The Bourbon news. [volume] (Paris, Ky.) 1895-19??, 1920-11-16
DESPERATE PRISONER ESCAPES
FROM PARIS JAZZ.

| Making good his boas: thst the
farls Jail would not hold him very
Iong, Jefferson Johnson, negro house
breaker and self-confessed head Of a
oand of thieves, made his escare
from the Paris Jail at an early hour
Sunday morning in the most APPROX
ed dime novel fashion.
Since his arrest and confinement
in the Paris Jail some weeks agu,
johnson had made one attempt to es-
cape by pricing up a large rock in
the floor of his cell. The attempt
was discovered in time to prevent
johnson from carrying out his ipten .
t1on. He was placed in irons by Jailer
Taul and removed to a stronger cell
on the lower floor. All the time h
boosted that he would be missing
some morning-and he isl
Some time during Saturday night
or al an early hour Sunday morning,
Johnson managed to break 4 leg-iron
from his bed in his cell. With this
he forced the wooden casing of the
window frame in his cell Calling to
another prisoner who was walking
in the corridor he asked for a match.
Taking the bedding from his bed ana
the wood from the window casing he
set them on fire and applied them to
the stone set in the window opening.
The heat soon rendered the stone
brittle and Johnson easily broke out
larger pieces, forcing the stone out
of the opening. Getting outside ne
secured piece of iron with which
he broke The chain of his ShackleS
and scaling ;he wall. made his e.
cape. A negro woman coming
through the underpass in the L. 6
N. yards, leading TO Claysvllle. tod
the police she met johnson coming
through the underpass, the leg irons
still on his ankles and the broken
chain dangling. She did not know
went to the home of Maggie
Small, in Claysville. where he secur-
ed a revolver and left. The woman
told the police she WIS not at home,
and that she did not see Johnson.
The authorities in surrounding
towns have been furnished with pho
and descriptions of john
son, and a determined effort is being
made to capture him. His trial was
to have come up at this term of the
Bourbon Circuit Court.
After being confined in the Paris
Jail Versailles authorities who
wanted Johnson, told Jailer Taul
that he had better keep close watch
ON Johnson. as ne had escaped froni
every Jail he had been confined in
and was a desperate prisoner, who
would stop at nothing to obtain hrs
freedom. The jailer had him hand
cuffed and shackled. Later on the
handouts were removed.
johnson was arrested in the color |
ID suburb of Claysville, on August
l3, by Chief of Police Link and Pa
Lrolman Lusk, on information from |
he Versailles authorities that he |
had broken Jail there and was also |
wanted for violating his parole. H. |
was put through a course of third
legree," during which he confesSed
% robbing O. number of stores
Central Kentucky. He |
escaped from the Versailles jail IN
June, and had been at large since
hen. He was paroled from the
Frankfort Reformatory in 1916.
later the officers arrested Dennis
tones and Emma Harris, colored, in !
1laysville, charged with being i'm
dictated with Johnson in some of his
,urglaries. Vt was claimed that
ZONES and the Harris woman had act
d as Fences" in helping 20 dispose
# the stolen goods. They are now
waiting trial in the Bourbon Cir
uit Court.
johnson is a desperate character,
ccordirg to the available police rec
,rds. After he had been placed III
he Paris jail, he is said
o have remarked that he
would get out, and that he
would get even with several people
n Claysville, whom he :ntimated
7ere responsible for his being taken
nto cusody. AS result Of his es-
ape, it is said that there are many
neasy heads in that classic sub
RIB until he is apprehended and
Ia ed In safety.