DARING ESCAPES FROM PRISON.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 42, 18 February 1905, Page 13

DARING ESCAPES FROM PRISON.

■ —~- ( A GAOL INSPBGTOa'S SXO3IES. 1* It fell to Mujor Arthur Griffiths, Iβ tie ] course of his duties as piison inspector, to ' make several interesting, inquiries into the ( manner and methods* of escape from dur- 1 ance. la his latest book, "Fifty Tears of Public Service" (Cassall and Co.) he gives < some account of the most remarkable. H . was a shoemaker by trade and a burglar by profession, -who had been fie- ; quently an iirmate erf the Wafcefield prison, and, as an industrious and handy mas, had been suffered to go abotrt a good deal in < the interior. Fate at last overtook him with a long sentence of penal servitude, and while awaiting transfer to Dartmoor he t was pet to work at his trade at Wakefietd. , Hp was located in a cell at the end of the bail, and furthest removed from super- ( vision. The practice was to unlock the ce!l j doors for chapel, and again for exercise, , when ail the prisoners stood for a brief • space in their doorways awaiting the com- . mand to step out. This regular wait suf- • need to reveal to H that the "food trao" in his cell, by means of which the regular meals were passed through, was ) insecurely fastened. i A PATIEXT PRIEON-BREAKETI. The discovery made by H was that ' the bolt of the lock did not shoot quite ' home, and that it would be possible to remove the screws while he waa detained from time to time in the doorway. He extracted the screws, bat left them where they were, loose, so that he might take them out when he chose, a3 he conld also slip back the bolt. He found out also that by slipping his arm through the trap, which he conld lower or raise by means of a shoe lace, he could ap_preach the ceil lock from the outside. To gat out it was essential to unlock the cell dcor, or pick the lock with a skeleton key. This meat be manufactured. He availed himself of the iron hoop of a small wash tub he was allowed to keep Iα his cell for the purpose of soaking tie leather he nscd. With his shoemaker's file he cut a narrow strip fiom the hoop, and moulded it as he desired. At last, after fitting and adjusting it exactly, he formd that hia skeleton key would open the lock. When all was ready he watched and ■waited, ontil the night patrol had passed ! Mm, to make liis exit. At the door ne forad the remainder of his shoemaker's tools which had been deposited outside, and from these he took a cobbler's knife and a file. He made for the storey above. when*, as he knew, there was a cell in communication with the heating apparatus above, reached by a ladder through a trap door.. The cell was open, he climbed up, drew the ladder after him, and was soon among the hot water pipes under the roof. To cut through was not easy, and he made much noise hammering and breaking the Eia tea. I This gave the alarm. The night guard went in a b<xly towards tho auspicious sounds, and entered the cell, through vrVich ho. had gained the roof. Clearly he was at work above, and when another ladder was brought, a great hole In the roof showed where he had got through. Pursuit followed along the slates, but the fugitive was nowhere in sight. He had gone down to the ground level, sliding by a gutter pipe and by the sewer vent pipe, lie reached the prison vegetable garden, got ovpr the boundary wall, and at oncemade for another part of the country. ESCAPES IN DISGUISE. Dissruise comes as the first and foremost iv the aids to escape. The story runs that a eosnrlct got clear away from Dartmoor by breaking into a doctor's house and laying hands on the latter's navaluniform, which fitted him well, and took him a long distance on the road. A clever escape was made by a female prisoner in Millbank by stealing a full set of the matron's clothes. This prisoner was a "cleaner," who had regular access to the matron's quarters, here she easily laid her haads upon the necessary disguise, a pretty costume, a becoming hat, and all the rest of the outfit. When dressed, she boldly went to the inner gate, called herself the matron's friend, •'on a visit to her." and was then permitted to walk out unchallenged. TWa woman, when recaptured, declared that she had yielded to a sudden impulse when she saw th<» opportunity, and was in such a hurry that she would not wait to pat off her prison dress, but put the disguise over ■It. BUIRED ALIVE. To elude observation is another manifest advantage. I have known an intending fugitive to be btult into a stack of bricks by his fellows, who rapidly covered him up when he laid himself down. At Dartmoor. 7.-ben it was a war prison, a French prisoner wa.s covered bodily by the new work in progress at a chimney breast, which, tITe mortar being still "green," he threw down the same evening without difficulty. At Portland once a convict was lost; he had escaped from has party, and yet It seemed impossible that he could have left the Bill. After a long search of the many hiding places, the civil guard took to prod- - ding the ground at spots near where he s vtls first missed, and were rewarded wfth a , sr-fiden shout of pain. They had caught their man, buried a foot or two down. J I once saw a cell window at Oxford * prison through whidi a cleTer man had - vron hia way. The window frame was of S cast iron; beyond it oa the far side were - iron bars wide enough, apart to allow a f man to slip through. He first fixed his » jacket against the window frame with, » wedges made onf of his cell stool, and f then conTerted the plank bed into- a bat--5 tering ram, which broke the iron-work t noiselessly. The passage free, &c climbed up to tiie sill, and slipped through the - outer bars. 5 BAD LUCK. Luci is sometimes against tie I remember the case of a man who had got ' out of his cell into the prison yard, and " had broken into the ladder shed by smasli--1 ing the padlock. The ladder helped him to climb to the top of the boondaiy wall, bat he could not draw ft up" alter hhn. and was obliged to risk a drop on the other side. In falling he broke hi 3 ankle, but • luck brought a friend down the street, who r helped him to crawl away. Now the lnck c turned, for when snngly put to bed in his 5 own house the news of his injury brought 1 the police, who knew he ought to be in 1 gaol. Another men, in dropping from a boundary wall into a field, fell npoa a- cow grazing exactly Beneath him. Her back gave way, he slipped oft! on to the grass, and she settled down on top of him, hold- , ing him there, with a broken leg, until his shouts brought the assistance that ended ail his chances of escape. . CONVICTS' DEGRADED APPETITES, j Everyone knows that to be steadily, coni stantly restricted, and for years and yearsw i to an uavarying and not too appetising r diet, becomes almost unbearable. I have a seen men. says the author, at Chatham r greedily devour the railway grease used in 3 the traffic of the trucks. TTiere waa a r horrible fashion- once of eating earth, witi r serious results to fee unnatural feeders. It was given in evidence before a Royal Cemmisaioa by Mr Darltt that a convict

at Dartmoor -ate grass, candles, and the j dubbing issued to grease the heavy boots. 3£r Daritt a&lafeii tHai Se hid ttimsetf ;:aten candles when goaded by the pangs of hunger. One story was .that a convict would collect earth-worms in the works and eat handfula wltlt a sprinkling of salt. Another was in the habit of fining his pockets with young flogs alive, and' swallowing them in rapid succession- on" the appearance of a stranger.