Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1888-02-16

answered the detective. Il know you
and what you've been up to. MY
names Now l take i: you II
come along quietly. like q sensible
! :aan."
I'm go with you quietly on one
condition." said Flam. Il claim that
you have no right to arrest me. and II
you will promise me that If called
upon by me. you will testify that l
made such a claim and resisted arrest.
that's all ask. and I'll give you no
trouble. Understand me rs resisting;
I'm not such a fool as really to resist
for l have no desire to be roughly
handled. But regard me as resisting
YOU
The detective promptly acceded to
Jacks request, and the two peacefully
proceeded down the hill A few hours
later they were on New York Central
train bound for Auburn. and more
particularly Auburn Prison. As they
journeyed along. to relieve the monot-
ony of the trip, the detective suggested
that his companion should explain how
he had successfully managed to put up
SO neat job as his escape.
Eyes, think it was pretty neat, p"
said Flam. land don't mind telling
von. in confidence, how l worked the
| racket for l know you're square.
During my trial my attention was
called one day to the signature of the
district-attorney who tried me. 1t was
attached to some unimportant paper.
1 made out to secure this paper with
out being observed. cut off the sigma
ture ard DESTROYED the rest of the doc
ument l put the signature carefully
away in my vest pocket and trans
ferred it to my mouth on entering Au-
burn. SO that it would not be taken
from me when my clothes were ex-
charge for the PRISON uniform. You
see. taking time by the forelock. / had
forrned my plan of escape before my
trial was finished. I was sent up for
forgery. and thought it would be a
good joke all around if could get out
on what put me in"
sort of tomeopathic-like cures
like. suggested the detective.
Eyes. that was it, although l never
expressed it that way. Well to so
on. not long after 1 entered the prison
l was placed in the office-as expect
ed to be sooner or later-and given
some routine writing to do. Then !
watched my chances and went to work.
carefully thought out in my cell at
night the application for my pardon
which subsequently reached the Gov
ernor. l copied it with infinite trouble.
sentence one day, two sentences to-
morrow, and so on until had it done
The distr:ct-attorney's letter to the
Governor was in my own disguised
handwriting. but closely copied the
district-attorney's signature, and wrote
over the top of the letter dictated.
The letter which palmed off as COM
ing from the chaplain wrote in what
regarded as scholarly hand,
little cramped, kind of back
hand. and not too easily read in places.
l was going to have his letter 'dictat-
ed like the district-attorney's but
it occurred to me on reflection that
the chaplain's salary probably was not
large enough to admit of his keeping a
secretary. In the warden's letter,
which wrote in plain round hand,
/ put one or two errors in spelling, for
the warden was not a cultivated per-
son. I dictated the doctors letter
on q venture. Of course, l had no
difficulty in procuring the signature OF
the warden. for he had frequent occa-
sion to write his name in the Office.
l induced the chaplain to give ME his
autograph one Sunday in my hymn
book; he acceded to my request
willingly. being as kind hearted a man
as ever met. had to sham sickness
for two or three days in order to get
the doctors autograph. 1t was a
matter of two months completing my
task. l breathed a long sigh of salts
faction as l placed the application
papers in an envelope-it took me a
week to get hold of that long white
envelope-and wrote the name of His
Excellency. Governor -, Albany.
n. Y. on the back"
Where did you get your postage
stamps?" inquired the detective.
ii didn't get them--that's what
bothered me. But concluded that the
chances were that a letter plainly di-
rected to the head of the State Govern
ment letter which looked as if it
might be an important document.
would reach him stamps or no stamps.
So one day / tossed my unstamped
letter into pile ready for the post
man and awaited developments. Ten
days later the warden came to my
cell one evening with eyes bulging
out of his head with astonishment and
informed me that he had good news