The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-12-02

no prisoner shall be permitted to have
knife or a file about his person or his
cell. If any prisoner is found with a
knife his credits are all taken from him
and he is forced TO serve out his full
sentence For this reason the Officers
at the penitentiary are at a loss to find
out how the prisoners secured the two
knives and the file. A thoi ough inves-
ugation will be made with a view to as
pertaining whether or not the two men
were aided by anyone else either within
or outside of the prison.
Prison Board Notified.
As soon as the attempted break was
disco4fred Governor Cutler and the men,
bers or the prison board were notified.
Governor Cutler and some of the MEM
bers of the board visited the prison yes
terday afternoon and talked with Sulli-
van and Majors. The prisoners showed
keenly their great disappointment at be-
lnS unable TO escape. Sullivan declared
that had not their plot been discovered
when it was. both he and Majors would
be free.
You beat us to it, all right" he
said.
Majors declared he was very sorry that
the attempt was discovered. because Ea
thought his scheme for getting away was
the cleverest he had ever conceived. and
he had been the author of many.
The punishment of the two prisoners
has not yet been decided upon. Both
men are serving life sentences so they
have no credits to lose Each is serving
in solitary confinement for breaches OF
prison discipline. Practically the only
punishment left within the power of the
prison officials TO inflict is curtailing the
diet of the two to bread and water. This
will probably be done, and the men will
get nothing save bread and water for
several days No reading matter will be
allowed them, so that they will have
nothing TO shorten the long hours of soil
tary confinement.
That both of the prisoners would as
l.. \
ever succeeded in getting out of their cells
is the opinion of Deputy Warden IRE
who is in charge of the prison in the alb
sence of Warden Arthur Pratt
Plan Invited Death.
Both sullivan and Majors would un-
doubtedly have been shot dead if they
ever left their cells he said. They
are both desperate men and the guards
would take no chances with them The
chances are the moment they left their
cells they would have been shot by the
guard If. however. they succeeded in
overcoming the guard and getting out
of the cell house and on TO the wires with
their trolley arrangement. they would
have been riddled with bull ets before they
could reach the wall.
.'SeaTchlights in the prison yard make
night as light as day. There are guards.
armed with rifles, on all sides of the
wall to say nothing of armed guards in
the cell houses and in the prison office.
These guards have to report by signal
to the prison office every fifteen min
utes. so we know that every man is On
duty.
Just as soon as these convicts started
TO slide across The wires to the wall they
4 would have been seen bV at least half
a dozen guards ana shot There was not
one chance in a million for their escape.
They must have known that the odds
We're all against them and the fact that
they were willing to take the chance IL
Illustrates their desperate characters.
Record of Abe Majors.
Abe Majors latest attempt to break jail
is only one Of a series of attempts he has