East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1916-12-08
Hole Battered Through Thick
Brick Walls With Stick Of
Cord Wood Late Yesterday
Afternoon.
SHERIFF IS IN PURSUIT
Men Have Advantage Of An Hours
Start, But Already a Few Oews
Have Been Discovered - Reward
Offered for Capture.

Battering their way through the
thick brick walls of the county Jail,
four Of the six prisoners OF Sheriff
Taylor yesterday afternoon made a
successful escape and are still at
large.
The escaped men are Ed vandiver,
held for larceny, John B. Burns and
Harvey Bensene alias Harry Went,
charged with assault and robbery.
and Steve Gums, a Greek held for
burglary.
The jailbreak occurred about 4
O'Clock yesterday afternoon and was
not discovered until an hour later
when Dell Shifts, another prisoner,
notified the officers. Shifts and his
wife Cred Wing were the only two
prisoners in the Jail not taking adj
vantage Of the hole made in the wall.
Used Stick OF CordWOOd.
The men literally battered their
way to freedom, using a four foot
stick of cordwood, taken into the Jail
for fuel, as a ram. They used q
blanket over the end In order to
deaden the noise. with this ram they
were able to loosen the bricks and
remove them. To make hole large
enough to admit the body OF a man
required about an hour Of battering.
according to Mrs. Shifts. They thus
began their work about 3 o'clock. The
hole was made jus below a window
facing the east. In order to get at
the wall, the men had first to dis
place the steam pipes which ran
along the wall. They were given the
liberty OF the corridors during the
daytime and were protected from dis
covery from the Jail door by the cells.
Janitor George Simpson was work
ing just outside the window until
nearly 1880, which bears out tho
story that the men did not begin work
until o'clock.
Shifts and his wife were evidently
not parties to the break though they
could not help but know Of the work
going on. At first Shifts denied
knowledge. declaring he had been in
another part of the Jail administer
ing to his wife, who was i'll.
Sheriff Takes Trail.
As soon as the break was discover
ed. Sheriff Taylor took up the trail
but the hour start gave the fugitives
a big advantage. He was out until
$3.50 this morning In the meantime
his deputies had the telephones
working and sent out circulars over
the northwest Some clews have been
received but nothing very definite.
The four escapes were being held
for the grand jury Vandiver, who is
believed to be the ringleader. was
recently arrested on charge Of steal
ing grain from warehouses. He ha.
been out of the Walla walla peniten-
tisry only a short time. having serv-
ed eight years there for burglary. He
escaped from that institution just
about year ago and was picked up
a few days later by Deputy Sheriff j.
H. Estes near Echo. He is about 80
years old.
Burns and Bensene. both Of whom
are young men Of % and 10 respec-
lively. are the men who beat up and
robbed an old man in the Pendleton
depot yards a few weeks ago. They
are charged with robbery without the
use of a dangerous weapon.
Gums is the Greek arrested las,
week on a charge of burglarzing the
section house at Mission. Sheriff
Taylor has offered rewards of SIS
each for the arrest and detention OF
Nandiver. Burns and Bensene