First escape attempt was her last
Mollie Brown was the first woman to ever attempt an escape from the prison
in Joliet. The escape attempt crippled her for life.
The year was 1874. At the time, all of the women convicts were imprisoned
on the fourth floor of the men's prison administration center. The women
were located above the warden's quarters, which was on the third floor.
Mollie, who was from New York, was doing time for theft. She and her lover
conspired on an escape plan. During a visit, the man managed to smuggle
in a hacksaw blade to her.
One afternoon, she deliberately insulted the matron supervising her work.
This was part of the plan. The insult earned Mollie a night in a punishment
cell, which was located in one of four towers at each corner of the building.
The punishment cell contained an iron bed, a mattress and sheets. Mollie
cut through the bars that night with her saw blade. Then she made a rope
from the sheets.
But in her plan, Mollie had miscalculated where she was going. She had assumed
the window opened over the roof of the men's cellhouse. But it didn't.
The window opened over a gap between two buildings. As she climbed down
her rope in the darkness, Mollie suddenly realized she was still two stories
up and out of bed sheet. Dangling there in the air, she didn't know what
to do.
The rope broke.
Mollie fell to the hard pavement below. She broke both legs, an arm and
suffered internal injuries.
S.W. Wetmore, a prison clerk and photographer, who preserved the story in
his writings said she was permanently crippled from the fall.
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