The Sheriff’s Son and the Jailbreak
A quick-thinking schoolboy foils a planned escape at the Vancouver county jail.
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.
Chester Sappington, son of the Sheriff, was passing the county jail in Vancouver on his way to school when a prisoner pushed a note through the window. The note read: 'Jail break planned for noon today.' Chester notified his father, who rushed to the jail and locked the prisoners in their cells. An investigation revealed three prisoners had planned to attack the deputy.
“The boy picked it up. It read: 'Jail break planned for noon today.'”
This story highlights a time when the workings of the local jail were public and porous. The involvement of the sheriff's child in law enforcement demonstrates the blurred lines of small-town civic life.
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