Officer James Hart was beaten and strangled to death by three inmates who were attempting to escape from prison.

On February 4, 1924, three inmates sawed through the bars of their cells, then sawed through the bars of the cellblock and encountered Officer Hart. They beat officer Hart and strangled him, took his gun and wrapped his body in a blanket and hid it in a guard house, then obtained a ladder and scaled an outer wall escaping the prison as they fired on another guard stationed at the wall. The inmates, Miles Thomas ,17; John Archie Reynolds,23 , aka Jack McFall; and Frank Delcore, 27, were able to make it out of the prison during a severe winter snow storm but were tracked by officers and shot and killed.

Officer Hart served with the Missouri Department of Corrections for three years.