#escape plot

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ALBUQUERQUE FELON CHARGED IN ALLEGED ARMED ESCAPE PLOT: FEDERAL CASE DETAILS WEAPONS STOCKPILE, FENTANYL TRAFFICKING, AND COORDINATED CUSTOD

A federal criminal complaint has been filed against an Albuquerque man following an investigation into an alleged plan to arm an inmate for

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"Hunt 7 In Touhy Escape," Chicago Tribune. October 10, 1942. Pages 1, 6, 7 & 8. --- GANG CHIEF AND 4 PALS FLEE IN PRISON BREAK ---- Roll Call Reavels 2, Others Gone. ---- BY WARREN BAKER. (Pictures on pages 6, 7, and 8.) Seven desperate convicts, all facing the prospect of spending the rest of their lives in prison, were hunted late last night, hours after a desper ate break over the walls at Stateville prison, near Joliet.

Five of them, headed by Roger [Terrible] Touhy, head of the old northwest side gang that kidnaped John [Jake the Barber] Factor, es- caped in an assault that ended in the wounding of two guards and a civilian employé.

Touhy Heads 5 in Break. Those with Touhy were:

Basil The Owl] Banghart, Touhy's former machine gunner who is known to police as one of the most vicious criminals of modern times.

James O'Connor, an undersized lifer who has escaped twice before from Stateville. The first time he got out hidden in a desk he had helped to build in the carpenter shop. The second time he went over the wall when some one turned out all the prison lights.

William Stewart, lanky 43 year old bandit sentenced to life as an habitual criminal.

Matthew Nelson, 40 years old, one of Stewart's Chicago associates in a bandit gang, also sentenced to life as an habitual criminal.

Discover Two More Missing. Hours after the escape, when Warden E. M. Stubblefield had returned from a business trip to Springfield, a roll call of the inmates was taken. Then it was found that two more convicts were missing, but whether they had escaped in the confusion could not be learned for certain before every foot of the prison and its huge grounds had been searched. The two are:

Edward Darlak, 31 year old mur derer of a Chicago policeman, serving 199 years.

St. Clair McInerney, 31, a safe blower and bandit who also is serving life as an habitual criminal.

Four and five guards manned each tower last night, and worked in relays hunting Darlak and McInerney.

Gov. Dwight H. Green said last night that he was "shocked" when informed of the prison break. He added that every facility of the state will be put in operation not only to bring the men back to prison, but to and out how they escaped.

Far Flung Manhunt Begins. One of the biggest and most widely flung manhunts the state ever has known was set in operation as soon as word of the escapes reached city, county, and state police. Every state policeman on the rolls was called into service and scores set to patroling highways and barricading intersections. The state's attorney's police, with a number of city policemen who could recognize the convicts, were sent out in squads to patrol old Touhy haunts and to aid the state forces.

Reports came pouring in from allsides late last night. The convicts had been seen in Downers Grove, in Naperville, on route 56 headed for Chicago. But the hottest of these reports came from two state policemen operating a barricade at Wolf road and Lake street [route 20].

They had stopped about five cars on each side of the intersection and were questioning occupants, when a dark car answering the general description of that in which the five escaped came roaring west on Lake street, and swung wide of the stopped automobiles.

Heads Car Toward Policeman. Policeman Benjamin Webb jumped out into the path of the car, waving his revolver. The car increased its speed, turned out its lights, and headed for Webb. He leaped out of the way just in time and it sped thru the intersection at 75 to 80 miles an hour and on westward.

The two policemen chased it to York road, about two miles, but never caught sight of it again. They then reported to their station by phone and the alarm was spread north, south and west of the point where it vanished. The policemen fired several shots.

State's attorney's police also were busy all night searching for those who recently had visited any of the convicts. Hunt Tony's "Brother." Madison, Wis. pollce were asked by Capt. Daniel Gilbert of the state's attorney's office to look for Edward Touhy, supposed brother of Roger Touhy, whom prison records list as having visited the gangster six times.

His latest visit, according to the records, was in Sept. 21. Capt. Gilbert said that Touhy was the only one of the escaped convicts who received more than one or two visits in the last year.

He expressed skepticism regarding the alleged relationship of the visitor, if Touhy had a living brother named Edward, he said, the state's attorney's office never had heard of him. He suggested that the "brother" may have been a member of the Touhy mob who posed as a relative in order more readily gain permission to visit the gangster.

