On This Date in Minnesota History: September 29

September 29, 1910 – His wrists raw and bruised from hammering the handcuffs that encircled them with a stone, O. J. Oja, inmate of the state reformatory in St. Cloud was captured today near Moorhead and brought back to the institution by Assistant State Agent G. H. Knickerbocker. Last week he had made a sensational escape near Maple Lake by jumping through a car window while the train was running at full speed.

Oja was hiding in the thick woods near Maple Lake and made his way to Moorhead before being captured by the officers. It is a mystery how he succeeded in getting the handcuffs off, obviously a hard and painful process.

The Minneapolis Morning Tribune; “Handcuffs Hammered Off. Escaped Convict Uses Rock to Remove Embarrassing Wristbands.”; Sept. 30, 1910; p. 5.

St. Cloud Reformatory

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