The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-07-24

Bird though they come we know,
The empty cage the hush;
Still ILL., ere the si hr1e &c da x g. tb,.nsh,
AUSTIN DoBsoN.
LUCK IS QUEER.
The Fact illustrated Through Some Stories
by Detective.
'.Philosophers may say what they please
may call it the fruition of studied effort, OF
the result of intelligent causes-but tell
you there is such thing as luck, and will
prove it to you by the tragedy which oc-
cured in your city on Decoration day"
The speaker was one of the best known
detectives in the state of New Jersey, says
the Philadelphia Inquirer, and is attached to
the prosecutors or district attorneys Of
fee of Essex county, New Jersey, at New
ark. Detective John T. Rever, that being
the speakers name, was here last week on
private business, and while detailing his
experience told the following story:
81 allude to the killing of the negro Jack
son and the capture of his companion,
Thomas, as being the tragedy on Decora-
ton day.
"What do you mean by the luck attach
ing to it p
Gust this: There we're two men, ignorant
negroes, who were in New JERSEY state
prison to serve term of thirty years each,
and yet they made their escape with the
greatest ease-scarcely with an effort. and
with very little preparation or fore-plan-
ming that required ingenuity, excepting the
grasping Of the opportunity; while there 10
to-day in the same prison man who for
years has been trying to get out, and made
several unsucoessful attempts, bringing to
his aid all the technical mechanical knowl.
edge Of which he 10 q master, and heis one
of the finest mechanics in the United
States.
''Before coming to the state prison he
m AIDE three almost successful attempts t.
get out Of the Essex coanty prison at Cald-
we'll, and the history of these attempts is a
wonderful one. But first ! want to point
out that dumb luck-and I can't call it BY
any other name-succeeds where well-di
rooted effort fails, as will show.
Now, Connors, for that is the name, tn
professional name, of this man, is a burgla
who takes rank with Jimmy Hope, Irving
and others in that class, with whom he die
several jobs, IN fact, and he was sent +
TO Traphagen's jewelry store in Newark. HI
vas closely watched in the prison, but h
threw the keepers off their guard by com
planning Of costiveness. The prison doc
tors offered to prescribe for him, but b.
said that he didn't want any powerful med
icine, but some hgs would do, as they wer'
cate-lookine man, and his request was com
piled with. He used to throw the boxes, al
Re got them every day, up on the shelf il
his cell, and no notice was taken of the ac
ton.
i"At the close of one day when the turn
key started to pull the lever which locks al
the cells on the tier where Connors was con
fined, he found the machinery refused t.
work. An examination was quickly made
and the trouble was traced TO Connors' cell
II was there found that he had loosened the
anchor bar in his cell. although it wal
strongly set into the stone, and but for tn,
timely .(untimely for Connors) discovery III
hour"
.'What had the figs to do with it?''
"He took the boxes. broke them up, ani
placed tho thin wood between his bibl.
leaves. He then bound the book strongl,
with stout cord, and using it as fulcrun
The bible was like . rock, so hard was it
He is thorough master of the power OF
leverage.
sConnors' next attempt was just as acci
d1htally discovered. One of the keeper
wes talking to him through his cell-bar
one day, when, taking his hands ava
from the bars, which he had clasped 70
black. An examination of the bars showe
that two of them had been all but save
Though, and the spaces Allied up wit
waxed filings, the whole being hidden b
blecking from his shoes. He had intende
70 make his break for liberty the night {
this day he was discovered.
Wis third attempt in that prison WI
unsuccessful on account Of the failure {
his friends to be on time. He had worke
tho bars Of his cell window loose and ha
thu necessary rope to lower him to tt
yard; tho Waterman was to be silenced b
an air-gun in the hands Of his friends, as
- afterward found out, but his friend
plans miscarried.
..he was shortly after this, upon oonvi,
ti6n, taken to Trenton. Pat Laverty wa
then head keeper, and when Connors can
TO the prison Laverty went to the burgls
and said: .Connors, are you going to brea
away while I'm keeper' Liberty is swee
Iaverty knew he had to look out for hin
He was stripped and searched thorough,
but no tool or implement of any kind wa
found on him, and Z new suit of cloth,
was given him, too. Before his cell vi
placed cage Of fine wire netting to pr
vent communication with him. This Gag
and when his friends called they We
not allowed to come any close
and were watched by q sp
cial keeper; yet scarcely month aft.
his incarceration one of those steel jaws
L-shaped levers, used for bending bars fu
thor apart was found in his cell. The to-
weighed forty. eight or fifty pounds. No,
the mystery is where did he get it?
'.Now, the point want to make is thi
Here was man of wonderful mechanic
genius who spent years in his work of tr
ing 70 gain freedom, who brought to be-
every appliance known to the machini
and every principle known to the laws
scientific mechanism, yet he fails to effe
his escape, while two ignorant negroe
without one 1.-THE of brains, managed
escape from one of the finest prisons in t
country. Don't tell me there's no So
thing az luck"
Unsurpassed In tho World.
The vestibuled trains of the Chioaa
Milwaukee d st. Paul railway, runni
daily between st. Paul and Minneapo
and Milwaukee and Chicago, are the perft
fiou Of modern railway equipment, and 8
unsurpaesed in the world. They consist
eIe0ant day coaches, Pullman's latest q
6eet eIeentng cars and the finest dining Q,
n ~ eouafry. These trains are lighted
~1.-la~sk- erA haa ko5 kv HAoono a6d oRo