On November 24, 1905, Officer Ephriam Ephriam Allison and Officer John Clay were shot and killed during an escape attempt by inmates.

As was the custom in the Jefferson City Prison, when the convicts finished their work in the factories early they were allowed to return to their cells. Four of the convicts congregated in the prison yard, each armed with a revolver and explosives. They went to Deputy Warden See's office and shot him in the hand and side. They forced See to accompany them pulling signals to open the gate. Officer John Clay opened the gate and was confronted by the inmates and when he failed to put his hands up he was shot and killed. The inmates then went into the guard room and encountered Officer Allison who fired at them through an opening in the door. Officer Allison was shot in the neck and died hours later. Deputy Warden See pretended to be hit and the inmates left him. The inmates continued on to the front prison door and used explosives to blow a large hole in it. The convicts then continued on to the railroad with one being shot and wounded enroute. That prisoner would die later in the prison hospital. The remaining three ran to the Missouri Pacific Depot where they took a team and wagon. They drove at rapid speed down Madison Street and south on Dunklin turning west near the Capitol Brewery. One inmate fell from the wagon and the other two surrendered. Three of the inmates were convicted of murder and hanged on June 27, 1907. One of the three who was hanged was a member of the Morrison-Rosenau Gang, which was responsible for the murders of Detective Thomas Dwyer, Detective James McCluskey, and Detective John Shea, of the St. Louis Police Department, on October 21, 1904.

Officer Allison served as a confederate captain in the Civil War and was survived by his wife, Ruth, and children. He is buried in Englewood Cemetery, Clinton, Henry County, Missouri.

Officer Clay was survived by his widow. Interred: Woodland Old City Cemetery.

Article by Brent Marchant