Jall Driver Explains Visit. A deputy sherif, Jerry Kalal of Des Paines, who drives the bus bearing prisoners from the county jail to the state prison, also was listed as a visitor to Touhy and was questioned.

His explanation that he had visited Touhy to Inquire about some prop erty owned by the Thuhy family in Des Plaines was accepted.

Police visited Mrs. Hasel Kushn of 5659 Grover street, sister of Matthew Nelson. She and her husband, Albert, said that they had not seen Nelson since they visited him in prison in July and August of 1941. They said they had received no calls from the escaped felon. Police Visit Darlak Helatives. Police also called upon Edward Dur sister, Mrs. Mildred Roces, 541 Barber street, and his mother, Mrs. Pauline Darlak, 1257 West 14th place Two of Darlake's four brothers, Fred and Paul, who live with their mother. also were questioned. Two other brothers, Casimir and Loule, live in Chicago. Police searched the North Clark street taverns in the hope of finding Stewart, whom they relied w arrested in a Clark street gin mill.

Capt. Gilbert ordered a guard for Buck Hendricks former county high- way policeman, whose testimony as a state witness was instrumental in Touhy's conviction.

The guard for State's Attorney Courtney also was ordered tightened, and the detective squad car that normally follows the state's attorney was ordered to redouble its vigilance.

STORY OF THE ESCAPE The full story of the spectacular daylight foray inside the prison came out laze in the evening when Warden Stubblefield and Safety Director T. P. Sullivan questioned the prison personnel. After the inquiry, double investigation was opened, first to learn by what means four pistols were smuggled into the prison to the convicts - all were armed save Touhy and, second, whether Darlak and McInerney were in or out of the place.

From the stories of the guards and trusties who saw or were forced to take part in the break it was learned that the action started about 1:40 pm.

First warning came when a convict later identified as Touhy dashed from the bakery, in which he worked, to the convict driver of a garbage truck. Touhy, armed with a pair of scissors, ripped the shirt and slashed the forehead of the convict, Jack Cito, knocked him down, and leaped into the truck. He drove eff at high speed across the prison yard.

Cuts Telephone Wires. He drove to the mechanical shop where he rushed in and confronted Samuel Johnson, the guard on duty. He snipped the telephone wires with his scissors and, as at a signal. Banghart came thru a window with a gun.

In the mechanical store are kept number of sections of ladders locked in racks. Touhy and Banghart demanded two sections, one at 40 feet and another 30 feet long. As Johnson was unlocking the ladders, under the menace of Banghart's gun. Lieut. George Cotter, in charge of the mechanical shop, arrived on the scene. Banghart and Tray leaped on the Lieutenant beating him with their weapons, and dumped him into the truck, taking Johnson along, too. The ether three convicts were waiting is the truck.

Guard Shot in Forehead. Touhy and Banghart then headed the track for the northwest corner of the prison, to the area guarded by tower No. 3. As they neared the wall several of them opened fire en Guard Herman Kross in the tower. Kross was struck in the forehead by a bullet and fell.

The convicts then put up the long section of the ladder, making Johnson help them after beating him and tearing his shirt off. They took Johnson up the ladder with them. Kross had crawled inside the tower and was found dazed in a corner.

"Here's the key," one of them said, pointing to Kross' key to the door leading from the outside of the prison to the tower stairway. (There is no way to reach the tower from inside the prison.)

Hanging from its usual hook was the rope with which the tower guards lower the door key to the guard relieving them and up which they draw their lunches and coffee. Other convicts had searched Kross and had taken the key to his automobile, parked outside the prison at the foot of the tower stairs.

Flee In Guard's Auto. They then seized two rifles, part of the tower armament, and a heavy plated Kross wore, together with 15 or 20 rounds of extra ammunition for each gun, and calmly went down the tower stairs, unlocked the door, and left in Kross' light auto.

Kross, still dazed from his wound. was brought back to the prison last night from his home in Lockport, to which he had been taken after the break.

He said when he saw the truck coming toward the wall he saw prison officers on it and had started back for his rifle when he was felled by the bullet. He said he heard only two shots - four were fired, other witnesses said - and and he hesitated to shoot because he was afraid of hitting other guards. He said he was still dazed when a convict reached the tower and shoved him into a corner and took his gun.

