The Red Cloud chief., 1900-01-05
HONOR OF THIEVES.
Wisconsin Jail Breakers Stick to a
opal" to the Death.
Through Hsrdships and Dangers the
Lawiess FuRitives Tenderly
Nurse ana Care for Their
Dying Companion.

Occasionally an incident shows up on
the bobbin of time recalling or accentu-
ating an old saying.
In the woods of northern Illinois, the
other day, something occurred which
proved that there is "hOnor among
thieves An official from that state,
in Brooklyn on business, told "A reporter
| of the Eagle the story.
Four prisoners broke from the Jail
Of Waukcgau. the capital of a county
| contiguous to the southern boundary
of Wisconsin. One Of the prisoners had
n black mark against him in nearly
| every city of the country. Even in
Brooklyn, where criminals have few
reasons to congregate. Tom Meyers
was known as a "smOoth man in the
| confidence line, and in forgery"
The escape of prisoners from the jail
of u small town is an exciting event.
aud in this case citizens joined officers
i'm their pursui, and search, and blood
hounds, something unusual in the
north, were turned upon the trail. They
were unsuccessful. One of the prison
ers was captured, but not in the woods.
lie was found in the street in Chicago.
| The first question asked of him by the
sleuths of Chicago was: where is Tom
Meyers?" The reply was short:
Dead"
For "A day or more that was all the
captured man would tell, but when the
sheriff from Waukegan went down TO
the western metropolis the prisoner
talked to him. AS the visiting official in
brooklyn remembers II the prisoners
story TO the sheriff was like this:
THE first day of freedom Tom Mey-
crs was taken sick. lie couldn't travel
| with us, but he was such a smar guy
we couldn't leave him. He had planned
the escape. Then we found a big pile of
underbrush and crowded into It, 1t
rained pitchforks the first night, aud
! poor Tom got worse. lie was as tender
"a a spring chicken, Tom was, and the
! exposure told on him fast. He wanted
us to leave him. but we told him we
would stick TO him as long as we lived,
and IL he was taken we would all go to-
gether. We took OIL our coats and made
him n bed. and one night when the rain
run through the brush as it would
through a sieve, we took turn about
holdinga hat over his face so 1t wouldn't
get ducked. Once we heard the blood
hounds bark, SO close did they come.
Poor Tom had been doing n good deal
of barking himself-coughing, ! mean
and when ii was necessary for him TO
<eep quiet he done it like u soldier, hc
did.
"One of us crawled out neX morning
and stole some bread from a farmhouse
and went back to our shack and di
vidcd the loaf. We would have gon,
, hungry and let poor Tom have all of Il
il he could have eaten il, but his hunge,
was growing less all the time, and III
swallowed mighty little of the stuff.
J. "That night while il was my turn Il
hold his head III my lap he asked me il
a whisper that wasn't as strong as a sicl
woman would have said it to put my ca
: close to him, and | did, and he sal,
To me:
Bury me here, and then you can es
cape. Some day. when it's safe, you ca
tell my friends. Don't wake the boys
And before | could even say good-b.
Il to him be was deader than a mackere
don't remember in all my life that
ever saw a man die before. I've see
most everything but that. And | a,
- tually held Toms head after he wa
dead for long time, but l can't tell ho'
.ong. But ! see the daylight breakin
H. through the brush before | called I'll
other boys to wake up.
MEN in our situations had no tin
to pass any resolutions or maxi an
speeches, and men like us amt up
. .uch things nohow. but we said n fe
words about his bein gritty, and the
we buttoned his coat and turned up Il
collar. Two of us dug out "A place Wit
our hands, and then we all laid his boo
in it,, and we wrote his name on n bit
paper we had and put il in his poke
Then we covered the body with leav
and throwed on the dirt, and then 60
cred up that with more leaves al
branches. One of the gang said he 7
membered something he learnt at Su
day school and said il over Tom, wha
ever it was, and then each man stru'
out for himself.
Gould | find the place where ,
buried him? You bet, in the dark.
D. man amt likely to forget such a thil
in all of his life"
~ "The sheriff of Waukegan told M
ID said the officer in Brooklyn, that
Sta never heard such n story as the prison
q told him. and that il beat anything
md even saw IN u lhealer' Anu 'ha' I
SIS toughest job he ever had was TO ia
OF his man back to jail."-Brooklyn Gag
IN V~u.oIved Mystery of the Maine.
a - .a Iolinun thn lntailc Of 4