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Show ESGAPE PLOTS M. PUZZLING OFFICERS Brewer and DePretto Try to Break From Two Prisons Simultaneously. TRUSTIES SUSPECTED Cunning Work Is Done by Men Convicted of First Degree Murder. Two desperate men, each convicted of murder in the first degree, one under sentence of death, the other, his appeal denied, awaiting resentencing for his crime, are discovered, on the same day, at almost the same hour, in preparation prepara-tion for escape from prisons far removed. re-moved. That is a condition and circumstance circum-stance that has aroused the officials of the Utah state prison and the Salt Lake county jail. Harry Brewer, under sentence of death for the murder of Eugene B. Allen in Bingham, was caught Wednesday Wednes-day bv Warden Pratt of the state prison in a desperate attempt to saw his wav out of the corridor on which bis cell opens; Ftauk DePretto, also convicted of the murder of Allen, was likewise caught Wednesday by bherilf John S. Corless in an attempt to effect a wholesale whole-sale delivery at the county jail through the use of a heavy iron bar and a finely-tempered finely-tempered sharp hack-saw, which he had concealed in his cell. The fact that DePretto had the bar. a formidable weapon in the hands ot a murderer, ready for use in his cell, was published exclusively in The Tribune Trib-une yesterday morning. It was further learned vesterday that DePretto had concealed in his cell the sharp hacksaw, hack-saw, of which no mention has previously been made. DePretto first used this saw in a vain effort to cut the upper round of steel in his cell door, but the steel was too hard for the saw, which he then used to cut partly through the iron bar on his cot, so that he was able to wrenc-h it off by main strength. Saw Is Mystery. Where did DePretto get the saw? That is a question which is worrying Sheriff Corless ajid his deputies. Being a convicted murderer, he is watched more closely than is the average prisoner, pris-oner, and no article is knowingly passed to him without close examination. It is believed, however, that the saw which afforded him opportunity for his first steps in his plan of escape was concealed con-cealed in the cover of a magazine that was smuggled in by one of the trusties. The fact that the attempt of Brewer to escape from the state prison was made at the same time as was the futile effort of DePretto to effect a jail delivery, leads some of the officers who are investigating to the conclusion that there is a channel of communication between be-tween the state prison and the county jail and that the two convicted murderers mur-derers had knowledge each of the other's plans. Work Cleverly Done. While Brewer's effort to escape had apparently less chance of success than that of DePretto. it was nevertheless carefully and craftily thought out and had progressed to a considerable degree before it was discovered and blocked. I Brewer had manufactured a saw from I a safety razor blade and had attempted to cut through a bar of the corridor. He had constructed a miniature furnace from a porcelain cup and had drawn the temper from the bar, making it comparatively easy to saw until he got down to the tool-proof 'ore. He had covered up his work with tooth paste until the cut in the bar wn-i hardly perceptible. per-ceptible. In Brewer's cell was also found a rope braided out of cotton waste and an iron ring which had been stolen off the end of a chain in the shower bath room. These were concealed in hi bunk. It is only about four months ago that Brewer made an unsuccessful attempt i to cut through the back and roiling of ' his cell. DePretto and Brewer have both been j placed in solitary confinement, and will for an indefinite period he allowed no fommnnication with any of the pris- oners. |