Year: 1871

Baroa Trench In I.ancaster-Despernte but


Successful Efforts to Escape from Prison.


The Lancaster Intelligencer of last evening
says


A convict, named James A. Hamilton, made
his escape from Lancaster County Prison about
l o'clock on Sunday morning, and has not since
been heard from. He was confined in IRON
clad cell No. SO, situated near the farther end of
the left hand range of cells on the second floor.
An examination of the cell shows that he must
have worked a long time before effecting his
escape. He worked at shoemaking, and
several weeks ago complained that his bench
was too low for him, requesting that a
couple of short strips of 1-inch board
might be placed on the floor under the legs of
the bench, so as to raise it that much higher.
This request was granted, and Hamilton at once
went to work with his knife to cut through the
floor of his cell, concealing his operations by
placing the strips of pine exactly over the cut
and setting his bench upon them while working
at his trade in the daytime, or when there was
any danger of his being interfered with. Having
in this way removed a number of flooring boards
in the southeast corner of his cell, he encoun-
tered the masonry of the arched cell below him.
This he removed little by little, and probably
replaced it, loosely, from night to night.
Having quarried away the masonry from
under the floor to the depth of about foot and
the length of three feet, and broad enough to
admit his body, he next attacked the three-feet
thick stone wall of the prison. Making breach
in it was not so desperate an undertaking as at
first sight it would seem to be. The mortar
used in the construction of the wall is of a very
inferior quality, there being so little lime in it
that it can be readily crumbled to pieces. Still
he must have worked hard for many nights to
remove the mass of stone and mortar neces-
sary to make the aperture through which he
escaped. The debris, amounting, we think,
to about a cartload, was this morning
found car carefully piled P5le Id under his his
about five or six inches in width. These he had
| split, or rather cut in two lengthwise, with his
knife, and had mortised number of holes
| through each of them, and had made a number
| of rounds to fit the mortises so that o good
| ladder could be made of the pieces in few
| minutes with which to scale the wall. He
| had made a miscalculation, however, fol-
the long Stats would not pass through the
| hole in the wall, on account of its peculiar
shape and position. Leaving his lad
| der behind him, he descended from his
| strong cord made of shoe thread. Once in the
| yard he went to the wash-house into which he
entered through shutterless window by break
| ing pane of glass, and removing nail on the
| inside which fastened down the sash. Here he
| got bed-tick and some old clothes. The car
penteI shop is a second story room over the
| wash-house. Breaking into it, the prisoner


selected sufficient lumber to construct o lad


der with which to scale the jail-yard wall


The ladder was made by lashing together


with strips of bed-tick and old clothes foul


long, narrow boards, reaching to the top of the


WALL and tieing across them at intervals th'


slaves of a barrel which the prisoner had broker


up for that purpose. Placing the ladder agains


the wall near the Orange street gate, he wen


over free man, and has not yet been captured


Hamilton has long been regarded as tn,


most dangerous and desperate inmate of tn


prison.