The Acid Plot in the Tacoma Jail
Prisoners used acid to soften steel bars in a desperate attempt to break out, but were thwarted by a suspicious jailer.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Jailer Duval of the Tacoma county jail was called out Monday night to investigate rumors of a planned escape. Through courtesy, visitors had been allowed to see prisoners on Sunday, despite it not being a scheduled visiting day, leading authorities to suspect that tools or materials were smuggled in. The night guard reported the prisoners were making an unusual amount of noise, singing and shouting to mask the sound of sawing. Upon arrival, Duval smelled acid, which had been used to soften the steel bars to make them easier to cut. He also found a large amount of burnt paper, presumably used to disguise the pungent odor of the chemical. The next morning, a search of the cells was conducted, during which one prisoner threw an object into a water closet to hide it before it could be recovered. Duval and his staff are now monitoring the prisoners' outside contacts to prevent further attempts.
“The prisoners were making an unusual amount of noise, singing and carrying on as they usually do to deaden the noise incident to sawing off the bars.”
Tacoma's jail management problems in the 1890s echo persistent modern issues regarding prison conditions and the constant, creative lengths to which people in custody go to seek freedom. The reliance on physical barriers—like steel bars—remains a core, if contested, feature of the justice system today.
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