The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-06-29
ESCAPES FROM PRISON.
Notable Cases of Jail-Breaking in
Former Times.

the word, Is now an event of very rare oc
currence; but it may be doubted whether
even the cleverest prison-breakers of for
mer times could have accomplished their
feats III the present day. Not only are the
physical difficulties greater than they used
70 be, but the constant inspection, the cease
less round of duties, which are part Of the
modern prison discipline, give the convicts
no time for adventures Of that kind. When a
man escapes from prison in the present age
he generally does so by cleverly abusing
the liberty of movement which the modern
system allows. He scales wall while the
warder's back is turned, or, without preme-
ditating an escape, finds door unlocked,
and takes advantage of the opportunity.
Breaking through windows OF tunneing
under walls is now impracticable But il
was not always so. In the old days con
victs were left shut up in their cells for
many hours together; they had plenty of
time at their disposal, and it is not surpris-
ing that they sometimes spent it in attempt
ing escape 1t would not, perhaps be too
much to say that the annals Of war, cannot
show instances of greater daring, or the
records of useful inventions give examples
of more admirable ingenuity than prisoners
have shown in regalning, or endeavoring
to regain, their liberty. No real escapes,
it may be admitted, can match the imagin-
airy adventures of the,abbe and the sailor in
Monte Cristo;" but some do not leave
these SPLENDID fancies far behind. A few,
but only few, of the most noteworthy at
tempts have been made in our own country.
Two of them are recorded in the chronicles
of Millbank prison, the names of the heroes
of adventure being Packard Smith and
Punch" Howard. Smith was only 10
years of age when he made his escape from
Millbank; and when the lads age was CON
Sidered, his achievement may be thought
worthy of ranking beside the deeds of the
most famous scanps. He was confined in a
cell, the roof of which was an arch of solid
brick work. 1t was a rule of the prison
that on Saturday night clean clothes
were served out to the convicts, the
until the following Monday morning.
Taking advantage of this circum-
stance, Smith Fabricated out of his double
set of clothing four ropes, each of which
was nearly long enough TO reach from one
door of the building to another Then with
the iron pin of the ventilator he made a
hole in the brick roof of his cell, crept
through it, and found himself under the
states. He was soon on the roof of the
prison, from whence he lowered himself by
one Of his ropes to window sill, from that
ny a ocCOnO IOpo W lACAO WlluOW Sill
below, and so on till he reached the ground
Once in the yard he managed to lay his
hands on a rope, with which he dashed to-
gether two planks, and by their help he
scaled the outer wall punch" Towards
escape was conducted on similar principles,
but it was remarkable for the extraOrdi-
nary fact that the window through which
he squeezed himself was a mere horizontal
slit in the wall, 3 feet long, but only
Ga inches high. He afterward said that he
got his head out first, and then dying on his
back wriggled slowly through. When
half way out he threw himself up, caught
the coping of the roof, clambered up to it.
and then, by his rope of blanket strips, low
cred himself to the ground. Fortunately
for him, he landed in the graveyard of the
prison, and the sentry, seeing a white OBJ
ject suddenly appear in that uncanny place,
took it for a ghost and fed, while Howard
scaled the wall by the half of PLANK and
escaped.
One prison breaker, whose adventures
have won for him a place in history, is
Frederick, Baron Won Trenck, who had the
misfortune to offend Frederick IL Thefac-
ility with which Won Trenck bribed his gaol-
ers and corrupted Fredericks officers, and
the frequency with which he was himself
betrayed, throw a curious light on the ideas
of honor obtaining in Prussia at that period.
At his first attempt Won Treuck attempted
to carry off a brother officer, who was, like
himself, prisoner; but this individual be-
trayed him. He afterward got a warder to
bring him file, and constructed saw out
of a pocket-knife. BY the help of these in
struments he cut through his window,
which was 60 feet from the ground; but in
descending he fell, and was recaptured.
Some time afterward the commandment of
the fortress was speaking to him, when
Won Trenck with really splendid audacity,
seized the officers sword, cut his way out
of the place, leaped from the ramparts,
killed a sentry who opposed him, and
would certainly have succeeded in escaping
but that he met another sentry who over
powered him. Nothing daunted by his de-
feats, Won Trenck bribed soldier after sold
Ter, and corrupted one officer after another,
only to be again betrayed. Eventually,
however, he got his guard to allow him to
escape, but in doing so he had the misfor-
tune to sprain his ankle. For hours he and
his companion wandered about i'll the cold
and darkness, not knowing where they
were. Next day they procured horses from
a peasant who had a son in the company OF
the officer who had fled with Won Trenck,
and they reached Austrian territory. The
Governor of Dantzig. however, delivered
him up to the tyrant Frederick. This time
FREDERICK threw MIN lnJO nuTTOW cell,
damp and insufiiciently lighted, and kept
him chained TO the wall Often he tried to
regain his liberty, but in vain. AT length
he was set free and made his way to France,
where. it is said, he persisted by the guillo-
tine at the revolution.
Very clever escapes are detailed in "Un-
dergrounds Russia especially that in
which the prisoner, an old man enfeebled
by confinement, darted from the prison
yard under the nose of the sentry at the
gate, while some heavy hay carts were en-
tering. and succeeded in regaining his lib
erty But perhaps the most remarkable OF
all recorded escapes from custody was that
Of Giovanni Casanova di Seingault from
the "Piombin of Venice. Above the hall
where the dreaded Council of Three held
their sittings, right under the leads and ex-
posed to the sitting heat OF an almost tropi-
cal sun were the cells known as the "Pi-
ombi." In one of these, in the year 1T75,
Casanova, a gay and inscriptions adven-
turer, was confined. He was lucky enough
TO find In his cell an iron bolt 20 inches
long, and strong enough 60 do useful work,
and with this he dug q large hole under his
bed, hoping 10 break through 60 the hail be-
meath. His improvised lamp was furnished
with the oil supplied for bis salad. and he
managed to strike light by the help Of a
flint and the steel buckle Of his belt But
suddenly lis cell WIS changed aud the hole
trf