Convict's Daring Escape From Prison

Edward Cruse, aged twenty-five, a negro, made one of the most miraculous and fearless escapes from the penitentiary at Columbus, O., recently that are known to the present officers of that institution. He had been in prison only two weeks, although he had served five previous terms, besides putting in seventeen months at the state reformatory. Cruse was sent in from Franklin county to serve ten years for burglary and larceny. He was always considered a man of nerve and dangerous, and his daring escape only adds to the questionable luster of his prowess.

Cruse was a prisoner In the east cell block, the oldest part of the prison. During the time that a score of prisoners were enjoying corridor freedom he picked the lock of his cell. When night fell he mounted the stairs to the top of the cell block and after a dangerous trip across rafters, beams and insecure boards he reached a skylight.

In order to gain this point he was obliged to squeeze through an aperture that an ordinary man could not enter. But Cruse's light weight, 139 pounds, was to his advantage here. While his trip to the skylight would not have been attempted in broad daylight by a man hardened to travel at dizzy heights, the journey yet to be taken made it fade into insignificance.

Cruse crawled out on the slate covered, peaked roof. Earlier in the evening there had been a rain, and this froze as it fell. A slight snow followed, and even Columbus pedestrians strained their muscles to keep head upward on the smooth pavements. Cruse crawled up the sloping roof, which had an incline of at least 60 to 70 degrees, to the peak. The slightest hesitating movement or step would have caused a fall that would have precipitated him to the ground, seventy-five feet below. After reaching the peak he picked his way along this for fully 100 feet, and then came the herculean task of this remarkable getaway. In order to make his escape successful it was necessary for him to get down to the gutter of the roof from the peak, and with an ice covered decline of fifty feet before him and the bottom of this meeting the side walls of the penitentiary with a sneer drop of seventy-five feet the outlook was not pleasant, but he made the slide to the gutter.

The least miscalculation or insecure hold would have precipitated him over the iced roof to the gutter, where he would have fallen to a horrible death. The prison officials cannot explain how he stopped himself at the gutter. Deputy Warden Wells pointed out that when roofers work on the building in daylight they pick out favorable weather and use every precaution.

Cruse carried out the remainder of his plans with the same daring that characterized his passage as far as the gutter. He moved along the gutter until he was directly over the main offices of the prison and in the glare of half a dozen electric lights. The building is four stories high at this point, and there are porches on the ground, second and third floors. He was twenty feet above the uppermost porch roof, which is covered with tin. How he reached that roof the officials cannot explain unless with the assistance of a blanket which is missing from his cell. He then slid down the porch posts to the ground. Within twenty feet of where he alighted and at the main entrance sits an armed guard.

Inside the building and not more than two or three yards from the convenient porch post are the night clerks of the penitentiary. The officers' and residence rooms of the warden are in full view of the point where Cruse dropped to the ground, and there were a dozen persons in the department.

The guard at the main entrance saw Cruse walk across the lawn. He knew that he was a prisoner, but thought he was a trusty going across the street to the supply house. Before the man got out of sight the guard became suspicious and notified Captain Woods, the night chief .

Captain Woods said that this was one of the nerviest escapes in the history of the institution.