Woman Stage Coach Robber, Pearl Hart Breaks Out, part 3 of a 5 part series about the famous woman stage robber, written by R. Michael Wilson.

    Early yesterday morning Pearl Hart, the woman stage robber, escaped the county jail, and at this writing has not been captured.  Pearl Hart was a prisoner of Pinal County officials, but was taken from the Florence jail and brought to this city, as the accommodations at the Pinal County jail are not suitable to women prisoners.  Since her confinement here Sheriff Wakefield and his deputies have used every precaution for her safekeeping, and they naturally feel much chagrined over her escape.  Since her confinement in the Pima county jail, Pearl Hart has occupied a room directly over the rear room of the county recorder’s office.  This room adjoins the small room containing the stairway leading up to the tower of the building.  A door open from the small room on the second floor of the courthouse, at the head of the stairs leading down to the main entrance.  Between the two rooms mentioned there is nothing but a lath ad plaster partition.  The door leading into the tower from the courthouse is generally locked, but on the night of the escape it apparently was not.  It is evident that after everything was quiet someone entered the courthouse, walked up the stairway and entered the tower room through the unlocked door.  It was the work of but a very few minutes to cut a hole through the wall into Pearl Hart’s room.  She held a sheet to catch the plaster that fell on her side.  After the hole was cut through she put a table underneath, and placing a chair upon that, crawled through the hole.  From the size of the aperture it is evident that Pearl Hart must have required considerable help in getting through.  After joining her accomplice in the escape it was only necessary to open the door and descend the stairway into the street As there is no night watchman for the courthouse outside the jail, it was an easy matter to gain the street without detection.  In all probability, horses were in waiting and the pair made a beeline for the border.  It is claimed that she may have left the city on the westbound passenger train but this is hardly a possibility as the risk of detection was too great.  To those who have seen Pearl Hart either in her proper attire or the masculine dress she commonly wore, it can readily be imagined how difficult disguise would be.  Ed Hogan, serving sentence for drunk and disorderly conduct, is also missing and the theory is that he assisted Pearl in her escape.  He had but ten more days to serve and had been given some liberty as a trusty.  When the jail was locked up on Wednesday night Hogan was missing and it is presumed that he hid himself in the city until about midnight and then returned to the county building to assist in the escape, an understanding having been reached during his confinement as the method of escape...

 Sheriff Wakefield pursued the escaped bandit as far as Bowie and then returned to Tucson.  Even though the pursuit in the Arizona Territory was discontinued, Pearl was free only a short time.  She and Hogan were soon captured by Sheriff Scarsborough of Deming, New Mexico at an “outlaw hangout.” Pearl was reportedly starting a gang “of which she was to be the bandit queen” and Hogan was her first subject.

Part 1 of Pearl Hart
Part 2 of Pearl Hart
Part 3 of Pearl Hart
Part 4 of Pearl Hart
Part 5 of Pearl Hart

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