The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1909-07-27
IN TURNKEY
BID HIM GOODBYE
THEN They WENT
Lawrence Roberts, Officer OF
The Law, Was Victim Of
Playful Antics of Two In
mates of Jail.
WOMAN HEARD SHOUTS
OF THE Gagged JAlLER
But Before She Had Released
Him Earl Huntington and
Richard Fisher Were Well
Sin the Clear

Good bye. Sam, see you later,
maybe
And Lawrence Roberts. turnkey and
patrol driver at the city Jail. heard
the sound of shifting feet across the
cement floor. He hea=d the noise as
if from afar off. but none the less dis
tinctly. 1t was farewell given
through a solid iron door and Roberts
realized he was the prisoner and his
charges of two minutes before. the
jailers in this little drama.
Mort. o. Mort" yelled the turnkey
in his strongest bass. In at the desk
the sergeant never heard a sound.
Two dark shadows emerged from
the whitewashed brick and with a
dash were through the stable and into
the alley. One went east at top speed
and the other with halting, limping
run passed out onto Fifth street. The
morning mist was lifting and passers-
by in the alley recognized the forms
as those OF Earl Huntington and
Richard Fisher. ...-
Shouts For "Mort"
Mort, O, Mort" shouted the turn
key, time and again. He called to
women on the rear porch Of neighbor-
ling buildings, but they smiled and
gave him flinty stare.
But there was another woman close
by to give helping hand. Mrs. Rob-
erts, colored. had come to the barn to
get water from the hydrant. She
heard the shouts Of the turnkey and
going into the Jail released him from
his involuntary imprisonment.
Roberts chased into the alley and
looked about, but the birds had flown.
So rapidly did they soar from sight,
that they had made good their escape
before the alarm was spread.
Now who was to blame?
Somebody blundered
A Good Riddance.
But Roberts says it wasn't his fault,
and it looks as II he has the best of
the argument. The escape of the pris-
oners does not count The absence of
Fisher and Huntington is regarded as
good riddance. Somebody did not
lock the door of the room in which
the men were placed. and so their
escape was easy.
The city Jail is fitted with two com.
partments on the lower floor. The
smaller of the two Is used rs a drunk
room and it was in this section Hunt.
fngton and Fisher. whose home is at
| New Madison, O.. we're lodged. When
Fisher was locked up last night. the
hall door to the room had been left
unlocked. The prisoners became
aware of the fact and their escape
was planned carefully
Door Not Locked.
When Roberts took the basket con.
tanning their breakfasts into the Jail
he supposed the hall door was lock.
ed. 30 neglected to lock the outside
door. He sat down his basket Of food
! and passed into the large cell room
where the coffee cups are set. AS
| soon as he entered. one of the prison
ers lodged from the room In which
they were, grabbed the solid iron
door and swung it to. So carefully
had the thing been planned, a stick
had been broken from the window sill
previously, so the lever of the door
was thrown into position and the
stick placed under the hasp That
prevented Roberts from opening the
door from the inside. The only thing