The daily sentinel., 1907-07-02

the Mesa county Jail on Sunday night
no trace of them has been found.
Last night it was reported to the
sheriff's office that two suspicious
looking characters had been seen
along the railroad track near the
Bovine station and it is said that the
men were later approached by Steve
Nichols and they were found not to
be the men wanted.
Sheriff Schrader is making every
effort to locate the two men. He is
out in the country again this after
noon. He has cast descriptions of
the criminals far and near.
The county commissioners of Mesa
County are hesitating about Offering
reward for the two men. Politi-
cal reasons seem to be responsible for
this hesitancy.
The detailed account of the es-
cape, given by the Sentinel yester-
day, was the first and only full and
correct account of the escape that
has been published. Gross misstate-
ments have been made and scatter
ed forth from several other sources.
The dirty, uncalled for and mis-
leading attack made on Sheriff Schra-
der this morning by the sensation
mongrels of the Morning Yellow, is
generally resented in the city. The
people of Grand Junction and Mesa
county know Charles F.. Schrader as
man who does his duty and does it
we'll If some of the other county
officers and their deputies would
work as conscientiously for the peo-
pie and do their duty as faithfully
and fully as does Sheriff Schrader
the community would be better off.
Dividing their time by denounc-
ing officials that happen to be of Il
different political faith is the way
certain individuals interpret their
duty.
The true manner in which the
miscreants made their escape from
behind the locks was detailed in the
Sentinel yesterday. Ommissions of
leading and important facts in the
case in order to pay particular stress
to a lot of sickening, meaningless
love letters or sensational and dirty
attacks on officers is n policy follow
ed by third-rate, saffron-hued pub
lications.
David Hitchcock. the horse thief,
was as securely locked up Sunday
evening during Mr.. Schrader's alb
sence from the Jail and until Earle
Burley broke from the cell-bath-
room, as ever any prisoner in the
Mesa county Jail was locked up. He
had no show or power on earth to es-
cape until he was given assistance
from the outside corridor by his fell
low criminal, Burley.
Burley and Hitchcock were as Sc
curely locked up as prisoners have
been locked in the county Jail scores
of times and under many sheriffs,
Sheriff Schrader had no reason on
earth to think that the prisoners had
the least possible avenue of escape.
Hitchcock was inside the cage, with
two great bars thrown against the
great door of that cage, levers that
could not be moved from the inside.
Burley was locked in the Jail bath
room which is cell in every sense
of the word and as strong almost as
any cell in the jail. 1t is simply a
cell with a bath tub in it. On more
than one occasion under Sheriff Sch
raider and under other sheriffs Grim
inals have been locked in the cell
bathroom, as was perfectly right, to
take bath and to remain for thirty
minutes to an hour at time. Then
with the men individually locked,
Hitchcock In the cage and Burley in
the cell-bath room, the great outer
steel door of the jail was locked as
usual.
Burley, after breaking out of the
ce1l-bathroom by removing the small
bar upon which the two men had evil
IDENTIFY been working for long time,
and as detailed yesterday went
around the corridor, and with the
aid of Hitchcock on the inside, re-
moved the lower giant lever, bolts of
which had been filed through on
the inside prior to Sunday but with
the work so carefully hidden that a
minute search would hardly have re-
vealed it. The time lock on the big
lever lock box, had not been turned
by Mr.. Schrader when he left but the
upper lever had been padlocked as
usual and Hitchcock was as strongly
locked in as if the time lock had been
turned as this time lock did not
strengthen the barricade of the cells
but simply protected the locks them
selves and the lever handles. Burley
broke the paddock and the men were
soon out.
The men were allowed to take a
bath once a week. Any one who ex-
amines the cell bathroom and its
relation to the cage cells can easily
see that the filing done on the little
bar that was broken out of one of
the bathroom walls could be done
with ease from the cage itself. The
prisoners did not have to be in the
bathroom to do the filing.
1t might be said here that no sher-
iff that ever served Mesa county had
a jailer to stay in the jail constant
ly unless it was filed with many des-
perate prisoners. Sheriff Schrader
employs jailer just as Former Sher-
iff w. G. Struthers employed one,
to be there whenever necessary. I'm
der former Sheriff Struthers there
were hours at a time when no jail
or was near the Jail and this was not
irregular either. The vile insinua-
ton that Sheriff Schrader feels oblig-
ed to inform his prisoners when he
i leaves the jail is not worthy of notice
Prisoners, unless under the most
extreme circumstances, are not lock-
ed In their individual cells until the
time for retirement. There is only
one toilet to each cage.
The escape of the two men Sunday
night is just one of a long series OF
escapes and breaks for liberty that
have been made from the Mesa coun.
ty jail. There has not been more
than one sheriff in the county's his