Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1905-12-27

PREC1PITOUS WALL, FELL.
ly. 1.-THE man who can get clear away
from Portland hasn't yet been born,''
he added.
And so it would seem to the most un-
observant visitors. There is no point OF
vantage upon which a warder, with
gun loaded and cooked, is not sta
toned; there is no single prisoner upon
whom is not centered the steel hued
glitter of a score of jealous, untiring
official eyes. The favored convict who
is privileged to enter an officers house
to execute some necessary repairs in
masonry or woodwork carries out h
task with an armed warder standing
at his elbow.
Should prisoner, wearied to desper-
alton by the amending round of unWill-
ing service and longing to break the 81
lence to which he is condemned, make
a bid for freedom the black flag is
hauled mast high and the boom of can
non rolls down from the heights to the
town below. The connections between
the Verne barracks and the prison, tel
egraphic and telephone, are utilized so
that a Gordon of soldiers is at once
drawn around the island. WarderS, sol
diers, toWnsfolk, are at once on the
alert, and the chase, in which the
wretched human quarry has no ghost
of chance, begins and is sustained
until the too daring convict is again
within prison walls.
ct is the wholesome dread of pun
ishment that accounts for the few at
tempts that are made to escape" said
the ex-warder already referred to. "No
legal bubble can pull the culprit out
of his trouble.
Lighter diet is one Of the penalties
Of h.j offense, and that is no mean
thing in this appetite reviving locality.
Then the convict must don a livery
of bright canary yellow and wear ten
pound irons day and night. These
irons are fastened to the ankles, while
chains pass up his legs and are linked
to a belt around his waist.
'He may be logged too. 1t is proba-
BILE that he will be. Thirty-siX lasheS
laid on by muscular marine are no
joke"
The eX-warder is proud of his prison.
He eXults in it's absolute security.
"Whatever people may say, there new
er has been an escape from Portland"
said the old man.
'"There is q rumor that a Frenchman
once crept away in thick haze, clam
hered down the cliffs to a waiting boat
and thence sped over the channel to
his native land. But there is nothing of
this in the official records. Another
story tells how a prisoner made a dash
for liberty, broke into a chaplain's
house and stole a suit of broadcloth,
which he sent back six months later.
Personally l doubt the truth of it.
''There was one fellow who managed
to gain Dorchester road, Weymouth,
seven miles away That was in 1878.
His name was Beaumont, and he was
really one of the most daredevil men
ever consigned to Portland.
''When he first got away he managed
to conceal himself in a church. There
he stole surplice, which he somehow
rugged into a respectable imitation of
q smock. Creeping cautiously down
the road, he came across a couple Of
milk cans, which he promptly COM
Wandered. With these he proceeded
boldly on his way, passing scores of
people, who had not the faintest notion
Of his identity.
"He ala not long eajoy his liberty,
however. A superintendent Of police
was driving alOnS tAs Dorchester road