COUNT AS GAOLBREAKER.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVI, Issue XLVI, 21 October 1911, Page 8

COUNT AS GAOLBREAKER.

.MYSTKRY OF SECOND ESCAPE FUO.M A OKRMAN PRISON. FA ITHFUL CON FEi)EKA'J'F.S. Cerniauvs champion gaolbreakcr. embezzler. a:rd forger. Max Sehk?n;:mgk. alia.- "Count tit" Passy." who e-eaped ii'i.'iM prison last Aprii and was rearrested a fortnight latin', lia.- a;.jaiii effected a marvellous isc.ipe. and is unci; more at large. Schiemangk came from Amcrii a some years ago with a unifor m-onieuhnt resembling that worn, by the United Stiteoilieers. . W'itii this uniform If vbtairud ni-etvs into society, where he licgau numerous a<lvor lure-. especially with matrimonially inclined ladies, whom h* 1 • s aliened to have largely :'■'. frr'r.ded. For these and other operations Sehievnangk was frequently inside a it'oL After a h ng period of detention )r> \\ a - ib.rated la-t spring, and at one resumed his career.

By the fi rging of papers and other dodges he sought to obiai.i pos-.'.-sioii of the beautiful old castle near Heilbronn, with the object afterward.-: of marrying a wealthy citiz> n's daughter in i:ai city. He. however, grew careless as to where he -showed himself, and was identified by a municipal oflieia] at a ball. He was caught and taken back to Hedbronn. During the journey he told his. warders that (he auth ,ritie.w ere merely waiting the public nicney in shutting him up again, as prison waiis had not yet been made that were thick enough and strong enough to kee>- him in. This hint was not ignored. He \va.-

•l.aintd by the legs to the walls of on-. 1 of the safest cells in the prison, and evei-y night his clothes were removed so 'hat if he did manage to escape he could only do so in a state of nakedness that woidd render his early recapture practically certain.

Nevertheless, all precautions were in vain. When his cell was vi-iled one morning last week it was found the' he had e--caped. Confederates from outside had obtained access to an adjoining buildinir in course of construction, thence mad? their way into the orison, yard, cut through the bars of the corridor window, broken open the door of the cell with a jemmy, and severed with a hack-saw the fetters that bound their comrade's legs. The great mystery of the wh'>'e affair is how Schieman'd< established that communication with his friends, which, it is declared, must have been absolutely necessary to the success of the enterprise.