Lou’s View

Unsurprisingly, the Clinton County Jail has been the site of some dramatic historical incidents. Jails are a lot of things, but they generally aren’t boring. The one on Church Street, no longer used as a jail, was built in the 1850s, and has had some interesting stories happen within its reinforced walls.

In September of 1921, it briefly became the lockup of Ralph L. Toles, from Johnson City, New York. As you might expect from someone who appears in a column about a jail, Toles was not exactly the best-behaved guy on any given block. He wasn’t the worst guy the jail had ever seen—There were some truly psychotic killers within those walls at times. But Toles, mostly a car thief, wasn’t really one of the good guys, either.

The story started in Binghamton, New York, with a double car theft. It wasn’t enough to steal one car per incident; Toles had to get two, because apparently he was an overachiever. But not a great thief; he stole one car and was immediately caught and arrested by a Binghamton police officer.

In an effort to escape, Toles stole another car, and then fled the state. He drove southwest into Pennsylvania, and wound up stopping in Clinton County. (The trip, which would take over two hours today, probably took sixteen hours by 1921 standards.) He decided to stop in Lock Haven and take in a movie, because why not at this point?
So Toles stopped at the Garden Theater. I hope the movie was a good one, because it was his last taste of freedom for a while. The Binghamton Police had spread the word by now, and the Lock Haven Police spotted the stolen car outside the theater, on Main Street, and arrested Toles.

He was taken to the old jail, on East Church, and locked up. All of this was reported in the Clinton County Times on September 16, 1921. The Clinton County Times, based on Bellefonte Avenue, was a bizarre paper, often reporting on crazy stuff that happened in the community. But they were also pretty good about reporting local crime, as well.

Of course, this one got a little crazy, too, thus checking that box off for the Times.

A couple of days after his arrest, Toles seemed to be in a good mood. He was singing and whistling to himself in his jail cell, cheerfully singing all evening. This aroused the suspicions of the guard, who was well aware that nobody in jail is likely to be all that thrilled about it.

In 1921, the sheriff was Thomas Johnston, who is surprisingly one of the county sheriffs I’m not familiar with. (Mental note: Write a column about Thomas Johnston.) Johnston ordered his guards to keep a close watch on the prisoner, and the evening guard was doing that.

Upon hearing a “peculiar noise”—More peculiar than the prisoner happily singing and whistling, evidently—The guard went to check, and found Toles sawing away at the bars. Nobody ever did figure out where he’d gotten the saw. He’d gotten through two of the bars and was starting on his third when he was discovered.

The Times reported, “Hearing a peculiar noise he started to investigate and found Toles had sawed off two bars in his cell, and in an hour’s time would have been out of jail.”

Toles denied any wrongdoing, because of course he did. He was transferred to another, undamaged cell, and the saw was taken away from him.

Toles was sent back to Binghamton, where he again attempted to escape from jail, because Toles was nothing if not persistent. You have to respect the dedication, if not the criminal motivations that led up to it.