The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1895-01-03
A DETECTIVES YARN


O good many years ago, and / had a
rather lively experience and enough of
excitement to stand me until the end of
my days.
I'VE received a report of the escape
of a crook from tho Charlestown prison,
and from what the authorities there
had been able to gather it was supposed
that the convict had come to this city.
They sent a description Of the man, and
the only thing that I saw was of any
use was that on the mans right arm
were the initials "A. IT, 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-
ton that we had did not tally very
closely with the one sent from Charles
town, but I thought that 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.
I'm order to be certain of the identi-
ty of the convict / went to Charlestown.
/ found that the man had been convict
ed under the name of John Smith for
the robbery Of the Pittsfeld bank, and
the style OF the work was in line with
the business usually touched on by Tay-
lor. I took o run over over to Pittsteld.
got q description Of the two men who
had done the bank ont of $3.50, 600 and
became convinced that the man who
had been shot and arrested and who
escaped was Abe Taylor, and that his
partner was Jerry Connors.
ST knew that ] was up against q stiff
game, and ON the train from Boston |
laid ont o plan which / thought would
give me q show to get ON the track OF
the men. Abe and Jerry I knew were
partners with Petey Slade, who ran q
notorious fence and dive i'm Washington
street, near Canal, and / made mp my
mind that some time or other the pair
Of them would land in SHADES place. /
decided that my strongest hold would
be to get in with Slade and his gang ON
their own terms. ] knew the risk / was
taking, for the gang were about the
toughest set of thugs and assassins in
the city and would not hesitate TO
slit a mans wien in a second upon the
slightest ~provocation. ! put mp q scheme
which ] thought would beat their game,
and it worked to the queens tatse.
When I reached the city, / had my
self arrested for q fictitious crime and
was tried and sent to the Blackwell's
Island penitentiary in a perfectly regu-
lar way, with the assistance, of course,
of Recorder Hackett. The warden in
the penitentiary knew my game and
aided me in carrying out the business.
After / had been locked up q few days
/ made my escape from the island after
dark. The next day the newspapers con-
tanned a thrilling account of my escape,
and the story was that / dug my way
out of my cell and SWAN across the
river to this city. ! must have had a
terrible time, as the papers told it, bat
as q matter of fact I crossed the river
in a boat, and the story was given ont
to make me solid in the work I had
laid ont to do.
when / reached the city, it was
dark, and / walked down Co Shades
dive in my convict's rig, which had
been soaked with water to carry out my
scheme. ] sent q boy into the dive to
get Slade to On TO me, and / told him
the story OF my escape and said that a
thief who had started TO get away with
me, but had lost his nerve when it came
to taking the swim, had told me that
when we reached the city we could 90
to SHADES and put up until the thing
blew over.
"Slade was very cautious. He felt
my clothing and took me i'm back room
in the den and carefully examined the
clothes and shoes to sec If they were the
genuine conyict's outfit. He was salts
fed ON that point, but was suspicious
when / could not give him the name OF
my partner. / did not dare to fake a
name, for Slade knew where every thief
was who had been sent away that he
ever did any business with. | told him
that the man was known to me as Jack,
and as Jack Mccarthy, one of Shades
gang, happened TO be ON the island at
the time my story was taken a being
straight, and / was given q room ON the
second floor to bunk in. The next day
Slade saw the story Of my escape in the
papers and became my friend at once.
II must admit that never got better
treatment from any one than I did from
Slade and the gang. He told them that
! was all right. and they were glad to
know o fellow who had the nerve to
swim across the East river, where the
tide run like a mill race. / had to keep
in the house all the time, and i'm case
the police got ON to me in any way
was shown a way that I could escape by
getting into IN underground passage,
which led to a sewer in the street.
was fed like q fighting cock, and moth
ing turned mp for about three weeks.
Then early one morning, while / was
sleeping, some one came into my room,
and ] heard a whispered consultation.
There was a dim light In an adjoining
room, and / could see four figures. Ny
hair stood mp on end, for / naturally
thought that they were talking about
me, and that / had been found out. !
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