Jerry Collins

    Jerry Collins served as Deputy Sheriff or Sheriff of Wayne County for over fifty years and is most remembered because not one prisoner escaped while he was in charge. The story of Jerry Collins's role in the capture of Oliver Curtis Perry shows just how seriously he took his job.

    Oliver Curtis Perry robbed a train in Jordan, New York and in Lyons he boarded a locomotive as a way to escape. Jerry Collins managed to find a faster train and caught up with Perry, who then put the locomotive in reverse, heading the other direction. Collins did the same and the two trains continued to race one another back and forth between Lyons and Newark. In desperation, Perry jumped from his train taking off in a stolen horse and sleigh and on foot. He was later captured by Jerry Collins.