New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1886-07-28
SOME PRISON STORIES.

New York Sun.
For obvious reasons the keepers OF
lalls and State prisons makeit APPOINT
to suppress all particulars of escapes
SO far as lies in their power, and as
escaping prisoners seldom boast OF
their deeds, the public remain in ignor-
ance OF much that is deeply interesting
regarding convicts and thoseemployed
to guard them.
CONVICT CLARK's INTERESTING ADvEN-
TURE WITH A TRUSTING PARsoN.
The escape OF Charles Clark, alias
Charles Stetson, alias Red Charley,
and alias several other titles, from
the Ohio State prison some years
ago, was fair sample Of the genius
and desperation OF professional
crook who had been sssettled' for
seven or eight years for robbery.
From the moment Clark entered the
prison he began making mental notes
Tor future use. The number OF doors,
the location Of the guards, the defens-
es OF various windows, the lay Of the
sewers, the thickness Of the walls
every point was noted and stored up
In his memory. He was assigned to a
cell on the ground tier. In three days
he mad estimated the distance to the
outside wall to a fraction OF an inch.
His idea was to remove one OF the flag
stones from the floor Of his cell and tun-
mel out, and within sixty hours after be-
ing received in the prison he was at
work. With an old chisel which he
managed to secrete and bring in from
the shop, he scraped out the cement
from around the stone. One of the
corridor sentlnels passed his door
every half hour during the night, and
it was two weeks before Clark had the
stone ready to lift out. He found a
foot of concrete under the stone, and
he went through that and hid the dirt
in his bed. He calculated that the
sewer for that wing ran within four
feet of his cell, and he was right. He
wanted to make use of it simply to
carry off the dirt from his tunnel.
For many weeks he dug away
at night unsupported by the
sentinels, but as he had to carry the
dirt out in his pockets each morning
he made but slow progress. It was
nine weeks before he struck the sewer,
which was of brick. When he had
made an opening, the sewer gas pour
ed out in such quantities as to almost
sutfocate him. Indeed it poured
through the tunnel and filled the cor.
ridor until the prison officials were
alarmed and began to search for the
cause. Clark had to go down and stop
up the hole, and he was made i'll for a
week. At the end OF that time he
tried it again, but the gas was worse
than before, and he found himself
Obliged to give up the undertaking.
He could easily have run the tunnel,
but there was no other way to dispose
OF the dirt. He replaced the fagstone,
cemented it with dough, and his efforts
were unsupported.
Clark had been in prison about five
months when he concocted another
plan. From some local convicts he
got thename of a minister of the Cos
pei in the county who somewhat re-
sembled him in general appearance.
He also ascertained that the man was
very timid and kind hearted. Pretty
soon Clark was seized with an 'sindis-
position and while not sick enough
to be sent to the hospital, he was ex-
cused from work in the shop and per-
mitted to remain in his cell. The pris-
on chaplain found him an eager listener
to his exhortations, and matters were
soon SO shaped that he was led to be-
lieve that Clark had something on his
mind. When pressed to admit that
such was the case, the prisoner hest
tated just longenough to put the chap
lain's curiosity on edge. Yes ne had
something on his mind. 1t was
something the Rev. Tobias Green ought
to know. If he would call at the pris-
on some day. he should hear confess
sion which would cleanup agreat nys.
terry and set certain things right
For three or four days Clark beat
about the bush, playing the chaplain
for all he was worth, and the result
was that the Rev. Tobias Green visit.
ed the prison with his mind made up
to listen to some strange and wonder
full confession. 1t was not Clark's day
for confessing. He. realized that he
was bad-b-a-d man, and was quite
willing to talk about his soul and
his future, but he would tell his sto-
ry some other day-the day after to-
morrow. An appointment was made
for that day with Rev. Tobias Green.
and he departed feeling that he had
greatly softened the heart OF a despe-
rate man. Clark's "indisposition" in
creased somewhat, just enough to
keep him in his cell and to prevent
him from being too closely watched.
The chaplain came in and prayed
with him, the doctor sent him a few
doses OF quinine, and whenever any
one looked into his cell the man was
lying on his bed.
At 4 o'clock on the afternoon of
the day designated the Rev. Tobias
Green put in an appearance. It was
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