Foreman Seized and Escapes. William Dahler, foreman of the mechanical shop, revealed during the questioning of guards, that he had been slugged and had suffered a bad scalp wound when Touhy and Banghart jumped him before they con fronted Johnson In the store room He was put into the track, too, but during the confusion of subduing Johnson and Lieut. Cotter, he escaped.

Warden Stubblefeld said after the Inquiry that there are about 2,800 inmates now in the prison. On guard over them are 240 men in three shifts. The warden said his turnover of guards had been 85 per cent in the last year because of the low pay - $115 to $135 a month - and because many of the men have left for war jobs or entered the armed services.

A count of the convicts is taken three times a day, 5:39 m. 4:30 p.m. and 9 pm. All were accounted for at the morning count, but there were seven sheet at both counts later in the day. Secretary Calls Police More than an hour elapsed after the escape of the four before Chicago police were notified. Then Warden Stubblefield's secretary called police head-quarters and told meager details of the break, naming Touhy and Banghart and a man named Connors. The secretary said she did not know the name of the fourth man.

It was nearly three hours before the state's attorney's staff were able to get the complete list of the fleeing convicts. Wilbert Crowley, first assistant state's attorney, demanded the prison name all who had fed so his force would know whom to look for. Only then was he told that the third and fourth men were James O'Connor and Stewart.

Believe Banghart Planned It. The smoothness and thorouhness of the escape and its planning were credited by most authorities to Bang hart and O'Connor, Banghart was brought back to Illinois in 1554 after lending a $100,000 mail robbery in Charleston, S. C. for which he was sentenced to 36 years. He was sentenced here to 39 years for the Factor kidnaping in a separate trial and was sent to Menard prison.

In about a year he managed, with three other desperadoes, to obtain scissors from the prison tailor shop and cut his way out of the penitentiary. He was shot in the arm and captured within an hour. Banghart is supposed to have some thing more than $380,000 of his mail robbery proceeds cached somewhere in this area. Two others of the gang were sent down to Jollet with Touhy. [Banghart was sent there after his Menard escape.] They were Gloomy Gus Shaeffer and Albert Paily Nosel Kator. Schaeffer died while in prison.

SEEK BANGHART'S GIRL The sweetheart of Basil Banghart, who broke out of Stateville prison yesterday, was one of the persons police wanted to question about the escape. She is Mae Block, some times known as Mrs. Basil Banghart., a dark haired, attractive woman, who gave birth to a daughter in 1914 at Asheville, N. C, while Banghart was awaiting trial for a $100,000 mall truck robbery.

After that robbery $81,000 of the foot was not recovered, and there were reporta that Banghart had buried it in Chicago. Banghart was sentenced to 34 years Imprisonment for the robbery but since he was al ready under a 90 year sentence In Illinois for the John Factor kidnaping, he was returned here to serve that term.

Pardoned by Governor. Soon after the mall robbery trial the Blalock woman was arrested in Tennessee on a state charge of kid naping Rufux Costner, a brother of Ike Costner, who was convicted with Banghart for the mall holdup. She was convicted and sentenced to 45 years in prison in 1936.

Two years later the governor of Tennessee pardoned her, declaring he thought the kidnaping charge was fictitious. She promptly agreed to help show the authorities where the balance of the mail loot could be found.

In company with the chief of detectives of Charlotte, N. C, the Bis lock woman came to Chicago in September, 1928 to hunt for the buried treasure It was never found, but police suspected she knew where it was hidden.

Nothing has been heard from her since the treasure hunt. She has not been among Banghart's recent visitors at the prison.

"KIDNAPING PAIR, LONG NOTORIOUS, IN FOR 99 YEARS," Chicago Tribune. October 10, 1942. Page 6. ---- In Gang of Killers That Battled Capone. ---- Roger Touhy and Basil Banghart, who escaped yesterday from Stateville penitentiary, were members of a notorious gang of killers, kidnapers, and bootleg operators. For years they fought the Capone gang, and after Al Capone was sent to prison, the Touhys were undisputed masters of Chicago's underworld.

Roger Touhy was the boss of the gang. Banghart, known "The Owl," was the gang's machine gunner. Both were sentenced to 99 years in prison in 1934 for the $100,000 ransom kidnaping of John [Jake the Barber] Factor. Gus Schaefer and Albert Kator were sentenced to thesame terms for the same crime.

