SOME DARING EXPLOITS.

Shannon News, 4 December 1923, Page 3

SOME DARING EXPLOITS.

,'■; In almost all imaginative stories about escapes from, prison, the prisoner makes a dash in the fog and gets away under its kindly cover. In real life the: prison?breaker is much more original. ■ Take the case of Ronald McKinnon, whq was caught not long ago after being at liberty for a yeaiv This man, I confined at Wandsworth gaol, escaped by creeping between rtron bars which were only seven inches apart, In some mysterious way he reached the ground 40ft. below and climbed over the outer prison wall, which is 18ft< high. l .

One of the boldest escapes on record was from Nottingham Prison; A man got out of his cell window and climbed th e lightning-conductor to the roof. From the roof he jumped to the roof of the police station and thence made his way to the ground.

The width of this jump was'22ft., and it was made in -mid-air, with a drop beneath of between 40 and s.oft/, and in .case of failure the certainty of •being smashed like an egg; on * the stone pavement far below. '■'*'

A man once escaped from Chatham Prison by allowing his companions to brick him up in a wall they were build Jng. He had, to b e in a narrow, almost airless space for many hours; then, when night came, he threw all his weight against the still wet masonry, broke dt down, and went off. The recent escape of Sorate, a well known French criminal from Sing Sing Prison was a remarkable achieve ment. First the man sawed through the bars of his cell with a tiny file. Then he clambered to the roof, ana reached a lower roof by swinging hand over hand along a thin telephone wire From this he got down by means oi a, water pipe, after which h e scaled a high wall facing tho Hudson River. Thence he dived 14ft. in the water ana swam away.

The older "lag" who is not physically fitted for these amazing athletic teats uses his brain, and usually adopts a disguise of some sort. Some years ago a man named Graham confined i n Exeter, managed to break through the back wall of his V £L t - he yard he found a-plank and with its help he clambered on to ZtZflu r ° m this he reached the rqpf-of the Governor's house, wrenched up a skylight, and got into the Governor's dressing-room, ; where he dressed himself in a shooting coat and tweed cap. Thus disguised, he walked

William Mason, who escaped from ,^Ji P I iSO V Hotel ''' at HUI. i aided the rhaplain's quarters, and so secured a most efficient disguise. Extraordinarily ingenious was' the Plan of Edward Toye in making his escape from Duke-street Prison, in Glasgow. Being unable to secure any disguise, and aware that his prison garments would b e spotted at once,'he stripped them off and went out in his underclothes.

With his pants tucked round -bis knees he ran off in professional style so that the few people who.were about at that early hour of the - morning took him for a man train&g*. for a local marathon f. It was da jfil before, he was captured. . . ,