MYSTERIOUS GAOL ESCAPE.
CELL BARS SAWN THROUGH.
DOORS LOCKED AND POLICE NEAR,
William Hoffman, alias Edward Russell, who escaped from the Ohio State penitentiary in May, 1919, sawed his way to freedom on a recent morning from the West Chicago avenue police station. The escape is regarded as 'mysterious by the police. It is perfectly clear how Hoffman got out of his cell; one of the bars had been sawed through. But after effecting his release from the small cell, the police say, the prisoner was no .-hearer freedom than before, as he had only let himself into the “bull pen.” The door of the “bull pen” was locked, according to Daniel Hogan, the lock-up keeper. There are no windows through which a man could get out.
The only possible exits from the “bull penA-nfe doors. One of these is in the front of the station, and to get to it Hoffman would have been compelled to walk past the desk sergeant. It is not thought he could have gone out this way without being seen. The other door is at the side of the station.' Any one passing out that way would have to walk through the barn, where the waggon men were sitting. The waggon men say they saw or heard no one going out that way. , An investigation of the escape was started immediately by Captain Matthew Zimmer. Lockup Keeper Hogan, questioned before the captain's arrival, stated vehemently that lie had locked the door to the “bull pen.” With this door locked, he said, lie thought it was impossible fWMloffman to get out. The escape, he said, was made about 4 o’clock in the morning. In checking up on the prisoners, the lockup keeper discovered the sawed bar with sodp shavings lying on the floor under it. When C a plain. Zimmer arrived at the station he called Hogan in for questioning. The captain said later that Hogan had made a statement, but refused to divulge any part of it.
“I will make an investigation of this case.personally, and when I am through I’ll make a report to the chief, and that’s all,” Captain Zimmer said.
Hoffman was arrested by a policeman, who had stopped Hoffman and was not satisfied with the answers he gave. At the station a jimmy, a flashlight, and a loaded revolver were found in Hoffman’s possession. When he learned lie was to be taken to the bureau of identification, Hoffman admitted he had escaped from the Ohio State penitentiary.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MH19220218.2.2
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Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 2394, 18 February 1922, Page 1
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417MYSTERIOUS GAOL ESCAPE. Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 2394, 18 February 1922, Page 1
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