How does a man sentenced to die disapaear into thin air the nght before his hanging in the Cambria County Jail

 As I was driving around Ebensburg this summer taking pictures of old buildings I came across the old jail and thought there had to be a good story that went with this place I was right
Michael 'Smitty" Smith was to die by the noose  for killing a Johnstown man John Minehan and he disappeared into thin air several days before he was to be executed in  1884  in the formidable  Cambria County Jail.One of the most escape proof at the time.

http://old.post-gazette.com/neigh_east/20020106jail3.asp

Was it a kindly guard who let him go or was it smiths crafty knowledge that got him out we will never know.

  Known as " Peg Leg" smith had lost a leg  and may have used the false one to hide tools needed for the escape

http://www.dojohnstown.com/2010/01/old-cambria-county-jail/