The Sun.
London, England, 1829-05-16 00:00:00

ESCAPE FROM READING GAOL.

It will be recollected that, at our late Sessions, a
thin, weakly-looking lad, named Overy, received
sentence of transportation for seven years ; and at
our Borough Sessions, a candidate for the gallows,
named Powell, was sentenced to the same punish-
ment, on which occasion he took the liberty of offer-
ing to play our Chief Magistrate a game at fives,
whether the sentence should be increased to fourteen
years or for life. It would seem that both the par-
ties soon d'scovered the very annoying irksomeness
of confinement, for on Tuesday morning, a little
after four o'clock, they contrived to make their
escape from the County Gaol, and the following are
a few of the circumstances associated with their
flight

The runaways were, together with William
Baker, also under sentence of transportation, and
two other men, confined in one yard, and at night
slept in the same room.
A more reprehensible system than that of allow-
ing prisoners to sleep together cannot be adopted,
but in this instance the gaoler was not to blame.—
The fact is, Reading gaol is one of the most incon-
venient and unsafe places of confinement in England.
Ihe prison occupies a large piece of ground, but
altogether its internal arrangement is miserable in
the extreme, and affords little security for the reten-
tion of those in custody—the wonder is that escapes
are not more frequent, and more especially when the
number of accomplished thieves is considered who
are consigned to its walls.

Not the least suspicion was entertained of any
design to escape; and on Monday night, the quin-
tette of juvenile marauders amused themselves by
singing in their night cell to a late hour. It is sup-
posed, that immediately on their being locked up,
the scheme of escape was put into practice. The
room in which they were confined is small, but airy
and lightsome. It is about nine feet high, and the
walls, inside, are lined with oak plank, about a inch
and a half thick, nailed into the bricks, and held
tightly together with patches of sheet iron. With
a bar of iron, about three quarters of an inch in dia,
meter, and some ten or fourteen inches long, they
contrived to displace some of the bricks within side
the oak framing, and next to the window frame,
and after forming an opening or hole in the wall,
about nine inches in width, they descended into tb,:,
yard beneath, a depth of nearly seventeen feet, by
means of the bed blankets, which they had cut into
long shreds, plaited together, and formed into, a
rope from 22 to 24 feet in length, Wheu in the
yard, there seemed less likelihood of escape than
from above, and they ascended once more, and reach-
ed the boundary wall between the wards leavingßaker
below; and proceeding to the outward wall, they
had no difficulty in letting themselves down outside
the prison, and so got clear off. Not the least trace
has yet been heard of them, and though several per,
sons say they saw them going in the direction of the
London road, their statement is myth doubted by
Mr. Eaststaff. It is conjectured that the bar, which
was the chief instrument of their liberation, must
have been thrown over the wall, enveloped in some
soft materials, to prevent the noise of its fall. Tho
agreement amongst the thieves was, that wh?l,), the
two parties had got outside the wall, Olo,y were to
throw back the blanket-rope for Oz, oihers• but they
failed in so doing—leaving their less lucky confe-
derates in prison? and Aus proving, that, for once,
there is no`trtith in the adage of " Honour amougst
thieves:"'

Since writing the above, we have heard that the
prisoners have been traced towards the 'W
rite
Knights Park, and from thence through the plan-
tations of E. Golding, Esq. of Maiden Erleigh, into
the Oakingham road. There is no doubt they had
confederates outside the prison.-4v4.shire. Chron.

