Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1912-03-18
ALMOST MAKE ESCAPE FROM
TRAIN WHILE BEING TRANS.
FERRED IN CANADA.
IOWA PRISONERS CAUSE
CANADIAN OFFICIALS GRIEF
Escaped conviets From Anamosa Make
Bold Attack on Officers on Board
Train-Transfsrrsd to Another Pris.
on Because Of Dangerous charae.
ter-eadIy Beat Up During Melee.

| authorities probably regret that they
refused to permit the Mecum brothers,
| escaped Iowa convicts, to be returned
| to this state for trial and reincarcera-
| ton. The Mecums are the men who
attacked and shot guard at the Ana
mosa prison and escaped to Winnipeg,
/! Canada, where they were arrested for
! numerous burglaries and where they
shot and wounded a Canadian con-
stable and are now serving long sen
| attempts to escape from prison, and
became so troublesome that they were
! ordered transferred to the penitentiary
| near Toronto.
Desperate Effort to Escape.
Particulars of their latest effort to
escape while being transferred have
been received here. The Toronto Star
says:
"One Of the boldest, most desperate
attempts at escaping custody which
the police Of this city have ever been
called upon to face was tried on the
Eastern Flyer for Kingston shorty at
ter o'clock this morning when four
convicts who were being transferred
from Stoney Mountain penitentiary to
Kinkston, attacked and beat up three
guards, and only failed in their danger
Gus attempt by slight miscalculatoin
in time. All four men were recognized
by the authorities as desperate They
were heavily manacled, shackled and
chained. The reason that Toronto was
made the scene of such daring at
tempt was because the men had
proved unmanageable in the Manitoba
penitentiary, from which they had
made several unsuccessful attempts at
gaining their freedom.
Frank Kelly, one of the worst des-
peradoes in America, is the man who,
at Winnipeg last July, shot and dan
gerously wounded Constable Traynor,
and shot at Constable Brown, who H.
nsaily ran him down from the segre-
gated area to q street car in which he
and companion, Harry Jones. sought
refuge. They had BEEN robbing houses
in Elmwood suburb. They are known
in Iowa as the Mecum brothers. and
they escaped from the Anamosa, Iowa,
penitentiary, after shooting down a
guard last June. They then came to
Winnipeg. In Jail here they terrorized
the institution by breaking up every
thing in their cells, and one day so ter
rified the guard that they nearly es-
capped.
mo disciplining in the Stoney Noun
tain penitentiary had any effect on
them. They swore at and cursed the
guards whenever they appeared near
their cells. They always had a supply
Of tobacco from some mysterious
source.
THE object in taking them to Kings
ton is to place them in q safer institu-
ton. and away from their friends, who
are always on the lookout to rescue
them. Both these desperadoes, who are
under %, state that no prison will hold
them long. They have been given
twelve years each.
arthur Brown is the name Of the
young mai, who KIDNAPPED Miss Gladys
Price, q school teacher, near Snow
fake, Manitoba, last September. He
came from near Napanee. Ontario.
Brown was given eight years.
"The fourth convict is sBonnar,
young Englishman. who Is serving
eight years for horse stealing. He has
escaped three times from jail
Wired For Special Police.
Their persistent attempts at Jail
breaking In Storey Mountain made
them marked and feared men, and the
precaution had been taken Of wiring
ahead, ann ourcing their arrival at the
different posts along the line of trans
fer and asking for special police
guards For that reason there was an
unusual police patrol surrounding the
men when they walked thru the union
station just before 9 O'Clock. There was
Mr. Daniel O'Leary, the deputy warden
of Kingston penitentiary, his assistant.
the guard from Stoney Mountain, Con-
stable Hunt of the local force and two
detectives, Socket and Miller.
"The four convicts were all sentenced
to long terms, from ten to seventeen
years. Their case was a hopeless one.
and to show their recklessness they
had boldly announced to the guards on
their way from the west that they
would make an attempt to escape be-
fore they reached Kingston. The
guards only laughed at them. and told
them that they were UP against too big
q proposition.
Saved by . Minute.
THE narrow margin by which their
attempt failed has left the guards and
the local police officials in state Of
nervous excitement. One minute later