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Passenger train cars were moving fast and street trolleys hurriedly made their runs on Oct. 7, 1897, a day described by the Wilkes-Barre Record newspaper, &ldquo;New Year&rsquo;s Eve and July 4th mixed into one.&rdquo;
				Wilkes-Barre hosted the state&rsquo;s annual &ldquo;Firemen&rsquo;s Week&rdquo; that attracted fire departments throughout Pennsylvania bringing with it nearly 40,000 people to the area.
				The grand finale was the Firemen&rsquo;s Parade on Oct. 7.
				As thousands of people lined Center City streets to watch the three-mile long parade, brothers Daniel and Lawrence Sullivan and Harry Evans were picketing pockets from parade-goers.
				The three scofflaws mostly stole wallets and coins but their grand theft was a gold watch.
				When they returned to a boarding house, they talked about the gold watch in a conversation overheard by the house&rsquo;s caretaker who, in turn, notified city policemen.
				Three policemen kept watch on the house and arrested the brothers and Evans in a raid at 6 a.m. on Oct. 8, 1897.
				Their Habeas corpus hearings were held at the old Luzerne County Courthouse on Public Square on Oct. 15, 1897.
				&ldquo;It was about 11 o&rsquo;clock when the hearing was completed and Warden James M. Boland handcuffed Harry Evans and Lawrence Sullivan together, while he walked behind with Daniel Sullivan,&rdquo; the Times Leader reported Oct. 16, 1897.
				In those times, prisoners were taken from the Public Square courthouse and either took a street trolley or walked the several blocks to the Luzerne County Jail on Water Street.
				&ldquo;There were many people on the streets and the warden having the first two men securely handcuffed in front of him, a loaded revolver in his pocket and the other man at his side, did not think of trouble,&rdquo; reported the Times Leader.
				When the group reached North River Street near Union Street, the brothers and Evans made their escape.
				&ldquo;At the intersection of North River Street and the old canal bed the two men who were handcuffed slipped the irons and dashed away down the railroad. Warden Boland started after Evans, who ran one direction, and gave hot chase until he reached the Miner-Hillard Mill,&rdquo; the Times Leader reported.
				Boland fired five rounds at the fleeing prisoner losing sight of Evans near Patterson&rsquo;s Lumber Yard.
				The two Sullivan brothers also ran off.
				Lawrence Sullivan, 22, ran along Union Street and turned onto North Franklin Street where he stole a bicycle and rode it onto Market Street. David Sullivan, 21, ran down North Franklin Street to Market Street and met Evans, 20, on Public Square.
				Boland issued a reward of $100 for their capture and return to city police headquarters.
				&ldquo;One of the most daring escapes of prisoners in the history of Luzerne County occurred on North River Street at 11 o&rsquo;clock this morning when three young gamblers and pickpockets broke their handcuffs and ran away from Warden Boland in whose custody they had been,&rdquo; reported the Wilkes-Barre Times on Oct. 15, 1897.
				Three lumber yards, outhouses and barns were searched in the North River Street area by policemen.
				On New Year&rsquo;s Eve, Boland received a telegram the Sullivan brothers and Evans were captured in Chicago.
				&ldquo;The three pickpockets who escaped a couple of months ago from Warden Boland as he was taking them to jail had been captured in Chicago. Warden Boland received from from the Chicago Police Department last night that the Sullivan brothers who were arrested there had demanded Habeas corpus hearings and been discharged. Evans has also entered Habeas corpus proceedings,&rdquo; the Wilkes-Barre Record reported Jan. 1, 1898.
				Boland and an assistant warden traveled by train to Chicago on Jan. 2, 1898. When they arrived, they quickly learned the three men were not his escaped prisoners.
				&ldquo;Boland found that the men captured by the Chicago police were not the pickpockets at all,&rdquo; the Record reported Jan. 6, 1898.
				The last accounts of the three escaped prisoners were published in mid-March 1898, when newspapers in Wilkes-Barre reported Boland boarded the Black Diamond Express at the Lehigh Valley Train Station for New York City. Boland returned without the three fugitives.
				No other accounts could be found if Harry Evans and the Sullivan brothers were ever captured. Several newspapers reported the three men changed their names.

Lookback: Three inmates escaped from warden in 1897