At his trial Touhy accused Factor of staging a fake abduction to prevent his return to England where he faced trial for an alleged stock swindle. Touhy carried his appeal to the United States Supreme court, which denied his application for a writ of habeas corpus in 1938.

Two Brothers Slain. The Touhy brothers [Roger, James, Thomas, John, Joseph, and Edward] grew up in the neighborhood of Polk street and Damen avenue. Their father was a policeman - an honest one and a good one, his associates said. The boys' mother was burned to death accidentally when they were youngsters.

From petty thefts they went to burglaries and then to bootlegging. The roster of the brothers dwindled. James died in the penitentiary. John was killed by a stray bullet in a tavern. Joseph was killed in a gun fight. Edward died a natural death.

That left only Thomas and Roger, who organized the gang that became known as "The Terrible Touhys."

For a while the Touhy gang had a working agreement with the Capone gang, under which they divided territories for the sale of bootleg liquor. Eventually the truce was broken, and a war between the gangs raged for several years. The full story of this war has never been told, but many an "unsolved" murder was laid to the strife.

Judge's Home Bombed. In 1939 part of the story came out when an unnamed convict told the state's attorney's office how several sensational crimes were committed. One of these was the mysterious bombing of the home of Judge John P. McGoorty in 1932. The blast blinded a boy who was passing by, and a woman lost the sight of one eye.

This crime, said the convict, was committed by the Touhys in order to add to the public clamor for the return to prison of their deadly enemy, James [Fur] Sammons, a gunner for the Capone gang.

The convict also blamed Roger Touhy for the 1932 ambush murder of George [Red] Barker, a Capone killer. This slaying was to avenge the killing of Timothy J. Lynch, czar of the teamsters' union, in the previous year.

Repeal of prohibition cut off the Touhy gang's rich sources of income, and they turned to bank robberies, kidnapings and efforts to muscle into labor unions. Thomas Touhy concluded his career by taking part in a $78,000 mail holdup in the Minneapolis station of the Milwaukee road on Jan. 3, 1933. He and seven others were sentenced to 23 years for this crime and they are still in federal prison.

That left Roger as the last of the brothers. With Banghart as his chief aid, he kidnaped Factor, and was sent to prison for 99 years. Police say he turned "cry baby" when he got behind prison walls and spent all his time complaining and plotting ways to escape or to have his sentence voided.

The real toughened criminal of the gang, according to police, is Banghart. His break yesterday was his fourth escape from prison. In 1927 he escaped from the federal penitentiary at Atlanta, Ga., along with the notorious Gerald Chapman. Captured at South Bend, Ind., he shot his way out of the city jail while awaiting extradition.

Shot in Chase. Banghart was recaptured in Baltimore, Md., and returned to Chicago for trial as one of the Factor kidnapers. Sentenced to 99 years, he was sent to Menard prison, where he staged his third prison break by smashing thru the prison gates in a commandeered truck with three other prisoners.

About nine miles from the prison the truck crashed into an automobile. Pursuing prison guards then caught up with the fugitives. Banghart was shot in the arm during the roundup that followed. Soon afterward he was transferred to the old state prison in Joliet, where the most hardened criminals usually are confined.

"POLICE RECORDS OF FELONS WHO ESCAPED PRISON," Chicago Tribune. October 10, 1942. Page 7. ----- (Story starts on page 1.) Figures in Escape ---- 'Terrible' Touhy Leader of Ruthless Gang. ---- Here are the criminal records and descriptions of the five convicts who escaped and the two reported missing from Stateville prison yesterday: ROGER TOUHY - 45 years old. 5 feet 5 inches tall, weighs 139 pounds; of medium build; has chest- nut hair mixed with gray; light blue eyes. He was the leader of the "Terrible Touhy" gang that ruled the liquor traffic on the northwest side during prohibition days. Later the gang turned to bank robberies, kidnapings, and muscling in on labor unions. Touhy was convicted only once - for the kidnaping of John Factor - and was serving a 99 year sentence.

BASIL BANGHART - 41 years old, 5 feet 8 inches tall, weighs 152 pounds; has light blue "slanty" eyes and chestnut hair, medium gray. Police describe him as the toughest man who ever walked into the Chicago detective bureau. In the old gang days he was known as the machine gunner for the Touhy mob. Banghart also was serving a 99 year sentence for the Factor kidnaping, but he is also under another 36 year sentence for a mail truck robbery in Asheville, N. C.

