The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1912-08-02
SLAYER MADE ESCAPE
FROM INSANE ASYLUM
From Fridays Daily.

From Fridays Daily.
st. Peter. July 26.-The Herald
prints this story of how a par
tally successful jail delivery was
carried out AT the hospital for
the criminal insane last Tuesday
night One prisoner escaped, and
only the vigilance OF an attendant,
Albin Ecklund. prevented three 9th
ers from following him to liberty
Bjorn ostby. parricde. lowered
himself from one of the grated win.
dows in the second story OF the
building and disappeared into the
woods. In doing so he unwittingly
exposed Il plot which would have
given freedom 10 two other murder
ers. James Cunningham and George
Parker, and to a fourth prisoner, An
drew Sweider
Great cunning was shown by the
leader of the quartet, James Cum
ningham. in planning and executing
HE coup. Crafty concealing his
scheme from all the prisoners but
his four confederates. and using only
the crudest kind of tools. Cunning.
ham sawed steel bar from one
window and was nearly ready to re-
move another from a second He was
completing his work when his es-
cape was prevented by tile clumsi-
ness OF Ostby.
Leader is a Burly Negro.
CUNNINGHAM Ipliapa1 hv ba hoc
pital authorities 10 have furnished
The brains OF the plot, is burly
negro, He was sent TO the SILVIA
ter Penitentiary from lIennepin conn.
~ for The crime of burglary, and
while confined in states prison stab.
bed and killed a fellow prisoner On
the expiration of his original sen.
tence he was tried for murder. and
sentenced To a term of life impris-
onment. Subsequently he became de
lnented and on the completion OF the
ward for Tire criminal insane at the
local institution he was brought here
from Saltwater
II is believed that the criminal be-
gan making preparations for the es-
cape several months ago He first re-
moved the steel shanks from n pair
of shoes. and fashioned one of them
into a rude saw 1t was inserted
in groove in n rongh wooden ham
die, and was fastened securely with
small twine. With this saw, less
than three inches in length, Cum
ningham attacked one Of the bars in
the wash room in the second story
at The building.
Parker Is a Murderer
Another murderer. George Parker
was admitted to partnership. Gun
ningham drafting him 10 act as a
sentry. Cunningham's method Was to
take daily shower bath. The noise
made bSS the water enabled him to
work at the bars without fear Of dc.
lection, and the attendants now re-
call that whenever anyone approach
ed the wash room Parker began
whistling or singing, doubtless sig
mailing him of the impending dan
ger. Soap was rubbed into the cut
made by the saw, and in time Gun
nineham cut through it in two
places. Carefully restoring il to its
proper place, he awaited an oppor-
unity TO escape.
Here the domestic arrangements in
the building presented an unexpect-
cd obstacle. Sixtythree prisoners
are confined ia the wards and the
greater part of their time is spent
in the lounsing room on the second
floor. At nightfall they remove
their clothing in that apartment. and
descend to the dormtory in the
first story. However. it has accommo
dations for only sixty. and the 9th
ers sleep in single rooms on the
floor above
Cut Through Bar.
Finding that he could not hope to
escape in daylight. Cunningham di.
rected his energies toward cutting
through a bar in the window of a
water closet on the first floor. but al
the opposite end of the building. II
would appear that he grew impa-
tent over the delay and took in an
other accomplice, Andew Sweider
Sweider is a petty criminal who was
arrested last spring for breaking in
10 a box car in the Minneapolis rail-
way yards. He was sent 10 the state
reformatory at ST. Cloud and two
weeks later was transferred TO the
hospital for the criminal insane
New Difficulty Arose
His usefulness to the plotters lay
in the fact that his wife had been
allowed access 10 the building on a
few occasions. When she was with
her husband she was kept under
close surveillance, but it is supposed
that on one OF her visits she man
aged to pass him small file. which
he turned over TO Cunningham The
latter started to make another saw
from the remaining piece OF steel.
and it was about two-thirds complet-
ed when the plot was discovered
About the time Cunningham had
cut through one end of the bar on
The first floor a new difficulty rose
He~aid his companions slept in the
dormitory, and their clothing was
kept locked on the second floor. To