Show Mystery And he had put the cat in the basement—but the cat had got out Had Eddie Engel been out too? Sheriff Ripperdam had Engel moved to a cell in the second-flotier Then he ordered the guards to keep an eye on him without letting him suspect he was being watched Eddie had been in his new quarters only a short time when he called down to the prisoner who now occupied his former cell: "I forgot an envelope under my bunk Will you hand it up?" in the corridor a few hours each day Eddie had noticed the sheriff's coat hanging on a chair and had taken his keys He made a pattern of the key that unlocked the cell door and returned them to the coat The sheriff hadn't noticed his keys were missing On another occasion when he was or of we exercising Eddie sneaked out through a window He broke into a hardware store and stole metal saws files and blank keys then managed to return to the jail before he was missed In his spare moments when the guards weren't looking he used the pattern and tools to make a key He filed it down until it worked perfectly in the jail door By that time Eddie had fully recuperated and his exercising privileges were revoked But he had his key and after midnight when everybody was asleep he would quietly unlock his cell go to the basement and slip through a window After he had broken into a store er the basement he would locking the window from the inside He watched for his opportunity and one night when the sheriff was sleep "Sure" lantom urgla by William T Braitnon A)wakened by the insistent mewing outside his door Sheriff Jason Ripperdam whose livingJquar-ter- s were on the first floor of the county jail in Monticello 111 got up to let his cat in "I'm positive" he told his wife "that I put that cat in the basement before we went to bed How'd he get out?" The sheriff made another trip to the basement with the cat All the doors and windows were locked from the i inside Shaking his head Ripperdam went to bed but couldn't sleep Monticello a quiet town with no known criminal element recently had been plagued by a series of burglaries But the town's only burglar Eddie Engel was securely locked in the county jail awaiting trial on five indictments Who else could have been responsible for the new thefts? Sheriff Ripperdam finally fell asleep only to awaken to a new headache During the night a prowler had entered the locked courthouse ransacking offices and littering them with papers The only loot was $23 from the sheriff's desk Thoroughly aroused now the sheriff went to the jail and strode up and down eyeing the prisoners Eddie Engel sitting quietly in his cell smiled at him Sheriff Ripperdam shook his head and walked away just as the telephone rang "I was passing the courthouse after midnight" said the caller "and I saw somebody walking up the courthouse steps It looked like Eddie Engel Is he still in jail?" "Heo sure is" the sheriff replied "Guess it was somebody else" Sheriff Ripperdam hung up but the phone rang again Another caller told of passing the courthouse and seeing a man who resembled Eddie Engel But Eddie Engel couldn't have been the courthouse burglar the sheriff had personally checked to see that his cell was locked before he went to bed The guards immediately notified Sheriff Ripperdam who searched Eddie He found the envelope which contained a key it fit the cell door "So it was you!" the sheriff exclaimed "Let's hear how you did it" "Okay Sheriff" Eddie then made a full confessipn AAhen he had been locked up two months before he was sick and the doctor said he had pneumonia After he had recovered the sheriff at the doctor's request had allowed Eddie to exercise by walking re-ent- ing Eddie lifted the keys to the courthouse He hoped to find and destroy the evidence against him in the indictments But he couldn't find it and had to console himself with the sheriffs $23 The merchandise stolen from Monticello stores had been concealed in clumps of shrubbery on the jailhouse lawn It was still there "That's about all" Eddie concluded "Not quite" said the sheriff "You've forgotten the cat" "Yeah the cat" Eddie glanced across the room at the sheriffs cat curled up on a window ledge "He jumped out the window behind me the night I went to the courthouse I chased him all the way around the jail but I couldn't catch him So I had to leave him out" "That's what tripped you up" said the sheriff "There wasn't any way for him to get out except through a window I thought I might have left one open but when I checked they were all locked I knew then it was an inside job" "I never did like cats!" Eddie said as he was escorted back to his cell r :c ( i v r M rz ' V o e - 'Aim Js5§ BP A 7 f i "w k "He jumped out the window behind me" Eddie said "I chased him all flie way around the jail but I couldn't catch Kim' Family Weekty November 30 195$ 23 |