The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1916-11-24
LEAVES PRISON IN 4 BARREL
EImer Johnson Attempts tc Escape
discovered by Il Boy.

The discovery OF a hand sticking
out of barrel in wagon on Madison
street, near Forrest street, Baltimore.
by small boy at play on the sidewalk,
frustrated a desperate attemp. on the
the part of Elmer Johnson, convicted
murderer of his sister, Mrs. HELEN
Craig, to escape from the Maryland
Penitentiary, Saturday afternoon.
Johnson was already outside of the
confines Of the institution and was
in a fair way to win his freedom
when the air in the barrel became so
sitting that he was forced to push
aside the top of the receptacle and
70 try stealthily to remove some
Of the excelsior that covered his body
This led to his detection and he was
taken back to the institution by a
guard and the man who had taken
the wagon out of the yard.
The attempt of Johnson to escape
from the institution was one OF the
most daring ever recorded, and that
it was carefully planned and as care
fully executed was shown by the fact
that the man succeeded in getting out
of an institution from which no man
has escaped in the past % years.
Scores have escaped from various
federal and state prisons throughout
the country, but there have been none
that could boast that no prisoners
have escaped in over a quarter of a
century except the Maryland State
Penitentiary.
Johnson was employed in the ship
ping department of the hollow ware
department and has been a right
tractable prisoner. He was in a po-
sition to see all the goods which left
the institution from his department
and he noted with keenness that
is bred of compulsory confinement chat
the guard on duty always watched
each barrel as it was packed.
For the past several days the regu
lar guard il the shipping DEPART
ment at the institution has been on
a be1ated vacation and a guard from
another part of the Penitentiary was
on duty in his place. This man did
not know that when barrels have been
packed and are not carried out the
same day that they must be unpacked
on the following morning and then
repacked.
The fact that a barrel was left
standing in the shipping room Of the
Penitentiary on Friday night gave
Johnson the opportunity for which he
had been waiting and at the oppor
tune time he unpacked the barrel, got
into the receptacle and then was nail
ed in by one of the other prisoners.
Several months ago the driver of
the wagon who goes daily to the in
stitution for hollowware was caught
in the act of smuggling a bottle Of
whisky into the institution, and War
den John F. Leonard ordered that in
the future this man be kept out of the
grounds. Since then the superin-
tendent of the company having the
hollowware department, and who is
stationed in the neighborhood of the
institution, has been driving the
wagon in and out of the yard 1t was
this man, Joseph Saunders, colored,
who carried the barrel out Saturday
afternoon.
At the time the wagon left the yard
Of the Pen number of children were
playing on the pavement on Madison
street, near Forrest street. Saunders
drove up to the curb and alighted and
the regular driver started to climb
aboard.
Look, Look, at that" excitedly
cried one of the boys on the pavement.
Saunders turned quick as a flash and
looked into the wagon, but saw moth
ing except a barrel. What's the
matter with your he asked the
youngster, and then it was the boy
said, "Why, there's man in that bar
rel, for / just saw his hand" Saun-
ders looked, and seeing the excelsior
move, reached in his hand and touch
ed something warm. It was Johnson,
curled up beneath pile Of excelsior.
He was gasping for breath and was all
but unconscious.
When the first of the two small
bows saw the hand and cried out to
Saunders, the other with rare pres
ence of mind ran to the gate and
which Guard Joseph Meekins was just !