Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1908-12-01
At TENT TED jail
BREAK At PRISON.
Abe Majors and Joe Sullivan Get
Ready to Leave the
Penitentiary.
KEY AND ROPE ARE FOUND
Blankets Torn in Strips Discovered by
Guard johnson and Acting
Warden IRE in Cells.

Owing 10 The watrhfulnesss Of Guard
Johnson and Acting Warden ure am
other attempt at escape rom the state
Prison has been frustrated. As before
Abe Majors is accued OF being the ring
leader and this time he has for his
partner another desperate convict. Joe
sullivan. Both per are nlurderers aud
both, judging from iiaS records, VIII
stop at nothing to escape, The ind
ing OF a rope made from tom blankets
ana Il rough skeleton key iii the cells
Of the convicts was tho first intiuation
that there was a plot on foot.
The two prisoners i'll question nave
been locked i'll their cells for some
months, as it was found unsafe 70
allow them the run of the prison yard
or the cell corridors. The same re-
strictions were placed on Derning
But although locked up. the othcr
prisoners in the corridors could stop
and converse with thair comrades in
their cells: and in this way it was easy
to pass notes and attempt to cook UP,
a scheme to make trouble. Majors ana
Sullivan took advantascaof the oppof-#.
tunity. and together Matched up plot
to get away. But the passing of notes
could not escape the watchful eyes or.
Guard Johnson who saw last sunday
what was going ON. and imniediatelY
notified acting Warden IRE, WHO IS N.
charge Of the prison in Warden Pratt's
absence
Mr.. Erc lost no TING in acting. and
assisted with several guards made "
thorough search or Majors and Sulll-3
van and OF their respective cells. Tic
search revealed q quantity of trolley
wirt. and key, While they had i'm
rromptu ropes made up from blankets
and overalls. Just how the precious
twain intended to operate can not be
stated. further than the stuff found on
them and in their cells suggested pick
ing locke and scaling the prison walls,
/. pided they had the yS'6rtut'its, q.
The men We're al once removed to
cells where they could have no COM
munication with any one. and later the
board of corrections We're notified. Inc
board went down there this afternoon,
and it's members are investigating. sui
livan, Majors and Dcming will be re
moved as soon as possible to the new
cell house where they can scheme away
To their hearts content without ever
being able to accomplish anything Il
is believed that the knowledge that
escape from the new cell house woIld
be impossible. prompted the convicts to
make a desperate attempt to escape be
fore the transfer.
THREE DESPERATE MEN.
sullivan, Majors ana Deming are
considered equal to the worst cases in
any state prison. and require constant
and careful watching. Being locked up
ana unable to circulate among the other
convicts, they have had plenty of time
TO think. and they have put in all
their thinking powers planning possible
aud impossible means for escape. Ma
Tors is doing life for shooting Police
Captain Brown of ogden, While resist
inc arrest early in the nineties. while
his brother was killed in attempting to
escape. Majors has always proven
troublesome prisoner. Not that ne
would violate prison rules, for
he was careful not to do that; but he
has lost no time III plotting an escape.
If ,,..,S
OF his cococtng. He failed TO get away
himself and the break came to naught.
He fulhlls the western definition of "a
good Indian good" only when dead;
and the officers Of the prison find it
necessary to watch him constantly.
Majors is regarded as assuming wild
animal: all attempts TO reform him
have failed. 50 there is nothing to do
but to keep him shut up. away from
his fellow kind, until death claims him.
Jos sullivan, one of the men at
tempting to escape, is a bad man and
is in for life for participating in the
murder of Policeman Charles Ford, on
the 18th of December. 1907 in front III
the Albany saloon on West Second
South street. his partner i'll the crime,
and the man who is thought to have
been guilty of the real shooting being
Joe Garcia, who was killed while re-
sisting Sheriff Emery and other Of
ficers in Seattle few renths back.
sullivan made his escape on the night
of the murder Of Officer Ford, ana
made his way to California and thence
by friends was aided in reaching Port
land, Or He was unprecedented Ct
Portland and brought back to Salt Lake
and was placed on trial foi, his life for
the shooting of Ford, and was found
guilty of first degree murder by the
jury. with recommendation ta mercy,
however, in tile verdict. sullivan was
sentenced TO life imprisonment in tine
Utah penitentiary by Judge Armstrong,
ON April ., 1908, and began TO serve
his term on the same day