Jail escapes were a thrill in the old days. Before there were modern deterrents and safety measures, men were escaping from the jails in the most imaginative ways available to them. Tunneling under the jail, such as in this 1904 report, was a very popular option.
SIX BROKE FROM JAIL
Tunneled an 18-Inch Wall and Crawled Through the Sewer
New Orleans, La.: Six desperate white prisoners made good their escape from the Orleans parish prison Sunday forenoon during Sunday chapel exercises by one of the most daring schemes on record. They are Louis Lipps, George Conkling, an escaped prisoner from Clinton prison, Auburn, N.Y.; Frank Carrol, Frank Rodgers, Joseph Quarles and McGuire.
At 4 o’clock Sunday afternoon Quarles and McGuire were captures at Keaner Junction. McGuire looked so innocent that the officers released him, but just before midnight he was recaptured at Amite City on a freight train. The others are still at large. Carrol is wanted in Chicago.
They effected their escape by tunneling an 18-inch brick wall, crawling through a sewer pipe and then climbing over a 20 foot wall, lifting themselves up by means of a strong garden rake. It all happened while the guards and other prisoners were at Sunday morning prayers in the chapel. They finally escaped over the roof of an adjoining building and one by one made good their escape in the crowded street. They were gone several hours before the delivery was discovered.
Source (1904, February 05). Six broke from jail. The Rice Belt Journal, p. 2.
