Hide Article Text (OCR)
•.v.v.y.w.•.*.•.*.*.*•PrisonerEscapesA prisoner, awaiting trial for burglary, sawed through his third-floor maximum security cell and jail window from the Franklin County jail andlowered himself to freedom about midnight today.The prisoner, James Andrew Ure, 45, Topeka, had been brought to the jail from Oklahoma Oct. 31 to stand trial in the 1968 burglary of the Elbow Lounge. A preliminary hearing had been set for Nov. 17 in county court.Ure is 5*7” tall and weighs 148 pounds. He was wearing khaki trousers and shirt. The bars, about one inch in diameter, had apparently been sawed with a blade, although one hasn’t been found. The prisoner had no visitors since being jailed here. He had been searched prior to being jailed.The bars in the cell had previously been sawed, but welded after an attempt by a prisoner to escape in 1958.After sawing through the cell and jail window, the prisoner made a rope from two wool blankets and lowered himself to the ground. The two bars left an opening of 10% x 1116 inches. Sheriff’s office officials said that Ure would have had to wiggle through the small opening.Sheriff Joe Ferns and jailer Carl Sherman were the only occupants in the second floor headquarters of the sheriff’s office at the time of the break.The window used to escape through is on the south wall of the building, and about 20 feet from the ground. The prisoner would have needed to jump an extra six feet from the bottom of the last blanket to the ground.This is the first jail break since Ferns has been sheriff. He said this morning that there have been attempts, but no escapes.Five other prisoners were in other cells when the escape was made. They apparently were not awakened.Ferns described Ure as being quiet and he hadn’t given the officials any trouble.News of the break was immediately sent out on the state’s teletype communications network. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation and the Ottawa Police Department is aiding in the search for the fugitive.mml:OOPS!—The urge to escape became irresistible for James Andrew Ure early today when he broke from the Franklin County jail by sawing through his celi block and the jail window, then used the means shown above to reach the ground. Ure was brought here from Oklahoma for trial Nov. 17 on a charge of burglary.
Newspaper Details
Ottawa Herald
Ottawa, Kansas, US
Thu, Nov 06, 1969
Page 6
Full Page
Clipped by
Diana S.
KS, USA 12 Dec 2018
Other Publications Near Ottawa, Kansas
Ottawa Campus
Ottawa Daily Republican
Ottawa Herald
