The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1900-04-04
ESCAPED FROM JAIL.
THE CLEVER SCHEME THAT WAS
WORKED BY ONE CROOK.

He Wanted a Certain Book, and He
Got 1t, Thanks to a Benevolent La
dy, and It's Title Proved to he Pc
euIiariy Appropriate.
1.-THE recent escape from the parish
prison." sad n secondhand bookseller
on the old side who has almost as
many "reminiscences as he has vol
umes, reminds me of very curious
case Of Jail delivery In which l was
an accessory before the fact. l was
never arrested for 1t, but don't OBJ
Ject to telling you the story.
zone day In the summer of 1895
good looking, well dressed man strolled
into the shop and said he wanted to
get something that would interest his
old mother, whom he described as very
religious and fond of antique books.
1--WE picked out dozen or so togeth-
er, Fox's Book Of Martyrs Pilgrims
sion,' Pusey's Daniel the Prophet and
among others Il quaint, massively
bound volume called The Friend In
Affection They were all interesting
old copies, but my caller told me he
would like to submit them to his moth
er before closing the purchase and Of
fered to leave $50 bill as security.
THAT was agreeable to me, and he
carried away the lot. Next day he re-
turned and brought back three or four
of the books, among them The Friend
In Affection which he remarked laugh
ingly had given his mother the blues.
The others he paid for, and have new
er seen him again from that day to
this.
almost n week after his visit, how
ever, thin, prim, precise, elderly lady,
a typical spinster from head to toe,
came in one afternoon and began look
ing over the shelves. Presently she
ran across the same old Friend In At
Fiction that had Jared so badly In the
other trade, and, much to my gratlf-
cation, she purchased 1t on the spot.
1t was exactly the thing, she said, to
give consolation to an unfortunate per-
son of her acquaintance who was then
In great trouble. l was glad to get rid
Of the book and let her have 1t for
couple of dollars.
Fully month afterward | was
amazed to receive a visit from a big,
burly man, who introduced himself as
detective, produced The Friend In
Affiiction' from yalise and asked me
what knew about It.
1.-The book had suffered since saw 1t
last. One of its thick covers was rip
ped open. and sticking inside was
small steel file. The story the detective
told me was certainly extraordinary.
ut seems that noted northern crook
had been In jail In q small town up the
country on charge of bank burglary
and being very smooth rascal had en-
listed the sympathy Of philanthropic
old lady of the place who had n fad
for prison reform. He persuaded her
that he had thoroughly repented, and
she used to visit him regularly and
bring him tracts and delicacies.
Among other things he told her that
while broke In New Orleans he had
sold all of his belongings, including q
keepsake from his mother-a volume
called The Friend In Affliction.' He
gave her my address as the place
"hSAS nc hao AShe thc pAtStOuS Iellc
and worked on her feelings to such an
extent that she promised to secure the
book for him the first time she visited
the city.
How she discovered az, rlrchased
1t you already know. On Eei rrturn she
carried 1t straight to the jail sad while
ordinarily all gifts for prisoners were
closely examined, this ladys high char
acter made such precaution seem un-
necessary and she passed In the volume
without question.
"A few days later the turnkey found
barred window neatly sawed and the
bird flown. He also found The Friend
In Afiiiction' lying on the floor, and in
one OF the massive covers were several
saws and the file l have mentioned.
OF course the philanthroplc old lady
was Immediately questioned, and her
historical replies led to the visit of the
detective. but nothing ever came of the
quest The fugitive is supposed to have
left on an outbound steamer-at any
rate he was never caught.
What about my first customer, did
you askf oh, he was undoubtedly the |
pal who planted the saws."-New Or |
leans Times Democrat.