The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-09-14
STEPENA AND THORPE,
bad MEN, ESCAPE;
OTHERS ARE CAPTURED
Dead Convict Is Theodore
Schiller, 25-Two
Wounded.

Joliet, ILL., Sept 14.-TheO-
dore Schiller. aged -, was shot
and killed. John Koch, %. and
George williams were seriously
wounded when they and three
other cOnVicts attempted to
escape from the state peniten-
tiary early today. All the men
were from Cook county serving
one to 10 years for burglary.
One man. John Ryan. was re-
captured and is in solitary con-
finemenf. Edward Thorpe and
Carl Stepena, prison bad men,
escaped after the gun battle
with guards. A detail of police
is searching for them at Frank
fort, Ill
Saw Cell Bars.
Three convicts escaped by saving
their way through iron bars in the
prison cells. In each case two
bars were removed. Once outside
of the cells the men fed to the
prison roof and by means of rope
slid to freedom on the outside.
The daring attempt was careful
ly planned. Prison officials be-
lieve that it would have taken at
least 4 week for the men to saw
through their cells, in the few min
utes they would be allowed to
work
Alarm Sounded Quickly.
They had scarcely reached the
ground when the alarm was sound
ed and 20 men U?der the direction
of Night Captain c. ]. Carlson start
ed the chase. Schiller's freedom
was short-lived. He was shot BY
Carlson before he was outside the
wall and died within a few minutes,
The men scattered in all direc-
tions. Williams and Koch, the in
iured pair. were surrounded in the
E. J. & E freight yards and cap
tured after the guards had fired
several shots
Two Make Getaway
Ryan was caught by the guards
several blocks from the prison and
surrendered when he saw that a
fight was useless. Stepena, a pris-
on bad man." and Thorpe, were
traced by guards as far as Prank
ed an E. ]. & E. freight train east.
At a late hour this forenoon, the
pair had not been located
The break was engineered by
Stepena who has figured in sew
eral escapes from Chicago police.
He obtained his freedom by fling
the bolts of the lock apart Then
he picked the locks of his compaR-
ions cells and the five made their
way to the upper tier. where they
cut a hole in the roof with tools
stolen from the machine shops.
Board Freight Train.
Escaping from the roof to the
prison yard. the fleeing conVicts
were seen by prison guards, who
opened fire. Stepena and Thorpe
scaled the wall and jumped on
passing freight train. thought 10
be going through MattoOn.
Stepena was known in Chicago
police circles Last winter he was
shot by Horace OdelI, chauffeur for
John Alcock, first deputy superin-
tendent of police, in an attempted
holdup. He was caught and later
escaped from the county hospital
Harold Baumbaugh, who was
with Stepena at the time Of the
holdup, was killed in the fracas.
/ Penitentiary officials have start
ed an investigation to determine
how the convicts obtained their
tools with which to effect their e5-
cape.
Five Escape in Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah, Sept IA
Five prisoners at the Utah state
prison escaped early today after
overpoweTing two guards and
shooting a third They OyerpOw
cred two guards, bound them. took
their keys and reyolyers. They
were fired upon by a wall guard,
/ but disappeared in ( grove near
/ the prison