Baltimore daily commercial. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1865-1867, 1866-06-04
HEAD CENTRE STEPHENS.
of His Escape from Prison.


- At his preliminary examination he stated to Mr..
Strong, the magistrate that it was not his intention
to employ lawyer He was then remanded to the
18th of November when twas again postponed to the
18th On that day he received the usual caution when
he made the reply, You speak like lawyer but
mean to act like patriot" Then, turning TO the
magistrate he told him that he had not employed any
lawyer and dd not mean to do so, as by so doing he
should recognize British law in Ireland. He dolib
erately and conscientiously denied the existence of
British law IN Ireland, and dcfed any puniShmentit
could ini1ict upon him.
On this account James Stephens confined in
the prison at Richmond. There he had time to re-
fleet, and 1t struck him that his conclusion might
have been Ease and he thought the Leaders in
THIS country might not understand his reasons and
the assistance ne expected to realize from the move
ment might not After turning the matter over
III his mind he became convinced that he should gain
more prestige by getting out of prison than he had
done by getting into it, and accordingly commenced
to lay plans Tor eitccting that object.
THE ESCAPE.
On the following day OF the very men he had
intended to make an agent in eilecting his escape.
came to BIN and said his escape had been planned by
parties outside On hearing the names of the men
who had the matter in hand, he ined on let
finally heard that he was to leave the prison on the
morning of the oath of November. His friends our
SIDE had had keys made toopen the six or seven doors
between his cell and the prison wall. which was .
feet high.
Tn the evening of the sd he went to bed at the
usual hours O'clock He was very drowsy, and Il
required all his efforts to keep awake About mid
night he and dressed himself very quietly. lie
then turned up the bedcl9thes and lay down on the
of his friend Shortly after the clock struck two he
heard slight noise at considerable distance, which
he at knew to be the sound produced by OPEN
ing the first gate Soon afterwards he heard similar
noise, and until the key turned in his cell door
This grated noisily that it had to be drawn open
with the utmost caution.
he night was similar to the one on which Oliver
Cromwell died, when the dreadful and destructive
storm which swept over England caused the cava-
Tiers to say that all the devils in he'll had broken
loose to carry his soul to its last home. Ihe high
wind heavy rain and intense darkness of the night
"a
a revolver was instantly placed in his hand They
| then passed in the manner through all the
doors of the prison, until they reached the open
air, when the outer wall DISTRACTED their further
1t must remain mystery how he assembled that
wall, but the manner in which he descended it is
| follows: he had been given to understand that he
must leap from the top OF the wall into garden at
the other side. Before doing so, however he felt
along the top of the wall and his hand came in CON
tact with metal funnel or stove pipe, at which he
pulled to SEQ if it firm enough to descend by
Finding it quite firm, he let himself down by it for
eight ten feet, when he found himself the
roof Of shed, down which he Slid to path which
ran by its side.
In that way no trace of his descent was left an d
hence the mystifcaton of the detectives. Follow
ing the route laid down for him, he went along the
walk to the end of the gaTden then turning at right
Gated, whence he was to have thrown Stono over
the outer wall signal for his friends to throw
rope over to him. The night intensely dark and
he unable to find stone, and therefore picked
up a handful of gravel from the path, which be flung
over the wall. and rope was Immediately thrown
to him.
lie seized the rope with some anxiety, asking HIM
self Have they thought of putting knot in it ?" lie
found they had done so. and he began to draw him
self up by it. The first help he received was by
catching his feet against pr0tuberanco and at the
second lift his feet lodged in hole in the wall the
third brought him to the top On looking down he
saw his friends in a group below.
They placed themselves against the wall, with
Bonded backs, and he dropped from the top of the
WALL while one stalwart man held up his arms to
break the fall. No was ne down than he told
his friends to disperse Immediately and go home.
Two only remained with him.
They proceeded about three hundred yards when
one of the two remaining friends also left, and he
then proceeded to the house at which he had deter
mined to take refuge.
Six different houses were ready to receive him
that ngtt and every of the six remained up all
night anticipating his arrival No one saw him enter
the house in which ne took refuge, and from its win
dows could be seen the prison in which he had been
confined.
IMMENSE INMGRATIoS.-A gentleman just from
Sioux city states that between that place and Iowa
Falls he met over five hundred teams with imm-
grants. all bound for the West, some to Montana,
some Dacotah, some to the Sioux city region, and
Others for the fertile valleys of the Des Mones and
other streams this side of the Big Muddy The rush
westward tlis spring has never been exceeded even
in the ilushest OF the flush times.