KENT
ls.lted
The Duchess, 0;?_ K V Prince LEO-
D A N ES.—es-
rqspll
AYeTtat;sl:4;:yo, avt, Aelaar.lbo,croLuEgh;hEoNuTse, Pall-mall.
terday , Neetitig of the inhabitant householders ofYtWs
hriill was held at the Vestry-room, to audit awl pass the
F...;,-,41g, a , :.
Rll,. to appoint ten
Accounts of the Senior Cliurcliwar4‘4, to elect two
Churchwardens for the year ep
persons as a Board of ..\sAviittarits to the. Chup:,hitajitv.v,s
and Overseers, The Rev! 19.:. GURNri IiA9A Ow fi.
.I
The azeounia.w.ere'Passed, and. ii+o Mtetiiss.- -;"a'''
the election of two rimrchwards-•
SCRIVENER: "iiumber, ~ proceeded to
°r. '''Oare-street, and Mr. JAMES
'.' ~ . ~s, and Mr. THOMAS
gilder, of the Strand, were eleeteil
MiLsounsE, earv.-. and
for
i- .! •
the vv- ensuing. The Meeting also proceeded to the
number elected were the late Overseers, including Mr.
.ection of ten persons as a Board of Assistants. Among the
CLARKS. The Meeting then adjourned.

DEPREDATIONS OF ROOKS.

(From t ic:,Esser 'Herald.)
The voracious habit's of the rook, antyhe
vast increase of theSe birds of late years ii4er-
tain parts of this county, owing to a desire on
the part of gentlemen to cause them to be pre-
served with-the same watchfulness they do their
game, has been productive of so much mischief,
that the circumstance would seem to call for Le-
gislative interference, in order effectually to re-
press so public a grievance. As a further proof
that the most important events have been pro-
duced by the most trifling causes, it has been
asserted by some of the sufferers at the com-
mencement of the French Revolution, that the
over-production of birds, insignificant as they
appear in the creation, was materially instrumen-
tal in causing that extraordinary convulsion.
The fact has often been related by a very respect-
able Catholic Priest, who resided many years at
Chipping-hill, in Witham, that such was the
arbitrary conduct of the owners of abbeys and
monasteries in France, in preserving and culti-
vating the rook and the pigeon, that they increas-
ed to such numbers as to become so great a pest as
to destroy the seed when sown, and the young plat is
as soon as they appeared above the ground, inso-
much that the farmer, despairing of a reward fir
his labour, besides the loss of his seed, the fields
were left barren, and the supply of bread corn
was, in consequence, insufficient to meet the ne-
cessities of so rapidly increasing a people. Tile
father of the gentleman to whom we have al-
luded, was, for this offence, one of the first vic-
tims to his imprudence., The revolutionary meb
proceeded to his residence, from whence they
took him, and hung his body upon a gibbet ;
they next proceeded to destroy the rooks and
pigeons which he had cultivated in great num-
bers, and strived to preserve with the same tena-
city as others do in this country. We are told
by the son of this martyr to his own folly, that
the mob continued to shoot the birds amidst the
loudest acclamations, and that they exulted in
the idea that in each victim they witnessed the
fall of an aristocrat. This may account for the
antipathy the French still retain towards the
rook, very few of its species being found in that
country. We have before spoken of the injury
sustained by the farmers in the vicinity (it'
Writtle, and of Waltham, by the increasing~
number of these birds. Since the month of
February, notwithstanding a vigilant watch was
placed at a considerable expense, the rooks
have stolen sets of potatoes from a considerable
breadth of ground at Widford-hall. On the
same farm, during the sowing of a field of
sixteen acres with peas, the number of rooks
seen at one time upon its surface has
been estimated at one thousand, which is
accounted for by there being a preserve near,
which, at a moderate computation, contains
1,000 nests. But the most lamentable ravages
committed by these birds that has yet come to
our knowledge is in Navestock, Kelveden-hatch,
and their vicinities, where the damages done an-
nually, within a small circle, has been estimated
at more than 2,0001. Subsequently to the
month of March, of late years, many farmers
have paid from Ss. to 10s. per week, in order to
preserve their seed and their plants; but not-
withstanding such precautions, acre after acre of
beans, when in leaf and clear from the soil,
have been pulled up, and the loss of the crop
rendered irreparable to the farmer. Surely the
operating causes against the agriculturist are suf-
ficiently numerous, without the cultivation of
such locusts as the rooks appear to be, when
driven to such extremities for their subsistence,
as they must be when colonized in such num-
bers as are now to be seen in those parts
of the county to which we have alluded.
The late hurricane proved some interruption
to their breeding; and particularly upon the
estate of Lord Waldegrave, at Navestock,
where the young ones were thrown from
their nests, and were found under the trees in
myriads ; the very nests blown down, it is said,
would have furnished the poor with fuel for a
short period, had they been allowed together it.
The young birds were mourned over as though
they had been as many rabbits which would have
brought a shilling a-head. Surely such a pest
to the farmer, and to society in general, will not
be persisted in by the British land-owner, after
he becomes acquainted with tbe evil conaequences
arising therefrom. The most effectual means of
deterring the rook from inflicting upon the far-
mer such a scourge, is to obtain -several of these
birds at a period of the year when they can be
more easily taken ; then cut them open and pre-
serve them by salt. In the spring, during the
seed time, these rooks are to be fastened -uIOWII
-7
to the ground with their wings sPre ,a and their
mouths extended by a pebble, as if in great tor-
ture. This plan b" bt 0 found so effectual,
of large preserves, the
that even in the vicinity
fields where the, tread birds have been so placed,
not a singk rook has been seen to visit. The
dif.'culty-with the farmer appears to be to pro-
vide himself with the dead rooks, but we should
hope, after this circumstantial detail of the evil
consequences arising from their numbers (and
for the truth of which we have the most re-
spectable references), that instructions will b.!
given to every tenant to use the best menus for
extirpating them.,

