Arizona republican., 1910-01-10
THE CAPTURE
 IF EDWARDS Big sweds' Returned To
 the County Jail INTERCEPTED AT YUMA
The Fugitive's Story of His Thrilling Escape, His Flight Attended By Cold,
 Hunger, Friendly Hoboes,
 Unsympathetic Brakemen

| John Edwards, Big Swede," was re-
 stored yesterday afternoon 10 the
 county jail whence he escaped last
 week one night in a mysterious man
 ner.s He was brought in by Sheriff
 Hayden from Yuma, where he had
 been taken into custody the day be- | fore by Sheriff Livingston, who recog-
 nized him on the street by the eiab-
 crate description which had been giv- en of the fugitive.
 Edwards said that he was rather [ glad to get back; he wanted for one
 thing. to tell the other prisoners that
 if they knew when they were well off
 they would stay in jail
 The capture of Edwards was facili- tated by Deputy Sheriff Jeff Adams
 habit of close observation. The depu- ty took him 10 Mesa the day of his escape as witness at the prelimin- ary examination of Walter Brundage. ! and while they were sitting in the
 court room there Deputy Adams took
 mental photograph of him without
 having any special reason for doing so. In addition to making an esti- mate of his height and weight and noting the color of his eyes and hair and other conventional features of a description. the deputy observed that
 Edwards was wearing a hat with a
 dark green band. edging of the same;
 that he had on a woolen shirt, the
 points of the collar being held down by pearl buttons. The color and tex ture of the prisoners clothing were m phoA he f,, sof ficer. who also noticed that he was wearing red socks. Here was materi- al for description that would fit no two men on earth.
 This inventory was printed in The Republican the day following the es- l cape and was sent broadcast from the
 office of the sheriff with photograph of Edwards which looked. however, as
 much like Dr. Mary Walker or the shah of Persia.
 4 telegram was received at the of- flee of the sheriff on Saturday morn
 ing from Sheriff Livingston saving that he had Edwards. Sheriff Hayden
 remembering how many people there are in this world that are mistaken for other in descriptions, feared
 that mistake had been made and
 wired for further particulars. Sheriff Livingston replying. necessarily at great length. enumerated all the fine
 points which Deputy Sheriff Adams had observed in . his casual study of Edwards. Thereupon Sheriff Hayden left for Yuma and found Edwards. who
 had assumed the name of Peterson while travelling incognito
 The ing. He had but one care Just be- fore he made his successful break for
 freedom he had given Deputy Sheriff
 Adams some money to buy him some snuff. Without waiting for the return
 of the officer he evaporated. Yester- day after exchanging greetings with the deputies he turned to Deputy Ad-
 ans and asked. Did you got that 'Copenhagen? Ohe name of the brand
 of snuff.)
 Edwards said that he would rather
 be a convict for life than to be a ho- bo for four of the coldest days in the climatic history of southern Arizona.
 He had, he said, no intention of rum ming away when he was turned into the corridor of the jail to wait for his supper. Ha was sitting by the fire playing his accordeon when one of the prisoners in cell nearby the would not say who) said to him, Now
 is your chance to make a get away.
 Ton have about five minutes. Make
 good use of the minutes and you will save at least five years in Florence"
 Without weighing the consequences, Edwards acted on the suggestion. He
 -fa,,- from one of the bunlss he climbed on
 top of the cage and throwing the blanket over one of the iron cross pieces which supports the roof he drew himself up. This would have been a difficult if not impossible feat for a less agile and muscular man, but once on the cross piece the rest was easy. He soon reached the ventilators which were loose. He found himself on the roof. Then he did something else that only a very powerful man could have done. Grasping the edge of the roof, which is twenty-five feet above the ground he let himself down the length of his arms and dropped He alighted on the hardest ground that surrounds the court house. That is why no tracks were observed the next morning.
 Once on the ground. Edwards skirt ed the row of palm trees on the west side of the jail until he reached Sec ond avenue. He went south and made long detour not striking the rail- road track until he had passed the stockyards. He then went on to Tempe. In the meantime his flight had been discovered and Sheriff Hayden had telephoned to the Tempe officials so that Marshal Brown and Constable Estrada were awaiting him. Edwards had rather expected this and there fore he was moving cautiously. He had entered the bridge. making no noise.