Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-11-05
A DETECTIVES YARN.

rather lively experience and enough of excitement to stand me until the end of my days
 ''We received q report of the escape of a crook from the Charlestown prison, and from what the authorities there mad been able to gather it was supposed that the convict had come to this city. They sent description of the man, and the only thing that l saw was of any use was that on the mans right arm were the initials A. T., with a flag above and anchor below them in india ink. looked over our records and found that we had there the pedigree of Abe Taylor, and he had the same marks on his right arm The rest of the descrip- lion that We had did not tally very closely with the one sent from Charles town, but l thought thal there was good ground for the belief that the es- capped convict was Taylor, who was one of the most successful jail breakers in the country.
 Tn order to be certain of the identi ty of the convict went to Charlestown. l found that the man had been convict ed under the name of John Smith for the robbery of the Pittstield bank, and the style of the work was i'll line with the business usually touched off by Fay Tor. 1 took a run over over to PittsfiCld, got description of the two men who had cone tla bank out of $lGO, 900 and became convinced that the man who had i-acn shot and arrested and who rscc, q Was Abe Taylor, and that his I:..;:->r v-;.s Jerry CCnrors.
 I .sS- gan. ;.ltl on the train from Boston laid cut a plan which 1 thought would give he q show to get on the track of the men. Abe and Jerry 1 knew were partners with Pctcy SI;de, who ran q notorious fence and dive i'll Washington street, near Canal, and made up my mind that some time or other the pair of them would land in Slade's place. I decided that my strongest hold would be to get i'll with Sladc and his gang on their own terms. 1 knew the risk l was taking, for the gang were about the toughest set Of thugs and assasSins ill the city and would not hesitate to slit man 'S Wizon i'll second upon the slightest provocation. put up a scheme winch 1 thought would beat their game, and it UoT-1-d to the queens tatSe.
 When 1 reached the city, had my self arrested for fictitious crime and was tried a;ld sent to the Blackwell s Island pcnit.ntiaTy i'll q perfectly regu- lar WAY, with tie assistance, of course, of Recorder Hackctt. The warden in the TcnitVntiary knew my game and aided ne ill carrying out the business. Aft.r 1 had been locked up a few days l made my escape from the island after dark. The next day the newspapers con- tained q thrilling account of my escape, and ;nc story w;,s that l dug my WAY ont of E:y cell and swan across the river to tlIis Ci;y. m->t have had q tcIriblc t.il:c. ;.~ t..c IIaI CTS told it. hut ss a matter fl fact I crossed tho river i1 q beat. ,Ild tL:.' story WAS given out to mal-y l-c sJ.Id ill the work l had laid out to do.
 "WhCn l reached the city, it Was dark, ;I;d 1 walked down to Sladc's dive ill 'Ly co:ivict's rig. which had been soaked with water to carry out my scheme. 1 sent q boy into tine dive tc Sct shade to come tu mo. and told him tLc story of ny CSC@Ve and said that q thief who hIl started tu ;,rr ;IwIy with ..o, Li.t ha.I la~t ilis II. we whyn il CamC tO taking the swim, had told me tha; ! when We reached the city We could GC | to Sladc's and put up until the thing ! blew over.
 ''Sla.lc wss vtry cautious. He fell | my clothing and took me ill a back room ill th. den and carefully examined tn, ! cloth.s and shoes to see if they were th, ! genuine conVict's outfit. He was satis 1 lied on that point, but was suspicion 1 when l could not give him the name O 1 ny partner. 1 did not dare to fake 1 nauIc, Ta- ;;lade knew where every thic was wl.u hal been sent away that h : ever C.i:! I!-y business with. 1 told hin 1 that the man WAS kEOwn to me as Jack 1 and aS Jack McC CaTthy. one of Slade' i gang. happened tu be on the island a the time luy story w.iS taken as bein ! straight, and l was given q room on tn second 1iUur tu bunk ill., The next da
 SlaGc SAW t!!C story of my escape i'll tn | papers and LCCalIle 1Hy friend at once.
 II must admit that never got bette trcatm,nt from ;yny one than did iron
 SlaC.c and the gang. He told them tha
 was all right, and they were glad |
 know a fellow who had the nerve |
 swim acr,s>> -le East river, where tn
 tide runs like a mill race. l had to kee
 i'll the house all the time, and i'll cas
 the police Eot Cu tu ue ill any way
 Was shown a WAY that l could escape b
 getting into :.n underground pa>zaG,
 which lyd to q sewer Ill the street.
 was fed like a fighting cock, and notl
 ing turned up for about three week.
 Then early ole morning. while 1 Wa sleeping. some one came into my room
 and l heard q whispered consultation There was a dim light i'll an adjoinin room, and could see four figures. NJ
 hair stood mp on end, for 1 natural
 thought that they were talking aboI
 me, and that l had been found out.
 made uP my mind to give them as goo
 q fight as there was in me, but aftC
 awhile the Incn went into the next loon
 and l heard them get into bed. In u
 morning my heart gave big thum
 when l saw that the new arrivals wei
 Abe Taylor, Jerry Connors and And , Cummings, the men I was after.
 My first idea was to connect wit
 the outside and have the pl~ce pulle, l and 1 would have done this if had m
 learned that T scheme had been put |
 to turn of a savings bank in Newarl l Cummings and Taylor had been n wee
 in Newark planting the place. w
 introduced to them by Shade, and Ia,
 Tor took me right away as n Jail break
 after his own heart. I worked my car,
 as skilfully as 1 could and let the f;aI know that l was dying of dry rot. the course of Thy business I had nat
 rally picked up every detail of the crool;
 trade and let Taylor EEow that w
 anxiCIis to get into some good bank If