always had it's picture
where he could look at it,
/ Expect Re-capture.
To the question as to whether the
sheriff knew the whereabouts of the
man, Mr.. WEIGH replied: "We have
a pretty good idea of where he is, and
l confidently expect to have him be-
hind the bars before the rising of
another sun.