Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1898-12-02
INGENIOUS ESCAPES.
QUICK WIT THAT CHEATED DEATH
OR PRISON BARS.

A Number Of Interesting Instancea
In Which Happy Thoughts or Clev-
err Ruses Brought Liberty to Uns
happy Prisoners.
A collection Of happy thoughts would
make interesting reading and after q
perusal5 Of 1t one might we'll feel inclined
I question the accuracy Of Carlyle's oft
quoted axiom as to the preponderance Of
fools and admit that there is a good deal
of ingenuity In the world after all. Take,
for example, the case of Thrasyllus, the
s0othsayer, whom Tiberius was about to
condemn to death. Previously to ordering
him to be thrown into the sea the emperor
inquired of the sage If he could foretelll
tho date Of his WI death.
"Three days exactly before C@sar's,"
was the reply, and for the rest Of his life
Thrasyllus was the special object of tho
emperor's. anxious care. Louis XI. Of
France received a similar reply, which
SCOTT has made effective use Of in "Quen.
tin Durward."
Richard Of Normandy, when a boy, was
rescued out Of the clutches of his overload
OF France by his attendants enveloping
him in straw and carrying him out as q
bundle of horse forage, while the escape of
the Empress Matilda from Ludgersall was
effected by means of q much grimmer ex-
pedient.
She was swathed as a corpse and put
Into a coffin, which was borne out of tho
fortress on the shoulders of four of her
servants. The hairbreadth escapes Of
Charles II and the disguises and shifts to
which he was forced are familiar to most,
while no reference to royal escapes car be
made without mention Of the adroit ruse
Of Edward, afterward Edward II, when,
on the pretext of trying the mounts of
his attendants, he so thoroughly exhausted
them that they were in no condition to fol
low his own fresh steed when he rode off
in good earnest.
Undeniably clever, too, was the ruse by
which Archibald Douglas obtained his
freedom after Poictiers. Among his fell
low captives was Sir William Ramsay,
who saw with dismay the peril in which
q life Of SO great Importance to Scotland
was placed, and a brilliant idea occurred
to him. Striding up to Douglas with ev-
cry appearance of indignant anger, he be-
gan to cuff him soundly. "How comes it,
varlet, that you are wearing your masters
armorp Perchanoe you have murdered
him and left his body on the field"
Asked what he meant by behaving In
this way to a nobleman Of rank, Ramsay
burst into scornful laughter. "Nobleman
indeedl A sooundrelly lackey who
how has got his masters armor I know
the rascal. Forty shillings is enough ran
som for him. Off you go, sirrah, and
search for your masters body" And
Douglas, with all the crestfallen air of a
detected impostor, skunk of-to freedom.
Tho "affairs Of the IS and As" were
productive Of several ingenious escapes.
Maxwell, earl of Nithsdale, owed his to
the heroism Of his countess, Winifred,
who, having obtained permission to visit
him, made him dress in her clothes and
thus pass unsupported out of the prison.
Hepburn of Keith had managed to make
his escape from Newgate; but, ignorant
Of London, would inevitably have been re-
captured but for the happy thought of his
wife. who, knowing of his escape, had
placed in the window of her lodgings the
Hepburn cup, the old heirloom of the fam
lily, trusting, as fell out, that he would
recognize it.
Mr.. Radcliffe, more fortunate than his
i'll fated brother, Lord Derwentwater,
escaped with an ease which spoke little for
the vigilance of his guards, or perhaps q
good deal for the J%acobite sympathies Of
the governor. Chapmen were allowed to
ply their trade within the precincts Of
Newgate, and Radcliffe one day stopped to
bargain with a vender Of walking sticks,
presumably q we'll wisher to the cause.
Continuing his discussion, he simply
walked out Of the gates, the obliging chap
man answering the challenge Of the ward.
ers that she wasn't q prisoner" Still
Q remarkable and suggesting remi-
%niscences of the Three Musketeers was the
''evasion,'' Of General Forster after Pres
ton Pans.
He wal lodged in the keepers house
and enjoyed the indulgences usual to pris-
oners of position. One day he was drink
ing wine with the governor and requested
permission to send fora bottle of his own,
on which he wanted the governors opin-
ion, and, this being granted, he sent his
own servant to fetch 1t. The latter, by an
ingenious %perversion Of his instructions.