Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1916-07-23
EIGHT MEN
ESCAPE FROM
P[N|TENT|ARY
Quick Work of Officers Round
Up Three Of the Inmates
Near Creek.
DOUBLE REWARD FOR
FOUR OF THE MEN
Nsavels and McGee Are Thought
to Have Planned the Whole
Affair.


the recapture Of three, Andrew
Schmidt, Alley PyIes and AdoIph
Tornberg, near Apple Creek, be-
fore midnight.
The usual reward Of $50 for re.
capture Of escaped prisoners has
been doubled for four Of the men
still at large. They are. w. II.
NeaveIs, UP for burglary from
Stark county; Mack MCGEE,
lifer; J. J. King, who escaped
once before, and James Gleason.
Neavels and MCGEE are believ-
Cd to have planned the escape.
the former using mis- Inside infor-
nation to good advantage.
7-sAn aiansufacient number OF. guards
due to not having money enough to
hire more, made possible the escape
of eight prisoners from the state pen
itentiary Saturday forenoon between
1880 and 11:20.
Saturday is bath day at the peni-
Tertiary, which makes necessary the
taking of the, inside yard guard and
placing him in charge OF the bathers.
The old icehouse hides from view a
portion Of the east wall from the
guards in the towers on the north
and south walls.
: ~ Bury All Debris.
Using a piece of shafting, a ma.
sons bar and heavy ~crowbar, the
prisoners broke hole through the
east wall. Tracks show that lookouts
We're placed at each end of the ice.
house to watch for the ;ntruders. AS
the bricks were removed they were
thrown into the icehouse and covered
up with earth. All debris was buried
so as to leave no traces of the work,
The place was carefully selected,
demonstrating clear knowledge Of
conditions of the wall. On both sides
are heavy pillars of brick, five feet
thick. The place selected is the weak
est spot in the wall. Inside the wall
there is nothing to show where the
wall is thick and where thin. !.
Working on Diamond.
Two of the men who escaped had
been detailed to place the baseball
diamond, adjoining the icehouse, in
condition. It is believed that these
men are the ones who broke through
the wall.
The tWine machinery was running
at full speed during the morning, the
noise of the machinery drowning the
noise made by the prisoners in bat
tering hole through the wall.
NeaveIs Brains Of Gang.
w. H. Neavels was the brains Of
the conspiracy. He was formerly on
the police force at Beach, this state.
From there he came to the peniten-
tiary, as guard and was employed
for six months. He was discharged
for becoming too intimate with the
convicts. Shortly after leaving the
penitentiary he formed band of rob-
bers and entered on career of crime
robbing box cars. He was sentenced
for third degree burglary from Stark
county, in March, 1916, for term Of
five years.
James Gleason, another of the es-
capped prisoners, has long prison
record behind him, including terms in
Sing Sing and other state prisons.
He was sentenced from Mount
rail county in 1915, for Is years. for
second degree murder.
King Escaped Before.
]. J. King was the convict who
escaped on June u, while work
ing in the brickyard. He was
recaptured and returned from Aber-
deem, s. D., last week. In his previ-
GUS escape he was picked up by ma
chine almost under the caves of the
penitentiary.
Pyles and Tornberg we're employed
in the boiler room and while wheeling
out ashes saw the hole in the wall
and took advantage of the chance to
escape. Schmidt was yard orderly,
having charge of sweeping the walks
and cleaning up, and probably was on
watch while the other men cut the
hole in the wall McGee, Rudolph
and King escaped after leaving the
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