The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1874-01-01
DudIey's Escape.

"WeIl, Master Dudley, and wha
news have you now ? How fares the
case of his Majesty the King ,"
The speaker WAS q Worcestershire
squire. Tne person whom he ad
dressed was a man of fine presenct
and military bearing of a good de-
scent, yet with q decided, busines:
turn. His father had been a noble
man and at the same time an irOI
manufacturer. This son had lett Ok
ford at twenty, to assume direction o
his fathers forge and furnaces. IL
such work he was deeply interested
and actively engaged when the greal
civil war broke Out-the war between
Charles /. and the people of England
Dudley had, by reason of birtl
and education, espoused the cause O
the King, and haG risen to the rank o
general of artillery. After many sue
cesses by the Parliamentary army 6
lu'l had fallen, which was broken il
I648 by the tumuIts and uprising il
Wales. The influence of this com
motion had extended through al
England, but the vigorous measures
of Fairfax, the Parliamentary com
mander, had compelled the concen
tration of the,insurgents at Colchester
in Essex. Against them a strenuous
siege was being carried on by Fairfa1
at the time our s. ory opens.
tIll enough, master Hodson," wa
DudIey's answer. Our friends arr
hard bestead in Colchester, and til,
Roundhead Cromwell is sitting dow;
before Pembroke. Yet bOtn plaet
make gallant resistances, and th'
right cause may yet triumph"
"'Twere q good deed now TO raiss
troops here in the west and strike {
blow for King Charles while the crop
ears are busy otherwhere."
"Yea, neighbor; you have reason
on your side, and my blood tingles Il
recover for his Majesty something o
what he has lost in these evil tunes
Besbrew me, but it shall be done"
So Dudley rode forth among hi
neighbors. "Harcourt," he said t.
one who had been a major in the roy
al forces during the struggle that end
ed in 1916 "Harcourt, shall we no
make head once more for our gOoC
lord and king? He hath right to oul
swords and lives /; and il is to ou
shame that we lie still when Oul
! friends elsewhere are in peril for tn,
| cause"
"With all my heart, Dudley" wa
the answer. "Tes, / will ride will
you to rouse the country side, ant
take the field against the frantic rebel
whose success has made them NOR
insolent than l can bear"
They rode together, therefore, anC
gathered about them many more gen
rlemen and their adherents, until they
could number two hundred men.
In the neighborhood of the villAg,
of Madeley, in Staffordshire, the plac'
where John Fletcher lived and wrote
more than a century later, was WOO
called Bosco Bello. The rendeZvou:
OF Dudley and his friends was appoint
ed there for safety and secrecy unit
such time as, being drilled and organ
lied, their forces might be fit for somt
feasible enterprise.
But, in the meantime, the adherenti
of the Parliament had not been idle
either.
One bright morning a company o
Puritans marched into the woods will
the firm purpoSe of destroying th,
''malignants," as they termed them
In vain Dudley and his fellOw-officeIi
urged their followers to the conflict
The desperate intensity of the Parlia
ment men was not to be witnsood
and in comparatively a few minute
they were wholly triumphant. Man.
of the Door fellows who had meant I
fight for the divine right OF kings Is.
dead under the trees of BOsco BellO
and of those who remained alive near
~ all were taken prisoners. Amoni
! these were the officers and men o
mark, with Dudley at their head.
$50, master Dudley" said the lead
er of the successful party, "here Is bu
an i'll end of your misplaced loyalty
A man like you had better have fear
ed God, and fought for the Parlia
ment, than to be misleading tenant
and servants to death for a tyran
and traitor"
"Fslse traitor, thou" cried Dudley
ION thee and such as thou be tn
curse of all the brood split, and tn
desolatiOn made in our fair country.
He would have gone on in his pas
sionate utteraDces, but the .PurItal
commander cut him short.
take master Dudley and his fol
low malignants to Worcester" SAT-
he; ''he once fortified it against us
now that it is in our hands let hin
test its strength as q prison"
So Dudley and Hagcoart, with Ma
for Elliott and others, were takel
away to Worcester, which Dude,
had indeed strengthened and fortitie,
for the King, but which had sine
fallen into the hands of his enemies
The treatment of the captives was ia
from gentle, for those were rough a
well as earnest times. When the.
reached the city they were conducte
to the prison ike dangerous feloni
and strict measures were taken 70
safe detention.
"Let double guards be stationed al
the prison doors, to be relieved ever
four hours. Double guards likewIs
at every gate at the city, and striC
watch at every outlet, that no knave
and traitors may escape. Such weT
the orders given in the presence c
Dudley ana his company, who wer
then pushed into the courtyard {
the prison, and presently locked in
large upper room. There they weT
I left to such meditations as the plac
and circumstances might suggest
Immediate escape is what they suG
gested to Dudley. He looked car'
: fully for means to that end.
i The vvf,1dovy was barred with irOF