The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-01-18
SULLIVAN AT
old TRICKS
IN. CITY JAIL
Supposed Murderer of Police
man Charles S. Ford Appar-
emily Plans Escape.
DENIES ALL KNOWLEDGE
OF TERRIBLE CRIME
ADMITS IDENTITY, BUT De.
cLAREs THAT He DOES NOT
KNOW GARCIA.

8 Three hours after being locked o
9 in the city Jail last night, Joe Sui @
g livan made his first move toward q
@ breaking Jail. Jailer Ripley, who .
q made frequent visits to the despe- .
g radios cell. discovered that Sulli- %
g van had torn up a portion of his @
&, bedding and a shirt to make -
g rope about thirty feet long. On p
O the end of this Sullivan had fas-- %
6, tened a ball of cloth, so that he %
@ could toss the rope in any direc- %
9 ton. II is believed that he in %
q tended to use the rope I'm COM -
9 municating with the occupants OF @
g other cells In the hope Of getting 20
g possession of tools with which ID p
8 force his way to freedom and to %
g send MESA ges to friends on the @
@ outside.
: o Q . . Q @ 9 o @ 8 @%%@@@@N
Joe Sullivan is in the city Jail The
Charles S. Ford, for whose capture all
the resources of the Salt Lake police
department were used, reached the city
on an Oregon Short Line passenger
train at o'clock last night, in the
custody of Detectives Shannon ana
Chase, and was at once hurried in
closed carriage 70 pOliCt 4ACcthtlheAA -Ia -
After a brief interview win Chief Pitt,
the desperate was takga to the cell
which had been prepared for him. Be
fore he was locked uD a final pains
taking search was made Of his gar
ments to determine whether he had
been able to secret in his clothing any
tools which might aid him in an et-
fort to break jail. The search re-
suited in the discovery il the seams
of the mans trousers Of small saw
and a horseshoe nail. He must have
secured these tools before his departure
from Portland, probably through tine
assistance of fellow prisonsrs in the
jail there. The saw was made of
small piece of steel and was about
four inches long. The horseshoe nail
was bent at the end and was appa'
rently for the purpose Of picking locks.
Police Not Surprised.
1t did not greatly surprise the police
to find these toools. They knew that
Sullivan would exhaust every effort TO
avoid going to trial and were prepared
TO pit their wits against the cunning
of the criminal. During the day a saw
was found in the cell a. the citv
prison which was being prepared for
Sullivan. This may have been left
there by some prisoner IA the nope that
it might fall into the bands of the
supposed murderer.
Filing through prison bars has been
one of Sullivan's well-knoT n tricks He
is also an adept in the making of keys.
When he was arrested il ogden, about
six years ago, for highway robbery, he
managed to make a key for his cell
door. This key and several others
made by the ex-convict are now in the
rOseSSfon of Chief Pitt
Adept at Key Fitting.
Sullivan was the first prisoner in the
new Ogden Jail. and the first prisoner
to attempt to make his escape. He
managed to get three long brass print
ers rules. After securing the rules he
kept an eye upon his jailers, and when
they locked or unlocked the cell door,
he carefully studied the key used. In
this way he gained a general idea Of
the size of the key and the manner in
which it had been made. Then he
filed one of the rules as nearly TO the
proportions of the cell key as possible
from his recollections of what he had
seen. This done, he smeared soap upon
the end of the rule, and reaching
through the bars of the cell, inserted
the sOap-cOvered end into the lock.
When he drew the rule out il bore the
first key was not a success. but was
of great assistance to him IN making
his second. With the second key he
was able to unlock the cell door.
Watching his opportunity, he opened
the door and gained the jail corridor.
There it was necessary TO file through
some steel bars before gaining liberty.
He had prepared himself with small
files, such as the one which was found
concealed in his clothing last night.
While he was at work the jail guards
entered the corridor and found him.
The key and the saw were taken from
him and he was returned TO his cell.
Close Watch Kept.
That there may be no possible chance
of Sullivan's escape, Chief Pits issued
strict orders last night for Jailer Rip
ley to visit Sullivan's cell at frequent
intervals during the night, and al
though the desperate is locked in a
strong steel cell. these precautions will
be taken until the man leaves the Gus
tOdy OF the police
Continued on page 2.