Jacob C. Arnold did not try to break out of the St. Louis workhouse. He tried to break back in.
In January 1903, Arnold appeared on the workhouse grounds shortly after being released and asked to be taken back. When officials told him they could not simply readmit him without a court sentence, he refused to leave.
The situation was strange enough that a police officer had to be called.
His offense was trespassing, but his real crime seemed to be poverty. Arnold had been sleeping in boxcars and empty buildings, drifting in and out of confinement, wearing cast-off clothing left behind by other prisoners…