Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1898-01-21
A PITIFUL TRAGEDY.
1 SCAPEGRACE FRENCHMAN'S HUI
INITIATING AND SHOCKING DEATH.

Escape-Stabbed by COmrade.
The stories told in a notable book
recently published in France, of con
victs' escapes and attempts to escape
from the French penal islands, have
reminded some of the older officers of
the United States army stationed in
Washington of a number of desperate
attempts, not a few of them succe~I-
full, made in former years by United
States military convicts to get away
from the military prison at Fort Leav-
enworth, Kan, now converted into a
federal prison.
Among the unsuccessful attempts
was that which cost the life of an art
list soldier a Frenchman, who was con-
fined in Fort Leavenworth prison. The
young man is said to have been a
member of one of the old noble fami-
lies of France. Before coming to the
United States he had studied paint
ing under the best masters in Europe,
and several of his pictures had been
exhibited in the Paris salons and re-
ceived honorable mention. His char
acter, however, was not sufficiently
strong to enable him to withstand the
temptations of the Quarter and from
a harmless roysterer of the studios he
uHBeubIdl6u
fiend. His habit got him into all sorts
Of scrapes, mostly of a check-kiting
character, which it required all of the
influence Of his people to get him out
of. Finally, having practically given
him up as hopeless, his people shipped
him to the United States with a good
sized letter of credit, and strict injunc-
tions not to return to France until he
fol tni in 40 In h
self like man among men.
In New York the young man contin-
lued his allegiance to the insidiOus
green liquor until he awoke one morn
ing to find himself without dollar.
so he decided to take a brace, and did
| His eye catching the poster in front
Of BOwery recruiting Office. he de-
termined to enlist in the United States
army He was sent TO an infantry reg
/ iment in Wyoming. The young man
! had a fine physique had put in his re-
Guired term of service in the army Of
| France was, of course. intelligent TO
q degree far greater than that of his
comrades, and. at first. made an adj
mirable soldier. Within six months
after he enlisted he wore the chevrOns
! of sergeant Then he went back TO
absinthe. The service was irksOme to
| him, and he required consolation.
Tn absinthe got him into peck Of
trouble. First he lost his stripes and
chevrons; then he got ten days in the
guardhouse, then thirty days, and
finally three months. the sentence of
general court-martial.
Upon his release after this last guard
house term, he promptly deserted. At
this time the reward paid for the cap
ture of a deserter was $50. The French
soldier artist was taken by one of the
hounds" (army term), who made
business of the thing, in Cheyenne.
within week after he had jumped his
post. The general court martial SEN
fenced him to a three-year term at the
Fort Leavenworth military prison.
He was a tractable prisoner, and
was therefore sent out with working
parties, who kept within restricted
limits, without the guarding of SEN
tries. One morning, after he had been
confined for three months, he, with a
number of other unguarded prisoners,
was engaged in repairing the cobble
pavement in the alley running back of
the prison. The ash cart. filled to
overlooking with a load of fine wood
ashes, and manned by three cOnvicts,
came along. unguarded, as usual. The
Frenchman saw chance. He eX-
Ichanged the merest glance with the
convicts in charge of the ash cart;
they understood him. They shoyeled
off about half the lead from the dray
of ashes in Il rwiE king, and the
lFrenchman jumped IN and laid down
in the hollow thus formed, fastening
his mouth to a crack in the dashboard
for air. The ash cart convicts then
covered him up completely with the
ashes they had shOvaled from the dray.
The dumping place for the post ash
es was in a little woodland hollow, a
couple of hundred yards from the pris-
on gate. 1t was the business of a
guard stationed at The prison gate to
jam a three-pronged pitchfork into the
ashes as the cart halted at the gate,
to prevent just such an escape as the
French youth was engaged in eXecut-
ing But the guard st the gate had not
done this for several weeks. The pris-
oners had noticed il and talked about
it. Therefor the young Frenchmdn' 5
scheme looked well.
The driver started his mule for the
dumping ground, me two attending
convicts following @ith stolid counte-
nances at the rear of the cart. The
driver drew up as usual at the gaze,
expecting the nod from the guard to
pass on. But it happened that On that
morning the guard was in a penitenlial
frame of mind over his previous neg
lectfullness. So he grabbed his pitch
fork leaped to the hub of the near
wheel ard, before the frozen threats
OF the ash cart convicts could emit a
cry, he plunged the pitchfork with all
his force into the ashes When the
thing was done he heard the gasping
cries of the three convicts. Then they
told him there was man beneath tho
ashes. The ashes were quickly shOv-
elled from the supine figure The
young Frenchman was dead Two of
the pitchfork's prongs had penetrated
his heart. The three ash cart convicts
were severely punished for assisting
in an escape; it made no difference
that the attempt was unsuccessful and
. a a. fr f-.,