Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-10-07
FAMOUS PRISONERS.
GIOVANNI GIAcoMo CASANOVA AND
TIE COUNCIL OF ZEN.
cer-Eis Remarkable Escape
from Prison

spicuous personages of the eighteenth cen.
fury, man that might be called fine
bird il fine feathers make one, was the
Signor Giovanni Giscomo Casanova de Sein-
gault. Arrayed in the richest garments of
the picturesque period and country in
which he lived, garments that were never
paid for, Casanova went from court to
court of Europe, delighting everybody
with his airy bravado and his graceful in.
science, winning the hearts of the women
and borrowing the money of the men, IN
til there remained for him no longer a
theater for the practice OF his arts and the
display OF his attractions. In biographical
writing he is mentioned as the Don Juan
OF his time but the Don Juan of the
dramatic or the lyric stage was modest
and retiring person in comparison with the
Venetian adventurer. He went to visit
Voltaire az Ferney, and Frederick the Great
at Sans Souci he saw. but does not seem
to have fascinated, Catherine III. at st.
Petersburg, and gained some favor with
Pope Benedict XIV. at Rome; he met
George Ill and the Chevalier
d'Eon in London, and encountered Gag
liostro at Aix-Cagliostro, who, alone OF
all his contemporaries, was altogether as
accomplished and magnificent charlatau
and beggar as himself. From his social
triumphs in such illustrious company, Casa.
nova came down often to most ignoble
straits, and was forced to sorry expedients,
for so great man, to make living
Perhaps the most respectable position he
ever occupied, until the lettered close of
his remarkable career, was as a member of
the orchestra, in l745, of the theater of San
Samuele IN Venice. Here he played for
some time, in one Of his intervals of i'm.
pecunioaity, until he could refit his ward
robe and organize his plans for another
campaign. Such scamps rarely come to a
good end, and yet the last twelve years of
Casanova's life were spent In cred table
nay, honorable employment. as the librarian
of Count Wsldstein, of Bohemia, in whose
weil-stored alcoves he wrote the " History
of Poland, and prepared a translation of
the - Iiiad."
At daybreak on the merning of the Doth
July, 1855, when Casanova was living as
man of fashion in Venice, the Grand Master,
acting under the orders of the much-dreaded
Council OF Ten, entt red his chamber and babe
him instantly rise, dresg himself, gather
up all his manuscripts, and follow where
he, the Grand Master, should lead
Upon questioning his authority, and re-
ceivlng Tor answer that it WAS on the part
Of the tribunal word which almost
turned Casanova into stone-thst the ar.
rest was made, our fine gentlsn an put on
laced shirt, ami his best habit, and other
wise ob=ye3. Tney got into gondola and
were carried to the house of the Grand
Master, from which Casanova was presently
conveyed along the Grand Canal to the quay
of the Prisons, where, disenbarhing with
the guard, he was made to enter building,
ascend several Il gifts of stairs, traverse a
gallery, ard cross the canal to another
building opposite by bridge. 1t was the
Bridge Of S CHS.
Ga his way Casanova passed through the
very hall OF the Council, and arriving upon
the floor above i, was confined in small
cell communicating with great garnet,
where, with other prisoners, he was allowed
at stated times TO walk Il was that part
of the prison which was known bv the
descriptive aud memorable title OF " Under
the Leads"
Il need hardly be said that with so fer
tile mind and irrepressible a spirit as he
possessed, Casanova entertained, from the
very moment of bis incarceration, the idea
OF escape. Fortune favored him at the
start. In wandering about the old
EsAA-e ~ AStLu Oh nun DOtL Vi LIE
thickness Of an ordinary walking cane, and
twenty inches in length, which he sharp.
ened Gyon piece of loose marble from the
wals. into a sort of pike. With this he
unGA ioOk 60 cut his way through the floor.
which was Of three thicknesses, into the
apartment below.
It WIS 4 work of great difficulty. Fear.
ing that the hole to be made under his bed
would be Uncovered by the servants when
they came 20 sweep his cell, he feigned
cough, and by a cut upon the finger
stained his handkerchief with blood to cor
robora.e his assertion of hemorrhage pro-
duced by the dust. In this way he OBJ.
tanned on exemption from the sweeping OF
the cells, and went to work with will. 1t
was only at night that he could pTo;eei
without fear of disturbance, and to work
at night lamp was Indispensable. With
saucepan, the Lucca oil given him for his
salad, and cotton wicks from the lining of
his Goublet, he impIovised lamp. But
how to light 1t? Casanova was affected at
times with an eruption upon his arm, and
he brought it into immediate requisltion
for getting from the prison surgeon
some flowers of sulphur. Then, under
pretext OF wishing a pumice-stone for
alleylatlng toothache by rubbing he pre-
vailed upon the keeper Laurent to give
him instead piece Of flint, with which,
and the steel buckle of his belt, he was able
to produce fl lame.
Thus provided, he went on cutting deeper
and deeper into the floor, until he had al
most reached the under surface and he
was able TO fix upon the eve of the fete of
st. Augustine, the 27th of August, as the
time for his flight. But on the 25sh 4 sad
misfortune heiel him. Laurent came sud.
denly into his cell and informed him that
ne was to be Immediately transferred to
another cell. Casanova was in measure
consoled for the unhappy conclusion of his
plan of escape II seeing that his arm chair.
in the bottom OF which was concealed his
iron spike, was TO be taken to his new
plrce Of confinement.
Two hours after laurent, having dis.
covered the opening IN the II lor of the cell
just lett vacant, broke in upon his prisoner
with the bitterest tauuts, demanding to
kro Y who il was that had supplied him
with the tools with which he had cut
through the planks. Casanova startled
Lauren. by the declaration that he him
sef had furnished all the materials re-
quisite for the work, and promised to re-
veal everything IN the presence of a S Gre
tary-sn offer which the frightened ililer
was prompt to decline, since a revelation
of this sort might have caused him to be
hanged for bis carelessuess.
Laurent was therefore TO soms extent in
CaslnCvI's power, and the latter, prcfting
by this advan age, aud furthermore caiol.
ing the jliler by presents of money to his
wite, Obtained many little favors, such as
the loan Of books belonging to other pris.
oneTs. By means CT one of these books he
conducted . correspondence with two gen.
tlemsn, Marin B2.bi, Venetian noble and
monk, ard the Count Aadre Asquin, who
We're confined IN the room immediately over
his head. Their notes were secreted in the
pocket formed between the parchment at
the back and the body of TIE volume, and
Casanova was even adroit enough to send
his iron pike TO Balbi in this way, by in
duciog Laurent to carry pie to the monk
in dish which was placed upon the vol
ume spread open IN the middle, AMI used
as a waiter.
Bllbi, armed with the pike, began IL
once to cut into the floor by way OF estab
fishing a communication with the cell Of
Casanova, aud was making excellent prog
ress, when a fellow prisoner was introduced
into this latter apartment.
The new conner was an i'll looking wretch.
whose wife was the daughter of Score.
tary of the Council, and had himself
served as spy in the employment of the
,,-,s