Yesterday I told you the First North Dakota Infantry received orders to report to Mercedes, Texas for duty. The train departed Bismarck today, but their departure was not the only one in the news. After a jail break, the warden was worried escaped convicts might also be passengers on the train headed for Texas. The trains were wired to search for convicts, but none were found.

Today in 1916, eight men who were concealed by an icehouse and under the noise of a running twine machine, escaped from the State Penitentiary after breaking through a weak point in the wall using piece of shafting, a mason’s bar, and a crowbar at about 11 AM. Three prisoners were caught that night at midnight. It took several weeks to catch the remaining five.

The escapees were among at least 17 prisoners who escaped within a three month period. The prison lacked the funds to hire enough guards to keep watch. On the day of this escape, the guards were keeping watch in the bathhouse, leaving the watchtower unmanned. The high number of escapes that year was also caused by a high inmate population of “unusually bad character,” according to the warden.

By Tessa Sandstrom

“Eight prisoners escape from state pen,” Bismarck Daily Tribune. July 23, 1916: 1.
Bismarck Daily Tribune. July 25, 1916:1.
State Penitentiary Inmate Case Files, Series 31256.
State Penitentiary Inmate Case Files, 2609-2693, Series 1255.

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