The Detroit times., 1911-03-22
VESTS ATTEMPT
TOBREAK JAIL WAS
hERVY TRY
Former Detroit Broker Saws Way
Out Of Baltimore Bastile, But
Ladder Breaks as He Has
Almost Scaled Wall.
I1l Die Before I'll Tel You" He
Gamely Answers When Asked
as to Confederates.

: tails of the attempted escape from tai
: OF Hume II. West, former Detroit
broker, who has left a trail OF crime
a not only In this city but all through
, the east, laying down forged checks
/ being his specially. The dispatch
I follows:
when Hume II. West sawed his
way out OF the Baltimore city jail
I just as dawn was breaking, made
dash across the prison yard while the
guards slept on their rifles, scaled
, the stone walls until his hands grasp
, ed the top OF the parapet and freedom
! was in sight, then fell back and down
TO recapture and prison aFain, he
merely added another chapter 10 a
life of extraordinarily clever daring.
When he went back 10 his cell
wincing under the pain OF a sprained
ankle, and the keepers asked him
where he got the saw and who his
confederates were. he said:
18Th die before III tell you, and
smiled calmly.
Even under the strain OF seeing a
pilot that had occupied his brain for
months go to smash as liberty liter
ally was In his hands. West showed
the same imperturbability that was
his when he woed and won Regina
Ellicott. the daughter OF Judge ELI
colt, OF East Capitol-st., Washington,
ID. c., and went to live with her in
Brookline. the fashionable suburb OF
Boston, when his only means OF sup
port was the nimbleness OF his wit
The dash for liberty also was but
another manifestation of the steel
like nerve that led him when arrest
ed here in tho garb of priest 20 dare
TO suggest TO his captors that he be
taken before Cardinal Gibbons fer
Identification He calmly accompan.
led them to the archiepiscopal resi-
dence. and when the prelate swiftly
| denounced him as an impostor he
said, oh, very WELL and walked OF
TO lookup, where he suddenly drew
magazine revolver and fired at the
detective who captured him.
Is Merry Chap.
This act of bravado was in keep
ing with the daring that led him. in
Washington. ID. c., to represent him
self as Lieut.. Commander Henry
knowlson, U. S. NJ, and also to enter
private banking house and induce
conservative financiers to let him
have a lot OF government bonds.
The warden of the Baltimore city
jail now knows that West had the
nerve to show 10 the prison keeper
copies OF personal advertisements he
was inserting in newspapers and con
tanning secret code by which he
communicated with a confederate out
side.
The story OF Vests dash for lib
erty reads like a page from Monte
Cristo. He was sent to Jail on Nov.
20, 1910. to await trial for the larceny
or blank checks. For three years
workmen have been inside and out
side the building. They have ha
hammers, saws. pliers. pieces OF pipe |
and other things of the sort sprinkled |
about the institution.
Not ding ago one OF the men left
a saw behind while he went TO an.
other part of the building. He was
discharged, and an order went out
that in the future all saws must be
turned In TO the head warden, to be
kept under lock and key. When a
saw was wanted thereafter the work.
man had to be personally responsible
for II.
~ebe E'CSc " 0dW.
Before they were locked up West
managed TO get a piece of one. he
says. The warden thinks he got a
whole one. II he didn't get the saw
inside the jail a confederate brought
II in. The saw, or piece of a saw,
can't be found and the theory is that
West hid IL somewhere. He says he
threw II down the vault In the tower.
With the saw West collected a lot
OF odds and ends of pipe-small pipe,
such as goes into gas fixtures. There
were ten Of them altogether, includ-
Ing three joints. or elbows.
Every morning at o'clock the
prisoners are let out OF their cells
and sent to the towers. IL is the
theory that on these visits West, who
could just look out OF the window and
examine the wall on the Madison-st.
side at his leisure, sized il up by feet
and inches, for his work showed care
fulness in detail and a mechanical
genius by no means to be despised.
West put the pieces of pipe to-
gether easily, as they were provided
with threads at both ends He made
a straight connection OF piping Just
as long as the width OF the big wall.
At either end he formed a Joint, or
hook, to catch on the wall. At one
end he formed an additional hook
turning outward and from this sus-
pended small cross bar of wood
Then he tore up his blankets and with
the dizziness Of n sailor plated the
strips into rope ladder long enough
to reach from the top of the wall to
the ground
He made single rope of the
sheets as stout as could be turned out
by machinery. He must have taken
some time at this Job. because the
plating was done expertly. This
single rope was TO swing from the
tower and slide down into the tail
yard. The ladder was to be used TO
scale the wall.
Cuts Heavy Window Bars.
When the prisoners were called on
foggy morning West evidently had
HIS pipe contrivance disjointed and
concealed under his clothing. He
went straight to the tower The other
prisoners finished their additions and
left him there. He closed and locker
the door-that is, they think he closed
and locked the door. That left him
free to work. end with his saw he
tackled the twoinch center bar in the