Waterbury evening Democrat., 1895-01-14
BEFORE THE HOUNDS.
How a Desperate Man Was Run to Earth
 by the UnerrinS Brutes.

Early in the morning messenger came to the hotel and aroused tho three of us from sleep to say that a prisoner had es- capped from the stockade during the night and they were about to put the blood hounds on his trail It was a prison for the ESQ convicts working in coal mine. Some time during tho night the man had freed himself from his chains, dug under tho sills of the building in which he was confined, aid once in the yard ho had made light of scaling the l2 foot stockadc and getting into the woods beyond.
 The keeper wished it had been any other man than Big Pete. He was a mulatto by birth and giant in size. He had been a terror to a whole county before arrest and conviction, and whom he Camo to tho stockadc he looked tho keeper square in the face and said:
 Il have not been given q fair show. Certain men were determined to down me or drivo me out, and l havo been crowded to the wall. Look out for me! If am struck and abused here, l will kill some one!'
 No ono dared strike him or make his lot the more miserable until one day new guard was put on who bOastcd of his in tention to humble tho giant prisoner. He was advised to let the man alone, but he caught at the first opportunity to make his words good, and tho results were dis astrous to him. He was picked up bodily and hurled against the stuckade with such violence that he was rendered a cripple for life. Big Pcto was loaded down with irons and chained to the floor to undergo weeks of punishment. Before the end of the week he was at liberty. He was the man the dogs were going to run down. There were fivo of the animals lying in r,ft [ bo 0arlv nS opt horses out and rode up to the stockado. With a word the keeper aroused them and tossed conviCt'S jacket into their midst.
 Big Pete had left the garment behind in his prison. The dogs gathered about it with many n sniff and growl and without orders began to circle the stOckade. Half way down the east side they caught tho scent and gave tongue. It was not n bark, such as the dccrhound gives, not the wi, vi, yi!' of the cur who strikes tho trail of the fox or rabbit, but a mournful and long drawn howl, which made one shiver us il reached his ears.
 There was a creek only 20 rods away. The convict had made straight for the Wa ter and assembled the creek. He had de stroyed the scent on the earth, but not that left on the vines and bushes. WhCr- ever ho had put out n hand or a branch had brushed him hc had left tr~.. The | dogs went forward Tor milo at full run. | They did not twist and turn with the windings of the creek, but cut across tho | bends without a halt At the end of a | mile the convict had left the creek, crossed | a wooded ridge and descended into a ra- ] vine. In ono place he had fallen at full length. The dogs stopped there for a mo- ment and rubbed their noses on tho earth. Later on he had sat down to rest for a moment. The dogs halted there and bit at | the log and growled in anger. The raVino was 20 feet deep. Not a dog descended | into it, but all preserved the scent whilc | running along it's banks We went up the ravinc to its beginning on the side of d | mountain. There the convict had left it, | gone to tho north for a milo over stony 1 ground and then turned to the east and descended into q valley through which ran | a river 200 feet wide and or feet deep. | Step by step the dogs, which were being | held back, followed him. Where the limb of a tree had brushed him they lenpcd up to snap and snarl Where he had rested for moment with his hand against tree or powder they dug up the earth and | fought each other.
 The convict entered the water near a large tree. Tho inference with Us was | that he had crossed. Not 50 with the dogs, however. Two ran up stream and three down, and after going goo feet these lat | ter GaVo tongue on q fresh scent. Big ] Pete had become afraid and turned back. l After landing hc followed the bank for q | mile and then struck off for A dense thickot. Not dog put his noSo to the earth but all ran with beads held high, catching the scent from weeds and bushes and never hcsitatiDg. In the thickct they were held back again, but when we had come out on its southern cdgC they were sent away at full speed. They crossed an old field, ran down a highway for half q mile and then turned at right angles and made for an old log house on the farther edge of a 80 aero field
 Our man is in thcro and as good as captured" said tho keeper as he rode for
 ward with two guards.
 We saw tho dogs dash into tho open door and listened for sounds of n conflict
 After n few seconds every animal wa:
 driven out, and one was killed at tho dOOi
 by n blow from club in tho hands of tht
 convict. Tho four dashed in on him
 again, and only two came out alive. ThCsI
 wcro called of by tho keeper, and then ht
 advanced with his men, each holding hi:
 winchester ready tO fire. Twenty fee
 from tho door they halted and calico
 upon him to surrender. In reply h,
 dashed out with n scream and struck dowI
 a guard and turned to flee. IIc had no
 taken tlvo steps when bullet struck hin
 down, but the guard was Acad before him
 "Humph," growlCd the keeper as ht
 looked about him, two dead men anC
 three dead dogs, with cOronCr's inqucs
 and howl in the newspapers That
 stockadc luck. GCntlCmCn, lets look fO
 breakfast" NJ. QUAD.