The Globe-republican., 1891-03-25

homemade chair covered with chintz.
which discharged prisoner had gwen
me. The flagstone directly beneath
was not over sixteen inches square, ana
began on that. By SO doing would
have to tunnel seven feet further than
if l began at the wall, but hoped that
in beginning there would escape the
observation of the inspector. l had
brought in with me piece of brown
paper, and as fast as removed the CO.
ment placed it on this. 1t was slow,
tedious work, and had to be careful
that the prisoner next to me heard
nothing. In prison you can trust no
one.
worked off and on that night until
a very late hour, and l took out half
pound of the cement. Its loss was sup
piled with bread crumbs, but l had to
get rid of the paper package in the
morning. l had planned how to do it.
When we were let out the guard came
to the cell opposite mine first. In those
days each cell had lock by itself, each
prisoner walked to the west end of the
iron door, where two lines were formed.
This brought the first men in last out.
AS nv door was unlocked 1 delayed
few seconds, though being in plain
view. The guard stepped to the next
door, and as emerged had the pack
age in my left hand, and tossed it
through the bars of the corridor win
OF
and while he was rafting the lock. and
escaped observation. From that mo-
ment felt my escape was only ques-
ton of time.
Not to weary you with details, had
the stone up in about week.
brought in a carpenters chisel after
awhile, and for many weeks this was
the only tool had to work with. A
package larger than the size of pound
of sugar would not 60 through the bars,
and had to limit myself as to quantity.
But for this 1 might have got along
much faster. Beneath the stone was
two feet of concrete, formed of broken
stone and cement, and though l carried
| some out in my pockets every day in
addition to making up the usual pack
age it was terribly slow work. 1t was
the 1st of September before got to the
soil under the concrete. That is, / had
dug a hole little over two feet deep
| and large enough for me to work in.
The window would be closed by the
first of October anyhow, and then 1
could no longer get rid of my dirt. This
idea was making me feel terribly
anxious, when struck a bit of good
luck My tunnel ran as shown in the
accompanying illustration.
| 1t went down perpendicularly two
feet, and then drifted down toward the
north wall at slant so as to strike the
foundation. At the elbow l found a
buried log supporting the earth. and en-
tirely by accident found the log rested
over a hole in the ground. Whether it
was cave, an old cistern or well, or
only a natural sink, I never learned,
but by showing my dirt under the log it
dropped down somewhere. and / could
work much faster than before. I was,
however, greatly troubled to get fresh
air down in my tunnel, and the cramped
position in which 1 worked kept me
sore and lame. While working at night
had to be in bed regularly every hour
as the guard came around, and every
morning the stone had to be replaced
and the crevices filled in with bread
crumbs. Twice l was almost caught by
the guard, owing to my delay. and one
afternoon, owing to something said by
a convict, two inspectors went through
my tier of cells and carefully examined
everything. They moved my chair off
the flag, but found nothing suspicious.
l knocked off work for the next
week, and it is well did, as the guards
came creeping along to the different
cells at odd times during the night, and
I should certainly have been caught.
1 began work, as near as can remem-
Der, on the night of the 5th of July. On
the night of the I'd of the next March
l reached the bottom of the foundation.