Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-08-29
70 IONA CONWCTS
STILL ELUDE HUNT
Four Men in Sensational Es-
cape Recaptured-Face g.
! Year Longer Terms.
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
IONA, Mich, August 2S.-Appar-
emily having scattered in various di-
rections, 20 of the "a convictS who
escaped from the State reformatory
here this morning after overpowering
20 guards, were still at liberty tonight.
-Four were .recaptured and tonight
were back in the institution, in soil
tary confinement and facing the pos
sibility of three years additional i'm
prisonment for their short freedom.
The break, shortly after $50 o'clock
this morning, was one Of the boldest
IN the history of Michigan penal In
Stitutions. For a time five men, ring
leaders in the escape, were in virtual
possession of the prison. Among the
leaders We're Benton Ford and Frank
lin Todd of Toledo, sentenced for hold
ing up the Hadley State Bank in La
peer County some months ago. That
many Of the other 1,400 inmates of
the prison did not join the "a who
got out was due largely 10 the cour-
age of Ed Haight. deputy warden.
Summoned from his home by an out
guard, Haight ran to the scene and
arrived as a large group of inmates
were coming through the main en-
trance. Firing his rifle over their
heads, Haight forced them back into
the prison.
Several Slightly Hurt.
No one was severely injured, but
feveral were slightly hurt by flying
glass and by the milling of the crowd.
Contrary to earlier reports only the
leaders of the escaped convicts ap-
pear to have been armed. Where
they obtained the weapons has not
been determined. Only yesterday the
periodical search of the institution fol
weapons was begun and was to have
been completed today with inspection
of the ward in which the outbreak
Originated.
While the men recaptured today
disclaimed any knowledge of a plot
officials are convinced by the dispatch
with which the break was carried out
that it had been planned for weeks.
Evidently by pre-arrangement, dis
furbance was created In one of the
two prison dOrmitories. Guards at
tracted by the commotion were over
powered and stripped OF their uni
forms. Two of the five leaders donned
uniforms and proceeded to the prison
yard, where two more guards were
0verpowered.
Twenty Guards Locked Up.
Working methodically they round
ed up other guards about the prison
locked in a cell. With keys taken
from the guards. the cells of other
prisoners were unlocked. The leaders
then went to the office of Roy Sypher,
captain of the night guard, where
they demanded keys to the outer gate.
Three of the men, Sypher said later,
were in favor of killing him. but of
them Russell Andrus. sentenced from
Detroit, diSsuaded them. Let's don't
kill him." Andrus said; "the captain
always has been a pretty square
shooter with u.s.
Instead of using Sypher's keys. the
convictS forced him to order a guard
to open the outer door of the admin
3stration building. Through this door
the prisoners swarmed to the outer
gate, where o. Johnson. a guard. was
beaten with his own rife. He was
tho first armed guard the cOnvictS
met. Inside guards are not armed.
Before johnson could recover and
sound an alarm "a OF the convicts
had fed, some afoot, others in auto.
mobiles they seized. Five machines
were taken. Two of them, out of
gasoline. were found later. one at
lIOWeH, IN Kent county, to the west,
and the other at Howell, in Living
stone County. east of here.
Other Leaders Named.
Besides Ford. Todd and Andrus, the
Readers were Victory Chicky, SEN
fenced from Grand Rapids for bur
Elary, and Bert Rice, sentenced from
Oakland County for auto theft.
The first men recaptured today
were Napoleon Smith and Charles
Smith. sentenced from Wayne Coun-
~ Detroit on robbery and burglary
charges, and Samuel Click. sentenced
from Detroit on a robbery charge.
THE first two who We're not related.
were captured in a wooded section, 10
1niles north Of here. while Click was
found in a swamp, four miles from
the prison.
Richard Anderson, sentenced to the
feformatory from Kent County on a
charge of burglary, was captured on
ihe outskirts of Ionia at about 4
O'Clock this afternoon. He said he
had no part in the plot.
Warden Charles H. Shean was alb
gent in Detroit at the time of the
break.