The Sun.
London, England, 1832-03-26 00:00:00

ESCAPE OP A FELON FROM READTNO

COUNTY GAOL.

On Wednesday night John Dickinson, alias George Har-
ris, a notorious offender, who, with a companion named
George Centel!, alias Vez.-y, was cast for death at the
late assizes for breaking into the house of James Woodhalny
an industrious watchmaker at Hungerford, and stealing
his whole stock, valued at 2501. whereby poor Woodham tee'
totally ruined, effected his escape in a most daring manner.
For better security Dickinson was locked up every night
in one of the condemned cells, and all his clothes regularly
taken from him. The t ell in which he was confined is
between eleven and twelve feet high, lined throughout with
solid oak plank two inches thick, and the joints cased with
iron, and whitewashed on the ceiling and aides. At six
o'clock in the evening he was locked up as usual, and the
turnkey on looking round found all safe ; but this expe-
rienced burglar had been for some time working with 1
piece of iron hoop, which he had secreted, about file
inches long, and three-fourths of an inch wide, (probably
off an old bucket), which he had made into a saw, and
taken an opportunity to harden in the fire. A short piece i
of :stick not bigger than a man's little finger, which was
used to prop up the shutter before the grating of his cell,
formed the handle; and by getting on a wooden stool be-
longing to the cell, he reached the ceiling, and with this
rough instrument, by wonderful perseverance cat
through the solid plank of the ceiling, and after long-
continued nocturnal labour, succeeded last night in
cutting out an oblong piece of wood, which, after
wrenching off the iron at the joints, left a hole big
enough to enable him to force his body through. It
appears, that on leaving off work, he always stopped
the crevice be had cut (and which was merely sufficient to
admit his saw) by pasting over a piece of white paper.
He made his paste by wetting a hit of bread, a small por-
tion of this composition being found in the corner of the
cell. He then rubbed over the paper some of the chalk off
the wall, and unless the turnkey had been aware that I
something was wrong, it was next to impossible, on look--
ing round, to make any discovery. Having perfected the
aperture, he cut his blankets into strips, which he twisted
into a rope upwards of thirty feet long. Having got
through the aperture, he found himself under the tiling,
and by removing a few tiles, which he did in a workman-
like style, without the least noise, he ascended to the
main roof of the goal, which he traversed like a cat, and
then passed over the top of a very high and dangerous
cross-wall, having loose bricks on the top, four of which
he took with him to the outer wall, and having tied them
to the end of his blanket rope, by means of an extra piece
which he had made, lodged them under the coping, and
then descended, by means of his rope, a distance of forty
feet, into the gaol garden ; and to prevent the bricks at the
end of the rope falling and making a noise, he tied the end
he had in his hand to a tree; and having scaled the gar-
den-wall, effected his escape into the public road, having
only a shirt and yellow stockings on his person. A reward
of five guineas is offered for his apprehension, and although
great exertions have been made to discover his retreat, no
trace has yet been found of him. He is a returned trans-
port, and a most desperate villain, about twenty-seven
years of age, stout made, five feet eight inches high, broad
features, full eye, of sallow complexion ; his whiskers
were recently cut off but are now left growing, and are
sandy. He is the same person advertised in the Hue and
Cry of December 17, 1831.

COUNTRY CORN MARKETS

DURING LAST WRIK.

Wheat. i Barley.

s. to s. s. to s.
21
57 65 30 35
54 62 ' 32 36
61 33
62 40
59 68 30 36
s. d. s. d. s (1. s. (1.
63 70 36 39
70 90 48 54
9 0 9 2 6 0 6 4
70 93 36 46
9 1 9 3 5 6 6 0