JAMES O'CONNOR - 36 years old, 5 feet 4 inches tall; weighs 158 pounds; orange-green slanty eyes; chestnut hair. He was serving a term of 1 year to life for armed robbery imposed in 1932, but earlier he served a sentence for assault to rob. Yesterday was his third escape from the penitentiary. In May, 1932, O'Connor and a pal concealed themselves in a desk while at work in the prison furniture factory and broke free from a truck outside the prison walls. Later that year he was shot and captured during an attempted robbery. In 1936 he made his second escape from Stateville, climbing a cleverly contrived ladder resting against the 33 foot wall after throwing the entire prison into darkness by pulling the master switch. He was captured in January, 1937, in Kenosha, Wis., and returned to prison.

WILLIAM STEWART - 43 years old, 6 feet tall, medium build: dark hair mixed with gray; light hazel green slanty eyes. He was sentenced Nov. 14. 1937 on a plea of guilty to robbery. Under the habitual criminal act he was sentenced to life imprisonment.

MATTHEW NELSON, ALIAS MARTIN NEWTON - 40 years old, 5 feet 95 inches tall; weighs 149 pounds; medium build, sallow complexion, chestnut hair and blue eyes. He was a member of Stewart's robbery gang. and like him was sentenced Nov. 14. 1937 to life imprisonment under the habitual criminal act.

ST. CLAIR McINERNEY - 30 years old. 5 feet 8 inches tall; weighs 157 pounds, medium build, chestnut hair, fair complexion, blue eyes. He was serving a life term under the habitual criminal act, imposed in 1937 after he was caught while attempting to blow a safe in the Swedish club, 1258 North La Salle street. In 1932 he had been granted probation after he confessed to four robberies. The probation was voided, and he was sentenced to one year to life for burglary. He was paroled after serving two years. 5 feet 6 inches tall, weighs 141 pounds, medium build, fair complexion, chestnut hair, hazel eyes. He was serving a 199 year sentence for the murder of Policeman Thomas Kelma during a holdup in 1935. One of his companions in the holdup, Frank Banks, who confessed firing the fatal shots, committed suicide by hanging himself in his county jail cell. "Roger Touhy, Basil Banghart, and Five Others Escape from Stateville," Chicago Tribune. October 10, 1942. Page 8. ---- [From top left] An aerial view of Stateville prison, near Joliet, with important buildings located. Seven of its inmates were reported to have escaped yesterday. They included the notorious gangsters Roger Touhy, kidnaper of John Factor, and Basil Banghart. Warden E. H. Stubblefield (seated) and guards who figured in the jailbreak drama. Left to right, standing: T. P. Sullivan, state director of public safety, and Guards Herman Kross, Samuel Johnson, Glenn Harris, and Lieut. George Cotter.

Here is the northwest corner of the Stateville prison wall, with Tower No. 3, the guard of which was shot as the desperadoes made their escape. Within 45 minutes all highways within 25 miles of the scene were blocked by state police. Illinois highway police stopping motorist last night as they searched for Statesville fugitives. Tower No. 3 at Statesville prison, from inside the walls. Broken line shows where felons placed ladder to escape.

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“Guard Sandwich Jail Against U.S. Gang,” Border Cities Star. March 22, 1932. Page 1 & 8. ---- Learn Plot Of Delivery ---- Undercover Agents Front Over River Warn Local Warden ---- To Free Fontaine --- Governor Warden Fortifies His Own House As Well as Prison --- Essex County jail at Sandwich and the residence nearby, of the governor, Colonel John Warden, are guarded today against a threatened assault by American gangsters implicated In last December’s riot In the United States prison at Leavenworth, Kansas. TO KIDNAP GOVERNOR The underworld plot embraces the kidnapping of the governor, his wife and family and the delivery from the cell block of Harold Fontaine, who is fighting extradition to Kansas, where the authorities charge he chipped the riot guns Into the penitentiary. 

"Finger men" for the mob across the river already have mapped out their invasion of the Sandwich jail, according to information given the governor by undercover agents of the United States Government, who for weeks past have been investigating gang activities which led to the Leavenworth outbreak and who were responsible for Fontaine's apprehension in Windsor several weeks ago. 

