The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-03-07
WITH MILK AND DUST
AN INGENIOUS WAY OF INTERLlNlNG
A JAILelRo's LETTER.

IL Accompanied Christmas Book and
Contained Instructions Which Were
Neatly Hidden.-s Story Told by d Victorian
English Prison Keeper.
On Greoent stormy night number OF
gentloipon, Willing away an hour or two
Ia q cafe, were entertained by MIR. James
Morrison, who is on tour Of inspection
in this country. He had but recently Or
rived from England, whore for over rs
years no had been identified with tho work
prisons In tho British possessions. Speak
Ing Of Some Of tho incidents Of his lifo In
that capacity, he drifted into recital of
tho tricks, many and ingenious, which tho
Qopviots resort to from timo to timo in
their efforts to outwit tho guards and Of
feet an escape.
con ono occasion" said tho venerable
guard, 81 had charge OF tler No. 10. 1t
was filled to tho limit with long time pris-
Nners, and at Its farthest end several coils
had been SGT apart for those serving life
sentences. Ono Of these prisoners, q rough
looking CHIP, but as keen as razor had
given us great deal of trouble, and whom
ho wns placed undor my care was ospo-
cially ndmonished to keep sharp eye up
on him, as no had already caught two 9th
or keepers by his tricks, and had done
much mischief before thoy had got tho
upper hand of him.
" For weeks he was as quiet as mouse,
oven refusing the usual constitutional, ;,
or half hour exercise In tho corridor. I
suppose no thought no had mo Off my
guard one day after supper had boon sorv-
od In, tho Al
meal at o'clock In tho evoning-and
while was mt another pnrt of the tior,
busy roceiving some supplies, he began his
first bad break on my good book.
"Aftor had finished receiving and ro-
coipting for tho supplies and getting them
into place, took up my regular beat down
the tiers again, and whom had finished
began closing tho outer coll DOORS secure
ly padlocking Thorn.
II had popped In through tho little win
dow Of his cell door and found him sitting
quietly on tho odgo of his littlo cot, read
Ing book TINT had that day been sent
him as present from his sister-this was
Christmas evc-and, after ordering lights
OUT 1 fastened his door and went on to
tho next. This, No. TO-, was occupied by
'trusty.' AS started to close his door no
stepped to tho opening in the grating and
asked to speak few words with mo.
Those fow words startled mo. He had
heard NO. o. saving bars Could ho hear
such n sound through 40 inches Of stone
wall that divided tho cells2 No; no hoard
tho sound that attracted his attention
through tho narrow slit of window that
served to light his cell. With an 'all right
to let him know understood, 1 slammed
tho great boltcd door with bang, tho VI
bration of which must have been heard in
= No. 0's' cell, and passed on down to tho
end of tho corridor finishing locking up.
Removing my shoes, climbed out on tho
guard gallery, and, after proceeding eau
tiously fer distance, was directly over
tho window of tho cell occupied by No. o.
Listening intcntly for "a few moments,
could hear tho soft 'slish, slish, slish of
tho steel saw TINT, with keen teeth, was
slowly but surely eating it's way through
the steel bars below, and, hurrying back,
sent the quiet alarm to tho outside
guard; then, taking my keys, l went
quickly to tho other end of the tier and
unlocked and threw open his cell door, Mt
tho Same time turning the rays Of my Ian
tern full upon him.
Flo was in bed, according to orders,
but as his clothing Ind not been removed,
tho russo was too thin had assistance
sor of my section, and, after wo had placed
so safely in another cell, we began an in
vestigation which resulted in tho tiiscoy-
cry that three bars had been cut clearly
through. Then we found tho finely tenn
perod steel saws secretod in tho mattress of
his cot.
Finally my eyes fell upon tho book he
had boon reading, and upon examining it
carefully found that tho edge of the bind
ing was loose. l toro the book apart and
discovered the whole conspiracy.
"Tho saws had been pasted up In the
binding of tho book, and there l found q
lettor which L had passed in to him TINT
very day, md, as 1t had the %. k Of the
governor of tho prison on its face, show
ing that it had been read and Its contents
officially examined it did not arouse any
suspicion in my mind; but, upon reading
1t now, was struck dumb to find that it
gavo mo. O. tho tip as to where the saws
were hid in tho cover of the book, and 9th
Or pointers that never should have reach
cd him.
"Woil the letter was turned over to the
governor, and he put tho expert examiner
on it, who discovered that tho first lines
wero written in ink, while the alternate
lines were written in milk, which would
BIO Invisible until rubbed over with dust.
when they would show as plainly as tho
ink lines.
Tho message in ink was, to oil appear
ances, an innocent letter from sister,
whose hope and faith in man had not been
altogether shattered by hor brothers. orim-
inal career, and 1t readily passed tho OK
aminers. No. o. however, knew better,
and, when tho sisters communication &C
oompanying the present Of the book had
been read, no simply rubbed his fingers
over thewalls or floor Of his coll, and then,
carefully passing them over tho face of the
letter, had brought to light tho message
from his 'paP outside tho prison. The let