February 20, 1931: Man Escapes Boyertown Jail, Begs Admission to Join Gang in Norristown Jail

By Margaret Leidy Harner from her book One Day at a Time: A Social History of Boyertown, PA.

February 20, 1931: Boyertown officials had egg on their face when George Valles of Green Lane “houdini-ized” himself out of the local jail and took the lock with him. He had been arrested on suspicion of burglary and was lodged in the cell awaiting a hearing. But he didn’t wait.

When next heard from, Valles was clamoring for admission to the Norristown jail. Perplexed officials there obliged him, and he was quartered close to four men believed to be his associates in a gang that had been burglarizing summer homes in the Perkiomen Valley. The Boyertown jail has a new lock.

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