ESCAPES THAT PRISONERS HAVE MADE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CVIII, Issue 12999, 15 December 1902, Page 2

ESCAPES THAT PRISONERS HAVE MADE.

Climbing sixty feet tip a perpendicular wall by the aid of a water-pipe is a feat which strongly reminds , one of the redoubtable Jean Valjean, of Victor Hugo's story. The prisoner, who, not long ago, performed this gymnastic exploit at Pentonville, seeni-s to have had no idea, of escape. Indeed, he was to he discharged next clay. He merely wished to do what no one else had done:—spend a. day and a night on the roof of the prison. He got his desire, and was nearly frozen into the bargain, for, the night turned out a very cold one with a- sharp frost before morning. Iquique, a- city, of South America, is subjected to frequent'' earthquakes, .so the buildings are mhstly one storeyed, of adobe, or sun-dried clay. Jibe prison is no'exception to the rule, bWthe walls are. enormously thick, and. w/lraW. the aid of some metal tool, quite impossible to pierce.. There was, amazement among the officials when- a noted desjfradb, named/ Castro, was found one morning to have vanishedA large hole gaped in the wall of his cell. It was discovered that the man had saved his drinking water, three pints a day, and used it to moisten a spot in the wall. Then, with the aid of a splinter of wood, he had worked a hole in the softened clay. Continuing to pour water info this hole, hod eventually rendered a large piece of THE WALL ROTTEN ENOUGH TQ BREAK AWAY. Michael Flaherty, a ponvict in the Bench City prison, ijr California, had a fifteen years’ term to serve, hut behaved so well that he was accorded more liberty than some of the prisoners, and was set to work in the garden. But even there the watchful ring of sentries seemed to; preclude all chance of escape. It occurred to him. that if lie could only colour himself to match the Jong-grass of a hay field which! bordered the,, grounds .he might succeed in; escaping, 1 With this idea, he procured a ipiece of sacking, spread it on the ground, _covered it with a suspicion of eartli and sowed oats on it. Well watered daily, it wais soon covered with a thick green growth. Ihen Flaherty seized an opportunity of getting it to the meadow, slipped under it, and began crawling away. If it had not been that in his anxiety he a little too fast, and so attracted a sentry’s attention, there is little doubt but that he would have got off altogether. Somewhat similar "was the performance of an Italian prisoner at Turin. He was a long sentence man, but his conduct had been so good that he was permitted the privilege of doing work about the prison. He was a clever painter, and was employed iiv painting the Governor’s house. Working one day on the roof he used his paint brush to such good purpose that he turned his convict garb into a suit of blue overalls. Then he seized his chance, and, slipping through a trap-door into a garret, marched Iqoldly down the stairs and out of the front door. Luckily for his warder-, who had been chatting' with one of the maids, and so neglecting his duty, the man could not .resist the temptation of entering a neighbouring wine shop, and was there RECOGNISED' AND RECABTURED. A prison visitor was. made the unwitting means of helping a burglar, named Carey, to escape from the gaol in New Orleans, a few years ago. Feigning repentance, this ingenious criminal gradually enlisted the sympathies of the misaioner, and at last told him a piteous story of how he had pawned everything before taking to crime. What Ire most regretted was his old mother's Bible, and if the rniesiouer would only recover it for him be would be everlastingly grateful. The visitor promised to do what he could. Carey gave him the name of the pawnshop, and there, sure enough, the hook still remained. Tire pawnbroker was glad to sell it, and fire volume, was thus passed into the prison without the usual examination. A few days later Carey had vanished. The bars of his window had been neatly cut out with a steel file. Tire family Bible which lay on tiro floor gave the secret away. In the centre of its leaves a hole had been cut, and, snugly stored therein, a parcel of ' STEEL SAWS AND FILES HAD BEEN COMPLKTKLT' HIDDEN. The gaol at Toledo, Ohio, had a large, disused chimney about. thirty feet high, one side of which abutted on a cell occupied by a prisoner named Miller. Miller in some way discovered the existence of the abandoned chimney, and promptly picked a hole in the- brickwork, puttying up tho mortar he removed with chewed bread, so as to avoid discovery.

But though he could see the sky above he found that alone he could not possibly climb the perpendicular shaft. It was too wide. He therefore took six other men into his confidence. Picking the lock of his cell door one night, he managed to let the others out of their cells and gather them into his. Tho whole seven then formed a living pyramid acrobat fashion. Inequalities in the masonry helped to take off the weight. At last the top man’was able to gain the coping, and let down a sheet rope by means of which he helped the others one by one to liberty. They then dropped to the roof, slippe-d down a lightning rod, and the first five got clean away. The sixth fell and made a noise, a warder rushed out, and he and the unlucky seventh were retaken.