The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-12-14
DARING ESCAPE FROM JAIL.
HOW SOME NOTED PRISONERS on
TANNED THEIR LIBERTY.

Prussian Baron knocks Down
Guards and Leaps the ParRpet.
Brentano, an Italian Patriot,
Feigns Death-TraditiOn Among
the Danes AbOut a Bold Buccaneer.
From the ST. Louis Globe-Democrat.
The wardens of some old world bastle
would smile to hear the escape of Miss
Cisneros vaunted as an exploit in the art
of Jail breaking. The sentries appear to
have connived with both eyes, and her
place of detention was an open stockade
compared with some of the prisons that
failed to battle the enterprise of desper-
ate deserters.
Like the science of fertilization, Jail
building has been perfected from century
to century; still experience has thus far
confirmed the assertion of Gabriel Mira
beau that there is really such thing as
a man-proof cage. 1T is always difficult
to thwart the purposes of men who con-
centrate all their energies, one one OBJ
ject," he says in his comments on the ad-
ventures of Baron Trenck. land there
is almost no limit to the shifts of a cum
ming prisoner whose mind dwells on the
thought of freedom night and day"
Frederic Trenck, the Admirable Crich-
ton of the Prussan army, had incurred
the i'll will of his king and had been de-
livered into the hands of his personal enc
my, vindictive and vigilant old martinez,
who made the strict regulations Of mis-
fortress strieter to obviate the possibility
of his prisoners rescue. Strangers who
applied for the privilege of an interview
with the ex-favorite of the great king
were searched like pickpockets ana
watched by a sergeant of the guard while
they carried on a conditional converse ion
through the bars of a double partition.
Lavish brides had procured the captive
few additions to the Spartan bill of fare
of his dungeon, but they would not allow
him the use of knives and forks nor of
liquors that could have been used to be
fuddle his sentries. But in spite of Ill
those precautions the young athlete con-
trived to run the gauntlet of his guards.
and would soon have been beyond reach
of his pursuers if bad luck had not caused
him to miss the ford of the Neisse river
and plunge into a bank of quicksand. iIe'
wass recaptuTed, and after that they
watched him like a chained werewolf,
adding safeguards to safeguards, till IT
seemed almost inconceivable that he
should once more see the outside Of the
fort without the permission of the COM
mander
But the incredible happened. Taking
advantage of a foggy afternoon, Frederic
Trenck overpowered an inspecting officer,
snatched the musket from the hands of
one sentry knocked down another and
leaped from the parapet of the citadel into
a ditch, struggled up the opposite slope and
flew forestward like a wild beast with a
pack of hounds at its heels.
The wall-guns roared out the alarm in
half-minute intervals, and the hope of a
large standing reward turned the peasant
population of the surrounding country into
a volunteer army of man-hunters, but for
tune made amends for her former spite,
and the fugitive reached the Austrian Dor
der by one of the few mountain trails that
were not closely guarded. Frederic Trenck,
It is true, was a giant, as well as an ath
lete, and that they might as well have
tried to stop a rampant steer. The risk
of hand-to-ha fight with the desperate
six-footer may have helped to improve the
chances of his escape, but little Andrew
Brentano, the scapegoat of the Italian lib
erals achieved a similar miracle by sheer
cunning. He had been wounded, too, and
was shaken by intermittent fevers, but
that very circumstance furnished him the
basis of a successful strategem. HIS
friends spread the report that the little
champion of the Carbonari was dying, and
one evening that rumor appeared to be
confirmed by the arrival of a Mantua
priest who obtained permission to prepare
the Inflated patriot for the approaching
end of his earthly career. The confessor
was accompanied by a stranger i'm the I'M
form of a regiment that had been garri-
soned in Mantua that week. That stranger
turned out the guard and asked for the
officer Of the day.
"TIe is gone to dinner, believe" said
the sergeant, but can call him if there is
anything"
mo, never mind" said the visitor. "I
am Adjt. Bernstein of the city garrison,
and only wanted 10 ask how long it is be-
fore the time of your next relief"
about half an hour"
"Then, please, relieve the sentry in An
dy Brentano's cell right away; he is go
ing to receive the last administrations OF
his church, and l do not like TO have him
interrupted. The post commander asked
me to go along as a matter of extra pre-
caution"
The priest, with a new sentry and the
supposed adjutant, was admitted TO the
sick mans cell, who; before long kneit
down repeating the words of the kneelins
frair. The adjutant too, crouched down
near low bench, covering his face with