JAIL BREAK!

Recently a friend saw a “mug shot” for sale on Ebay concerning a jail break that occurred here in Algona back in 1922.  We both found the photo to be intriguing and, of course, had to find out the whole story.

The Crime

It all began in the wee early hours of June 27, 1922, when the Madson-Hanson clothing and tailoring shop was broken into.  Located at 114 East State (where Minnowa Medical Supplies is located in 2015), the store featured a wide variety of clothing and accessories for men and women.  The building in which it was housed extended from the street part way to the alley.  Twenty-five feet to the rear stood an old frame building which took up the rest of the lot to the alley.  The buildings on either side of the clothing store (Algona Bakery on the west and White Grocery on the east) covered their full lots so that an enclosed space with no outside entrance was created directly behind the clothing store.  

The break in had occurred in the rear of the building from inside the enclosed space behind the store.  A screen had been torn from one of the rear cellar windows which provided entry for one of the robbers and then he in turn unlocked the back door for the remaining members to gain entry.  The theory of law enforcement was that a ladder was used to get on the roof of White Grocery and then down into the space behind Madson-Hanson.  A bakery worker, J. S. Jacobsen, had been on night duty and thought he heard a noise in or near the passage way about midnight, but did not investigate.

When the proprietors arrived later that morning to open for business, they found the store in complete disarray.  Suits, hats, caps, and shirts were scattered about the place.  One rack had been completely emptied.  The fact that there were seventeen empty hangers on the floor helped in calculating the damage estimate.  A large number of shirts were taken as well as raincoats, underwear, ties, socks, garters, belts, handkerchiefs, and other small goods.  Five suitcases and two traveling bags were taken and most likely used to carry away the loot.

The Investigation 

Sheriff George Hackman began an immediate investigation.  The perpetrators were thought to be of medium build as they took only suits ranging between sizes 36 and 40 and shirts of size 15.  Other items of larger sizes that had been tried on were tossed aside with sleeves inside out.  The Sheriff thought it was probable that these men were also involved in two break ins at other buildings that same night—the Standard Oil warehouse on East McGregor Street and the W. W. Adams Paint Store on South Dodge Street – as well as in a break in that occurred the night before at the Hobarton store where chewing tobacco, smoking tobacco, sugar and several suits of overalls were taken.  Information on the suspects was sent out to area law enforcement.

On the night of June 29^th, the Des Moines police surrounded a private rooming house and arrested three men for the robbery in Algona.  They were identified as James Roberts, 26, of Canton, Ohio; Charles Graves, 36, of Kansas City; and Roy Nordine, 21, of Fort Dodge.  Sheriff Hackman, County Attorney S. D. Quarton and Marshall Newville drove to Des Moines and returned with the three suspects, placing them in the county jail to await preliminary hearing the next Monday.

At the hearing, suspect Roberts gave testimony that exonerated Nordine and would have cleared Graves had he not been wearing a suit which was believed to be one of those stolen from Madson & Hanson.  A trial information was filed against Graves and Roberts charging that they did “willfully, unlawfully, feloniously and burglariously break and enter a certain building and shop in the possession and under the control of Madson & Hanson then and there situated in Kossuth County, Iowa, in which building and shop goods, wares and merchandise and valuable things were then and there kept by the said Madson & Hanson for use, sale and deposit, with the unlawful and felonious intent then and there on the part of the said [defendant] in breaking and entering said building and shop to commit a public offense therein, to-wit, larceny.”  Roberts and Graves were held for further investigation and trial.

The Jail Break 

Several days later the two men, although still confined to an area that was surrounded by steel bars, had been given the freedom of the hallway between the cells.  Evidently an escape plan formulated.  They pulled a piece of flat iron from one of the cots in the cells and used it to force the lock.  Once into the corridor, they used the strip of iron to rip off the apron beneath the window sill and remove the first layer of bricks from the wall.  The men were then able to push out the remaining bricks making an opening about 15 inches high and 20 inches wide which they used to make their escape.

Escape window

 

Passersby saw the two men in the jail yard, but did not recognize them and thought nothing of it.  However, they were later able to inform authorities that the two had gone in a southwesterly direction.  A posse of 25 men was soon in pursuit scouring the area.  Deputy Sheriff Hovey was the first to spot the escapees sitting on the west bank of the Des Moines River about 50 yards south of the Blackford bridge.  He crawled as close as he could to them, but they saw him before he was within 200 yards and they took off running south.  When they failed to comply with Hovey’s order to halt, he fired at them.  However the distance was too great and the fugitives got away.  They were seen once more, this time by the sheriff’s son, George Hackman, but they were too far away to get a shot. 

Law enforcement in surrounding counties was immediately notified of the escape, but the men were never caught.  According to the court files, the grand jury was convened in September of that year and an indictment was issued charging each of the men with breaking jail and escaping.  It seemed they would never be heard from again.

The Rest of the Story 

In February of 1931, the sheriff was contacted by the state bureau of investigation.  Mr. Graves had been arrested in California.  According to the news article published at that time, Graves could not be returned to Algona to answer for his crimes due to a problem with the indictment and the statute of limitations.

The court file on Charles Graves contains a telegram dated August 9, 1942, which was sent by the FBI (signed Hoover) letting local authorities know that Charles Graves had been arrested in Denver, Colorado.  A FBI rap sheet that was also in the file shows that Mr. Graves had a long record, both before and after his alleged misdeeds in Algona.  He had many aliases including Charles A. Harvey, Charles Milton Stanley, and Chas. Hayes.  The charges against him included assault and robbery while armed with a dangerous weapon, drunk driving, shoplifting, larceny, and many more.  

The old jail building as it looks in 2015

And so ends the story of the great jail break and the well-dressed defendants.

Until next time,

Jean (a/k/a KC History Buff)

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