Jail Break Replay

Last Thursday afternoon, two convicts named Otis D. Wilkerson (alias Robert Nathan Jones), 24, and Frank Gorham Jr., 25, were brought from the Washington, D.C., jail to the U.S. district courthouse to confer with their lawyer. Coincidentally, John D. Ehrlichman and three other defendants were on trial for their roles in the Ellsberg break-in on the second floor of the building. After a conference with their attorney, the two men, both of whom were serving lengthy sentences on charges ranging from armed robbery to conspiracy to kidnap, were returned to their cells in the basement. A short time later, Gorham reached through the bars and pointed a gun at a federal marshal. Using the marshal's keys to open a locker filled with weapons, the two convicts began what Wilkerson later called "an instant replay" of an abortive jail break the pair had led in 1972.

On the stairs leading out of the cell block, Gorham encountered Deputy U.S. Marshal Joseph Sinkavitch. Shoving Gorham aside, Sinkavitch rushed back through the cell block's steel door and quickly shut it behind him, sealing in Wilkerson, Gorham, eight hostages and 15 other inmates, none of whom had taken part in the seizure. Among the hostages were four deputy marshals, a Justice Department auditor and his secretary, and two local attorneys (one of whom, John J. Hurley, had previously served as Wilkerson's lawyer). At first, the two convicts vowed that they would not release the hostages until they had been guaranteed air passage to Africa or Venezuela. Later, the pair reduced their demands to a clear path out the front door and a getaway car. At week's end authorities had refused all of their requests, and seemed willing to wait the two men out.

Compared to the confused negotiations that have taken place in other prisoner-hostage situations, the discussions between Gorham and Wilkerson and federal authorities were surprisingly calm and cool. It helped matters considerably that the cell block telephone was in good working order. As the ordeal continued, both captors and hostages talked freely to newsmen, relatives and negotiators. The hostages' fears were eased somewhat by this link with the outside world. At one point Gorham's mother Velma and sister Ena showed up outside the courthouse, and while there they talked to Gorham by telephone.

Smuggled Key. The situation, however, remained tense. Inexplicably, eleven hours after the ordeal began the two prisoners released one of the four marshals, later did the same for 14 of the 15 inmates holed up with them (one woman inmate was asked to stay). By Sunday morning both men were exhausted, and their attention began to waver, giving the remaining seven hostages a chance to escape. In a carefully devised scheme that had been prearranged by telephone with authorities outside, the lone woman hostage, Debra Collins, told the two men that she needed a sanitary napkin. Officials sent it in to her with a key to the cell block elevator wrapped inside. While Gorham slept and Wilkerson talked on the telephone, the seven captives opened the elevator with the smuggled key, quickly got inside, and escaped on the building's second floor. Their game up, the two men surrendered hours later, and made a deal to be transferred to the federal prison of their choice.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.