
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, October 29, 1993                   TAG: 9310290141
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: PRINCETON, W.VA.                                LENGTH: Short

4 INMATES BREAK OUT OF W.VA. COUNTY JAIL

Four inmates escaped from the Mercer County Jail on Thursday, prompting an area search and a nationwide alert, police said.

"It's pretty much a bad lot of people there," said Trooper C.C. Smith in Princeton.

One is convicted for shooting a police officer, one is convicted of murder, one is convicted of sexual assault for raping his wife and another is wanted on several felony counts, Smith said.

The four apparently escaped through ceiling light panels in their cellblock between 7 and 7:40 a.m., Sheriff D.B. Meadows said. They went through the attic onto the roof of the County Courthouse.

- Associated Press

by CNB