RUSH HOUSE The gang planned a descent on the governor's dwelling, adjoining the courthouse, Sandwich street, at an hour soon after the day shift had been relieved at the county jail. 

The jail would be covered while some of the mob called the governor from his dinner, "got the drop" on him, and invaded his heme. The matron, Mrs. Warden, and her two daughters, would be gagged and bound and held as hostages while the gun-men would escort the governor over to the county jail. 

The jail can be reached by a rear route from the governor's residence and the passage of the governor and his armed escort would not be witnessed by any pedestrian on Sandwich street, even in daylight. 

At the jail door. it would be expected. the night turnkey would admit the governor and his escort without question. Guns poked in the ribs of the governor would be calculated to prevent him giving any warning signal to his men. Once inside the jail and the rear door locked behind them, the mobsters, ordinarily, would have the situation under their control.

ELEMENT OF SURPRISE The jail staff, taken by surprise, would be forced to release Fontaine from the cells. 

"From the Information I have received from the American federal police, my conduct would regulate my fate," the governor explained. "The expression 'putting my lights’ out was used. If I proved difficult to handle, I was to be blinded so that I could not testify against them. I might not be treated so badly, however, if I gave the gang as little trouble a possible.” 

The fate of the governor's wife and daughters, also would be problematical. 

The police theory is that the contemplated attempt to deliver Fontaine from the jail has been prompted by a desire of the gangsters responsible for the Leavenworth riot to ‘put him on the spot.’

SAFER IN CELL  He has talked too much, according to the information from certain reliable sources. And It Is Colonel Warden’s honest conviction that Fontaine would be much safer in his cell in the Sandwich Jail than in the care of the gang across the river. 

For several days past, the governor has been informed scouts for the American mob hare gone over the ground carefully in and bout Sandwich, planning their avenues of approach and retirement. 

The logical route for the gunmen would be by motorboat from Detroit to a point on the Sandwich shore facing the courthouse. There is a clear space of unoccupied land from Sandwich street to the riverfront, which would give the bandits a clear path to and from the county buildings. 

ALL PREPARED Fortunately the "tip" from the United States authorities has prepared the governor. The night staff of the jail has received orders to open no doors to the public after sundown, unless the turnkey actually know the identity of the persons seeking admission.

The governor’s family, likewise, has Instructions to keep away from doors after dark, and, in fact, at any time during this period of uncertainty to answer if any strangers rang the bell or knocked. The governor himself has been careful to talk only through the door to any person until he had been assured of their Identity beyond all question of doubt. 

As a further measure of precaution, the governor locked his keys in the vault of his office in the jail, so that he would not be able to surrender them to any gangsters who might be able to gain entrance to his home despite his elaborate precautions. The governor also took other steps to guard against the threatened invasion.

The governor's home is well prepared for an attack. “I was ready to give them a hot reception,’ he said. He was no taking no chances and a goodly supply of ammunition and guns have been placed in his residence. The governor accepted the warning of the American undercover men in good faith, appreciating that the men responsible for the Leavenworth break are hard customers.

Sandwich police have been alert for strangers and a sharp watch maintained for any indication of activity along the waterfront after dark. 

COME BY RIVER Police conclusions are general that the gang would not attempt to travel over bridge, tunnel or ferry. The river offers them the best means of approach and retreat. Without warning, it would be quite possible, they say, for a gang to invade Sandwich at night and make things interesting for the authorities even if they had been unsuccessful in their venture. 

LEAVENWORTH BREAK Fontaine, according to American authorities. shipped fire-arms into Leavenworth in barrels of paint and the guns were used to the riot last December when the warden of the Kansas prison was shot and kidnapped, three prisoners were shot and killed, three others escaped, and were recaptured and one is still at liberty. 

A few weeks before the attempted break, Fontaine had been released from the same penitentiary after serving a term for alien-smuggling. He had worked in the same shop with some of the prisoners involved in the riot and it is the belief of the U. S. Federal police that the break could not have been attempted without Fontaine's assistance from Kansas City, the point of shipment for the weapons.

When Fontaine surrendered to the Windsor police earlier this winter, he was first arraigned on a six-year-old charge of assault, preferred by Michigan Central Railway police. Later, he was held for deportation at the instance of H. H. Reinecke, head of the Detroit office of the United States Department of Justice.

