The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1915-05-20

Mr.. and Mrs. Carl Miller and Charles
Jome, the three Racine county prison
ers, who made sensational escape
from the Racine county jail on Mon
day night and managed to get as far
as Evanston by means of taxicab Sc
cured in Kenosha, passed through Ke-
nosha late Tuesday afternoon enroute
to Racine where they are now in jail
under heavy guard. With the safe
return of the prisoners to the county
jail in Racine the tongues of the Ra-
cine officials have been loosened and
they have given out the story of the
escape. Tt can be said that little Gre
dit is given to the Kenosha officials
for the recapture of the prisoners re-
CARELESS of the fact that had it not
been for the alertness of the Kenosha
department the prisoners would prob
ably have escaped. In telling of the
story of the escape the Racine papers
say:
"To effect the Jail delivery, woman
prisoner hid under bed in an empty
cell until the turnkey, William Best
went to sleep in the corridor. She then
chloroformed him, took the keys from
beneath his pillows and released her
companions. All the prisoners in the
Jail could have fled had they desired
In the possession Of the woman was
also poison, with which it is claimed,
she intended to kill the sheriff J I n.
deputies if less desperate means III es-
| cape failed. She was 'trusty work
ing in the kitchen and could have
poisoned the food had she desired.
She probably omtained her drugs from
confederates outside of Jail.
Everything had been carefully plan
| ned, and there was not hitch in the
whole scheme. The original plan had
been to poison the sheriff and his fami-
ly, as well as the deputies, while they
were eating supper. Jome alleges.
The escape Of the three prisoners and
their subsequent arrest, reads like a
dime novel Mrs. Miller had been
made trusty" at the Jail, owing to
the fact that it was impossible to hire
a servant girl and it has always been
the custom at the Jail to extend such
| courtesies to women prisoners. The
sheriff had inserted an advertisement
in the newspapers on Monday evening
for servant girl, and in the meantime
Mrs. Miller was doing the homework.
While going to and fro in the jail,
she grasped opportunities to talk with
her husband who was in the large
cellroom together with many other
prisoners and with him arranged the
details Of the Jail delivery.
Just how The poison and saws were
smuggled into the Jail is mystery, but
Sheriff Hollick is positive that there
were confederates on the outside. Mrs.
| Miller had originally planned to escape
| alone, having already succeeded in saw
ing through one of the bars in the
women s ward in the upper part of the
building where she slept at night. In
order that her work would not be de-
| tected, she soaped the cuts so that the
/ bar seemed to be intact.
Later her husband induced her to in
clude him in the jail delivery and out
| lined scheme whereby this might be
| effected According to Jome, the horse
thief, the woman had been instructed
to put poison in the coffee of the sheriff
and his assistants at the supper table
and thus kill the whole group, and Sc
curing the keys, iberate her husband.
He claims that remarks regarding this
scheme were made on the auto trip to
Evanston, and the finding of the poison
on the persons Of Miller and his wife
| seems to confirm this This poison
must have been Struggled in from the
outside, as the sheriff does not believe
that Mrs. Miller could have concealed
| it on her person all this time.
Mrs Miller finally thought out an
other way whereby escape could be eff
fected She was allowed the liberty of
the Jail for a short time after supper,
and grasped the first opportunity that
presented itself, to crawl under a bed
in an empty cellroom, of which the
door is always open. Before doing this
she closed the door of the women IS
ward and turned out the lights, so as
to deceive the deputies, who thought
she was there.
Deputy Sheriff Harry Wherry had
charge of the jail up to 1890 Monday
evening, as Sheriff Sam Hollick and
Turnkey William Best were engaged in
serving papers. He locked the door Of
the women IS ward, thinking Mrs. Mil