John Frankford, also known as One-Eyed Joe, was a rough-and-tumble figure and a famous horse thief who traveled from Ohio to Maryland throughout the mid to late 1800s, navigating saloons, shootouts with sheriffs, and shady deals.
Frankford grew up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He was notorious for stealing horses and selling them. But he was best known for his skill of breaking out of jail.
Between 1860 and 1885, he was charged with a crime at least two dozen times. When he got caught, he always escaped and continued with his horse-stealing ways.
After some time, the Lancaster County jail built a special cell for Frankford to prevent him from escaping.
However, in 1881, he managed to dig under it and crawl out through a stone chimney. A guard spotted him and shot him in the face. He ended up losing an eye, which earned him the nickname of One-Eyed Joe.
In 1885, Frankford was busted at a horse sale in Philadelphia. He was sent to the Eastern State Penitentiary. At the time, it was the most strict and famous prison in the world. It is considered to be the place where the practice of solitary confinement originated in the United States.
Frankford was sentenced to 19 years in prison for horse theft. But he never made it out of the penitentiary alive. Eastern State was operational from 1829 to 1971. During that time, 80,000 prisoners were held there. Only a few dozen of them ever broke out of the facility.
In the late 1800s, prisoners spent most of their days in their cells. When they were taken out for work or exercise, guards would put hoods over their heads so they couldn’t recognize where they were.
By the 1890s, Frankford was no longer closely confined. His duties consisted of plumbing, plastering, and caring for the prison’s dogs.
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