A Jailbreak in the County Seat
Three prisoners escaped the county jail by cutting through a door and scaling the fence, leaving behind only one inmate who was too portly to fit through the hole.
That institution at the county seat, that out of pure levity is called jail, was depopulated Tuesday night. The prisoners had sojourned in the building just as long as they thought was necessary to recuperate, and when they concluded to stroll off, just packed up their traps and moved. Wednesday morning when the jailer went to feed the prisoners, he found that sometime during the night they had succeeded in cutting a hole through the door and jumping. After getting out of the jail into the yard the prisoners climbed up on a shed, got on top of the fence and lowered themselves down with a rope. The names of the escaped prisoners are J. A. Woods, George Biply, and a man who was brought here from Spokane Falls for selling whisky to Indians. Still another prisoner remained in jail, it being determined that his portly form not allowing him to get through the hole cut in the door is the only reason that kept him from smelling once more the air of freedom.
“Still another prisoner remained in jail, it being determined that his portly form not allowing him to get through the hole cut in the door is the only reason that kept him from smelling once more the air of freedom.”
This account of a jailbreak highlights the precarious nature of law enforcement in the frontier era, where 'crockery crate' jails were common. It serves as a reminder of the era's rudimentary civic infrastructure.
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