FIGHTS DEPORTATION Fontaine is scheduled to appear March 29 before Judge J. J. Coughlin in County Court, when he will fight efforts to have him removed to Kansas for trial as a participant in the December riot. He denies American citizenship. 

While the defence has intimated it will call Governor Warden as a witness, the governor stated definitely today he will not testify, 

"I'm not allowed to give evidence," he explained. "I was present when Fontaine was questioned by his counsel and by American officers. That's in accordance with jail regulations, which insist also that I must not reveal what I heard. I cannot be caused by either defence or Crown. They can’t put me in the box unless, of course, they could prove that I had talked to persons outside the jail. And I have not done that. I certainly won’t be able to give evidence.' 

Counsel for the United States authorities, Gordon L. Fraser, has indicated he will call a witness from Montreal, and this man, it is understood, is a former prisoner in the county jail who had been deported from the United States and held for a time for examination by the Canadian immigration officials. Fontaine, it is said, talked considerably soon after his remand to the county jail and his remarks were heard and recalled by the Montreal witness and other prisoners. 

NATIVE OF CHICAGO Fontaine is a native of Chicago, but was known to the riverfront mobs here as a smuggler of Chinese and other aliens seeking admission into the United States. He claims to have lost his citizenship by enlistment in the Canadian army but the United States Government argues otherwise, showing he did not lose his rights of American citizenship as he joined the army here after the United States had entered the war. 

From January 1916 until the present. Fontaine has been in and out of Canadian and American prisons. His first appearance in a Windsor court in 1916 led to suspended sentence for breaking and entering a dwelling. Two years later, California police found him to possession of stolen goods and in 1919 he was sent away from Detroit for a term of seven and one half to 15 years for robbery armed. He was paroled after two years. Convicted the second time as an alien smuggler, Fontaine was sent from Detroit In May. 1927, to Leavenworth to serve six years. He was released last November 6 and the authorities say he engineered the Leavenworth break from a headquarters in this city a month later.

Photo caption: COLONEL JOHN WARDEN, D.S.O., O.B.E., at right, governor of the Essex County Jail, is planning an elaborate defense against a threatened invasion by American gunmen who seek the release, of Harold Fontaine, wanted by United States authorities for alleged complicity in the riot last December in the penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas. A tip from undercover agents working out of Washington that he would be kidnapped by a mob and forced to open the doors of the cell block prompted the governor to take added measures to defend his residence on Sandwich street, adjoining the courthouse, from an attack. Guns and a good supply of ammunition have been stored in the dwelling. Above is seen a view' of the jail from Brock street. The mob was expected to come to Sandwich in speedboats from some point on the Detroit shore. Sandwich and other Border police have been asked to exercise unusual vigilance in their scrutiny of strangers about the various communities.

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“NEW LISKEARD YOUTH SENTENCED TO PRISON,” North Bay Nugget. March 8, 1940. Page 11.  ---- North Bay Companion Goes to Burwash Jail Break Frustrated --- The story of a carefully planned jail break which was thwarted when a secret message written on toilet paper was intercepted by Jail authorities became known Thursday when Henry Huywan, 20, of New Liskeard and Robert Donaldson, 18, of North Bay came before Magistrate J H McCurry for the armed robbery of a car and money from Claude Reynolds, North Hay taxi driver, on February 24.

Plead Guilty Both youths pleaded guilty to the charge. Huywan, who has a long criminal record, drew a five-year penitentiary sentence and Donaldson was given two years lean one day in Burwash.

Evidence of the proposed jail break was not brought up in court but Crown Attorney E. A. Tilley, K.C., said a message addressed to two North Bay men was intercepted before it could be smuggled out of the Jail. 

The note, written in pencil on a strip of tissue paper, asked the North Bay men to come to the Jail at night with guns and masks and hold up the two guards when they answered the door. The Jailor it was suggested could be locked up in the toilet while Huywan was freed from his cell.

 "Bring me a rod and a hat’’ the note said "and a boat (car) if you can." In the note Huywan said he would go to Ottawa "pull a bank Job and cut you in." Huywan and Donaldson were arrested near Cobalt on February 25 after they held up Claude ly-nolds North Bay taxi driver and a girl companion took his car and a small amount of cash and drove northward Reynolds and his companion were forced out at gunpoint several miles west of the city. Donaldson was called first and has entered a plea of guilty. A statement taken by Constable N CL Small, O.P.P. in Haileybury on February 25 was produced and read by the officer.

