{"id":871,"date":"2014-03-12T04:01:00","date_gmt":"2014-03-12T04:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/?p=871"},"modified":"2015-01-09T15:51:02","modified_gmt":"2015-01-09T20:51:02","slug":"breakout-at-western-penitentiary-of-pennsylvania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/03\/12\/breakout-at-western-penitentiary-of-pennsylvania\/","title":{"rendered":"Breakout at Western Penitentiary of Pennsylvania"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\" <\/a> <\/div>
\"Kaczynski <\/a>
Kaczynski with his captors. (Pittsburgh Press photo) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Guard <\/a>
Guard James McNamara, left, was overpowered. Deputy warden displayed makeshift rope. (Pittsburgh Press photo) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Path <\/a>
Path the escapees used to reach the prison roof. (Pittsburgh Press photo) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Escapees <\/a>
Escapees walked carefully along the roof. Only one made it down safely. (Pittsburgh Press photo) <\/div> <\/div>
\"Kaczynski <\/a>
Kaczynski returned to jail wearing a flowered shirt. (Pittsburgh Press photo) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Andrew Kaczynski\u2019s romp of freedom lasted exactly four weeks. It began on a warm afternoon in early May 1951, when Kaczynski and four other prisoners at Western Penitentiary overpowered a 78-year-old guard, shimmied up a pipe, then climbed a workman\u2019s ladder to the prison roof.<\/p>\n

There, the prisoners used a rope made of strips from a mattress cover to lower themselves 60 feet to the ground. That was the plan, anyway. Kaczysnki went first. When he hit the ground, he took off running. He was spotted by a state police trooper driving out of the prison grounds. The trooper turned on his siren.<\/p>\n

This alarmed one of the other escapees, James \u201cMojo\u201d Woods, a member of the notorious zoot-suit gang that preyed on motorcyclists stopped at red lights. Woods was halfway down the rope. Startled by the alarm, he lost his grip, fell to the ground and was knocked unconscious.<\/p>\n

The three other prisoners never left the roof. Kaczynski, a safe-cracker serving a 36-year term, got away.<\/p>\n

The next day, he showed up at a Downtown hotel restaurant to see his wife, a 19-year-old waitress named Rose. Unfortunately, she was off-duty. An unrepentant romantic, the 34-year-old Kaczynski handed a cigarette lighter to a co-worker and asked her to give it to Rose. \u201cI probably won\u2019t see her again,\u201d he said. He walked out the door and disappeared down the street.<\/p>\n

Kaczynski remained free throughout May. Then, late in the month, police received an anonymous tip that he was hiding out in his sister\u2019s Lawrenceville home. As they prepared to enter the house, police saw Kaczynski peering from a bathroom window on the second floor. They instantly recognized him. Kaczynski had an unforgettable face. His police mug shot elevates the scowl to an art form. It\u2019s the Mona Lisa of crime.<\/p>\n

Police rushed inside with guns drawn and stormed to the upper floor. Kaczynski flung open a window, climbed onto the roof, jumped eight feet to the porch roof of the home next door, then made a running jump into a vacant lot.<\/p>\n

As he dashed through an alley, officers opened fire. Kaczynski staggered momentarily before crashing through a fence and darting out of sight through a maze of alleys.<\/p>\n

Police set up roadblocks and descended on the Lawrenceville homes of Kaczynski\u2019s relatives.<\/p>\n

The search narrowed on his sister-in-law\u2019s house on Mulberry Way. A squad of 20 policemen surrounded the house while Inspector Michael Daugherty and a handful of officers made their way inside.<\/p>\n

They found Kaczynski \u201ccowering under a bed on the second floor,\u201d reported The Pittsburgh Press.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he refused to come out, inspector Daugherty grabbed his legs and a patrolman grabbed his arms. In pulling him out, they upset the bed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blood seeped from gunshot wounds in Kaczynski\u2019s knees.<\/p>\n

Soon he was hauled before a judge. Assistant District Attorney Samuel Strauss called Kaczynski \u201ca hardened criminal \u2014 perhaps the worst ever before us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then he reminded the court that Kaczynski had tried to escape from the county jail in 1950 by sawing through jail bars.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a frame-up,\u201d Kaczynski snarled.<\/p>\n

Then Strauss reminded Kazcynski that he\u2019d been found with a saw blade in his shoe.<\/p>\n

For his four weeks of freedom, Kazcynski drew 10 to 20 years.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For his four weeks of freedom, Andrew Kazcynski drew 10 to 20 years.<\/p>\n

Look at the picturesBreakout at Western Penitentiary of Pennsylvania<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":875,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[947],"tags":[984,1244],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/tumblr_n234agPzH51rr5swxo3_1280.jpg?fit=1080%2C1078&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7800,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2017\/06\/15\/western-penitentiary-prison-inmates\/","url_meta":{"origin":871,"position":0},"title":"Ghosts of Western Penitentiary","date":"June 15, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Not much changes in prison. Each day, the same faces follow the same routines while wearing the same colors. As the caption accompanying a 1970 picture of the Western Penitentiary recreation yard puts so bluntly, \u201cBocci consumes one hour in a day that seems to last forever.\u201d But even as\u2026","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/WestPen085.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1728,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/06\/03\/pittsburghs-strangest-protest\/","url_meta":{"origin":871,"position":1},"title":"Pittsburgh\u2019s strangest protest","date":"June 3, 2013","format":"gallery","excerpt":"On a cool June evening in 1962, Robert Payne claimed he\u2019d swallowed a razor blade.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/tumblr_mno0nehBMg1rr5swxo2_1280.jpg?fit=936%2C630&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9091,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2018\/09\/13\/stories-from-pittsburghs-dungeon\/","url_meta":{"origin":871,"position":2},"title":"Stories from Pittsburgh’s dungeon","date":"September 13, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Basement cells at a now vacant prison once terrified those confined there.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Digs.20180828_Prisob03.jpg?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5100,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2015\/03\/18\/stanley-hoss-a-most-wanted-man\/","url_meta":{"origin":871,"position":3},"title":"Stanley Hoss: A most wanted man","date":"March 18, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Like many criminals, Stanley Barton Hoss Jr. started out by stealing cars.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/hoss007.jpg?fit=939%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9809,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2020\/04\/30\/memories-of-a-strange-confinement\/","url_meta":{"origin":871,"position":4},"title":"Memories of a strange confinement","date":"April 30, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"A band of escaped prisoners, some with violent pasts, once descended on a Washington County family.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/20200429smGagich01-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C785&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1942,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/03\/22\/the-tragic-case-of-pittsburghs-brain-burglar\/","url_meta":{"origin":871,"position":5},"title":"The tragic case of Pittsburgh\u2019s \u2018Brain Burglar","date":"March 22, 2013","format":"gallery","excerpt":"The outlook for Millard Wright was grim in 1947.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/tumblr_mjvlgpQaFn1rr5swxo5_1280-e1418792562474.jpg?fit=1200%2C712&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=871"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4025,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871\/revisions\/4025"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}