A Breakfast Ambush: Tacoma Prisoners Nearly Break Free

Tacoma, June 23. — A daring attempt on the part of the county prisoners to break jail occurred this morning at 10 o'clock at the county jail in the courthouse block. Night Jailer Gibbes had gone into the steel cage to give the prisoners their breakfast, when the attempt was made. The prisoners, by the aid of tools smuggled in from the outside, had sprung the lock of the door so that the bolt would not catch, and after Jailer Gibbes had set their breakfast down he unlocked the cell doors to liberate the men into the cage corridor. This was the opportunity they had been waiting for, and they made a concerted rush, forcing the door open and attacking the jailer, who called loudly for help. After knocking Gibbes prostrate, they rushed for the unlocked iron door that leads into the jailer's office. Day Jailer Goodrich, however, happened to be on hand just in time to nip the effort for liberty in the bud. He was carrying a pail of slops across the main floor, when he heard the shuffling of feet, and scenting just such an attempt as was being made, he rushed to the outer jail door and held it against the furious assault of half a dozen desperate men on the other side. Taking William Woodard, a 'trusty,' to his aid, they managed to hold the door until Deputy Sheriffs McArthur and Leary could be summoned from the sheriff's office, and at the point of revolvers the prisoners were forced back to their cells. Among the ringleaders in the attempted escape were Pomeroy, the La Camas office robber; Tom Mayden, a notorious crook who was sentenced by Judge Hanford Saturday to four years in the penitentiary; Joe Finland, Boaken, Fay, Dorgan and others of the same stripe. It is now known that the men had planned to attempt a break for months, and that a scheme to liberate the prisoners was hatched a couple of months ago. It was only foiled through the efforts of Sheriff Parker, who removed Pomeroy to his cell in Oregon to prevent his communicating with outside parties. Signals were exchanged, and it was evidently arranged that certain pals were to be in front of the jail at 10 o'clock on a certain morning. Sheriff Parker sent the visitors away and laid low for a while, hoping to catch them at work, but the fact that their plan had miscarried became known, and the attempt was made anyway.