Hold-Up With Gun In the confession the youth told of meeting Huywan on the evening of February 24 in a North Bay bowling alley. The New Liskeard man had no money and wanted to get out of town, so he called Reynolds’ taxi from a service station and picked up Donaldson on Main street. Several miles west of the city Huywan told the driver to atop and with the gun ordered Reynold and a girl companion who was with him to leave tho car. While Huywan "covered" the couple his companion searched he driver and obtained $1.55 in cash.

Then Huywan took the wheel and drove through to Sturgeon Falls and northward from there by way of the Field-Marten River road. They did not stop Donaldson said until they were halted by police near Cobalt.

E. J. Turner governor of the district Jail was called and he produced a paper allegedly a confession signed by "Bob’’ which was found between Huywan's blankets. 

Only the first sentence which said "As you know I have a much more various record than you" was read when Mr Wallace protested. The evidence was disallowed. 

Huywan was called and questioned about the document by Mr Tilley but he denied having received it. 

"Somebody told me it was in my blankets" he said, "but I thought no more of it." Mr, Tilley produced Donaldson's record which showed that three previous convictions had been registered against him. 

“I have nothing to say for myself” the youth declared when asked if he had anything to say. "I know I am guilty and I am willing to take what is coming to me." 

His father had previously been called a a character witness by Mr Wallace. 

"On previous occasions you promised to try and do better," said Magistrate McCurry “But you neglected to do so. I have seriously considered whipping as punishment. You have a record and an unenviable one. However I think the ends of justice would be served if I sent you to Burwash although it is a penitentiary offence. That will be two years less one day." 

Huywan, too, entered a plea of guilty and Constable Small produced his statement which corroborated Donaldson’s story. The youth's record dated to 1930 and Included among other charges two previous auto theft counts.

"I can’t say that I really had break at all," said the youth when asked if he anyting to say. It was learned he had been brought up as an orphan. Big Crime Contemplated "With your record I must send you to penitentiary," said the magistrate. "I should impose a whipping. 

"Your conduct In Jail was bad but I am not taking it into consideration. You were contemplating one of the biggest crimes a man can commit Isn't that right?"

"Yea" replied Huywan. 

"Even yet a charge could be laid and if It were it would double or treble your sentence," the magistrate continued. “You were coolly and cold-bloodedly concocting scheme of mutiny and murder. Yet you did it in such a clumsy way. It was really childish. How did you expect to get away with a thing like that? 

"I want to point out how absolutely foolish it was to think you had brains enough or audacity enough to accomplish the thing you planned. Don't think you were clever enough or smart enough to start any revolution out there. That will be five years In penitentiary.’’ 

The message written by Huywan asking his friend to break him out of Jail was brought to court by Crown Attorney Tilley but was not offered as evidence. He said the message was written on tissue paper by the accused youth to be smuggled out "underground" but was intercepted In the jail. 

in it, the youth accurately guessed that he would get five years if he was sentenced on the charge facing him. He said he was on way North to raise money but “made a mess of it." He gave the number of his cell and told his friends to come at night when there would be only two guards on duty. They were instructed to bring guns and masks and ring the bell at the side door of the Jail, Then they were to hold up the guards when they answered the door and lock them in the lavatory while the escape was made.

[AL: Huyman was already married and had a baby at time of conviction. He had been a driller in a mine before his last sentence to the reformatory. His father was a Russian immigrant, but he had grown up in New Liskeard. He was #6059 at Kingston Penitentiary, and worked at the mail bag. He was transferred January 1942 to Collin’s Bay and released from there in mid-1944.]

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

“Murderous Maniacs Now In Heavy Chains,” Toronto Star. March 24, 1911. Page 12. --- Had Obtained Files and Were Going to Kill the Asylum Attendants. ---- Special to The Star. Washington, March 24. - As the result of a plot by ten maniacs to murder nine attendants at the Government Hospital for the Insane, the hundreds of inmates of the criminally insane ward are in heavy chains and under double guard to-day.

All the maniacs in the plot are convicted murderers. They had obtained steel files, iron bars, and chair legs. The plot was disclosed by a patient who overhead two of the criminals discussing the plans.