The Portland daily press., 1901-01-05
Rsferte, Connolly. Attendance, 5OO.
THE STANDING.
A womAN,s expeDlENr.
Clever Scheme 90 Enable a Prisoner
TO Cut HIS Way Ont of Jail

Clever Scheme 90 Enable Prisoner
TO Cut HIS Way Ont of jail.
whenever see that particular brand
Of canned peaches" said New Orleans
grocer indicating a row Of tins on the
top shelf, Il am reminded Of something
very queer that happened here several
years ago. One day in the summer Of
1896, II remember rightly, a refined
looking woman OF about 30. dressed In
deep mourning, came into the store and
bought a couple OF cans OF California
peaches of the brand l have just pointed
out. She had cab and took them with
her, and / thought no more of the incl
dent until she returned next day, carry
ing the tins In her hand. i have a sick
brother at - she said. naming small
town In Alabama, and was intending TO
send him these peaches. with bundle OF
other things, yesterday. But on second
thought believe l viii buy a few more
delicacies and get you TO ship them sepa'
rately.'
There was nothing peculiar about the
request, and l assured her would be
glad to attend to the matter. She order
ed 81 or IS worth of different articles
iellies, olives, marmalade, and SO on
paid the bill and gave me her brothers S
name, directing the things to be sent to
him in care OF captain somebody or other
at the Alabama town which she mention
ed before. As soon as she left got out
a box aud began to pack up the consign-
ment, but as soon as i came to the
peaches noticed that the two cans which
she had returned were both slightly
blown as we call it In the trade In
other words, the tops bulged outward a
trife, indicating that n little fermenta-
tion had been going on. Not wishing TO
send a sick man anything but the best.
| set them aside and put in two fresh
cans from the shelf The box was ship
ped by the first express.
"Nearly six months after this episode, F"
continued the grocer, with twinkling
eyes, 1--WE were cleaning out our old stock
aud ran across those two cans of peaches.
| picked up one of them carelessly and,
my hand being wet, piece of the label
came off. You may imagine my surprise
to see a lot of small saws soldered to the
side of the tin, and on further examina-
ton we found that they completely en-
circled the can and that the other was
in exactly the same condition. At that l
began to have a faint inkling of the
truth and lost no time in making few
Inquiries. found that the Alabama
captain was the sheriff of his county and
the invalid brother had been one of his
official guests. He was a burglar and
had since been sent to prison for ten
years. The scheme was pretty shrewd.
In the first place, the sheriff would not
be apt TO be suspicious OF package OF
goods coming direct from reputable
business house, and, even IL he opened
the cans before giving them to the pris'
oner. there would be nothing wrong in
side.
"The cook must have been bitterly dis
appointed when he examined the substi'
tutes that l sent. The saws. as we
afterward found out, were highly tenn
pered and could cut steel bar like yellow
pine. Who was the woman in black, did
you ask2 | have no idea, probably a
sister or wife or sweetheart. l never
laid eyes on her afterward."-New Or
leans Times Democrat.