Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-05-18
PRISONERS ESCAPE
FROM GUARD HOUSE
At FORT Du POINT
Four Sawed Their Way to Liberty
at an Early Hour This
Morning.
ELUDED THE SENTRIES S

ELiding the guard. after dextrously con
Csealing their preliminary work, four
military prisoners escaped from tho g1tirci
house at Fort du Pont between ! 80 and
4 o clock this morning, after having sawcd
two iron bars protecting a window, which
was the onlv thing that stood between
them and liberty.
tn to 3 o clock this afternoon they were
stiI at large. evidently having gotten
well AWAY. for the immediate neighborhood
including Delaware City and the sur
rounding country, was searched with =
fine tooth comb" metaphorically speak
ing.
As the men had been there only a short
time. very little is known about them
Their names arr gwen as follows
James Martin, who had been arIested
in Wilmington. charged with deserving
from the army He Is about p years old,
weighs 1I5 pounds, is ) feet inches tall
and wore q dark suit and light cap when
he got away
Schaffer first name unknown. He Is
about 81 wears old. weighs about 80
pounds, Is ; feet inches tall. He had on a
dark check suit and cap He has dark
hair He had been arrested 81 Media, "a
charged with being 3 deserter from 70
NJ. Forty-eighth : Infantry
Sinton Ash-About the same general
description as SchafFer He has hight hair
and wore a military working suit.
Holzberver first name unknown lie
weighs about I4O pounds IN ) feet I o. ,
inches tall and has light hair. He escaped
IN uniform. He was sent here IRON the
guard detachment in Chester, Pa.
WORK or AN EXPERT
Two heavy steel bars IN the window
had to be sawed through IN order Tor the
men to get out This was evidently done
bv an expert, who must have used saw,
Judging from the appearance OF the sever
ed bars when they were examined alter
ward Ii was not known, however, That
any of the prisoners had saw or any
thing by which they could manage TO get
out.
Because of the crowded condition OF the
guard house at Fort du Pont, with cell
accommodations for % prisoners and about
2S to be taken care OF, 1t was nectz~
sary TO permit some 20 sleep IN the corridor
last night and II was the corridor crowd
that got away. In the cells the way out Is
blocked hy barred windows and doors,
but in the alIeyway after the barred WIN
dow had been sawed through the oniy
For some reason they were not seen by the
sentries, who, incidentally, are new men
However. all who were on duty sad they
did not see the men get out or leave
Several Fort du Pont soldiers returning
this morning from furiOughs reported
having seen two strange men IN the Vlcln-
ity Of st Georges, but as they did not nave
the appearance Of being soldiers they were
not intercepted
The getaway took place between
30 and 4 o clock At the former hour a
thorough inspection of all the prison
quarters was made by the sergeant OF the
guard, and there was a similar Inspection
by the sergeant and officer Of the guard al
O clock At the former hour everything
appeared to be IN good shape, with the
prisoners apparently asleep, but at
o clock the four mentioned above were not
there and an examination Of the barred
window Inuteiy told the story.
Immediately after their dls4ppearaI
had been discovered the whole Fort loa.-
msnd started a search and notification
| was sent TO all nearby cities and towns
Should any Of the Fort du Pont en-
capture any Of those who escaped they
will be rewarded with extra long leaves OF
absence
One Of the men who csc ped IS said tc
have recently served 4 flve-year term IN
q State prison, and it is suspected that
he turned the trick, by conceaiing saw
| and using it at the logical time