Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 96, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 April 1913 — USES "DUMMY” TO FLEE JAIL [ARTICLE]

USES "DUMMY” TO FLEE JAIL

Man Sought for Two Years for Mall Frauds Escapee to Canada in Auto. Cleveland, O. —By placing a "dummy" in his cot and by sneaking out a cellar window, James H. McNlcholas, mining promoter, whom the federal authorities chased all over the country for two years and finally caught in Boston a few weeks ago, escaped from the county Jail and is now believed to be in Canada. Sheriff Smith has offered a reward of SI,OOO for McNlcholas’ capture. The federal authorities will hold a grand jury Investigation and will indict several Clevelanders for conspiracy to aid in McNlcholas’ escape. McNlcholas was accused of using the malls to defraud. The escape was spectacular. When an accomplice brought a plate of chop suey at midnight from a neighboring restaurant, McNlcholas, who had been allowed the freedom of the "bull pen," rigged up a dummy, placed It on his cot, and then sneaked down the cellar stairs. The accomplice then lert the Jail, obtained an auto and waited outsider McNlcholas forced a cellar window, got to the auto and fled.