A curious bird, of the Great isl'orthern Diver
species was on Wednesday last talon off Exmouth. In
(living it entangled itself in a net which was dragging for
the body of the unfortunttta Captain of a sloop, diowned
there the day before. • /t is now in the possession of Mr.
Roucnrrr, who Wks it to stuff. —Exeter Flying Post.
On Tuesday evening last a young woman,
alloys nineteen years of age, named MARIA VIZIOiTILL':,
having entered the shop of Mr. Sorge, druggist, Sze., old
' Town-street, Plymouth, with a prescription for sorne me-
dicine, while it was preparing sat down in a chair, and
was soon after observed to be fast asleep. Not being Ml-
bto.myehttlheiaretcly disturbed, she continued fur some time appa-
r en tly
situation,
tuaa
ordinarytaitoant means.oi
tfws amsnfoolu.,senldeeyt,hwabastu
ahet, attentiontbeau
tifakneonbteitin)teisgiadr(eio:uazi
every stimulating method for recovering animal life from a state of insensibility was tried, but without effect.
Surgical aid, was called in, ant'. the same means were
repeated, but they were equally ineffectual. She was
then bled in the arrn, and some strong liquid dropped
On her lips, when she sprung upon her legs, tittered
some wild expressions, and again relapsed into her
former state. Dr. Cooxwoaxnv having been sent
for, he devoted tho most persevering attention to her
case for seyera,l hours, but the girl continued in .ta
state of insensibility. She was then taken
4use, and was again bled witlaem aft.- the work-
mant and helpless conditioAats. • et. In this Bor-
on Thursday mornixi, w°". m
nurse of the wai'ti• en she awoke,a
i n
d
siced for some tea, of which she drank
ed a
n until
calling
to
the
, and ate two biscuits, and then again fell into
re
..-.l.,ormer state. During the time she was awake, shout
a quarter
and saying she'hoped the Loaa would have mercy on her.
affliction,offreganuehnotulyr,psoliinetianpgpter
bederqiiieitaed saenntisibslteomofahcher,
hl aatvei
nhgo uters
toi
fine Fraydaindy funritghhetr
ss hi
gen
sl aoyt. ml
foet.i o IHe sesr
some years past been subject to such spasmodic fits, and
father,wil p
h
at one time remained eleven hours in a similar state...,
otoutwaho lives at Ivy-bridge, says his daughter has for
Exeter Flying Post.