The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-08-22
NO ESCAPE FROM PORTLAND
MOST DREADED OF ENGLISH
 PENAL INSTITUTIONS.

Yellow UnIrOrm, Irons and FIOg-
 giags.
 Escape from Portland! You could as easily Hog back the flooding tide"
 The old, -gray-bearded ez-warder shrugged his still broad shoulders con temptuously.
 "The man who can get away from Portland hasn't yet been born, ne ada ed.
 And so it would seem to the most un- observing visitors, says the London EA- press. There is no point of. vantage upon which a warden, with gun loaded and cooked, is not stationed: 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, there to ex- ecute some necessary repairs in mason- ry or woodwork, carries out his task with an armed Warder standing at his elbow.
 Should prisoner, wearied to desper- alton by the intending round of unwiil- | ing service and longing to break the silence to which he is condemned, make 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 telegraphic and telephonic-are utilized to that a cordon of soldiers is at once drawn around the island. Warders, soldiers, toWnsfolk are at once on the alert, and the chase, in which the l"wretehed human quarry has no ghost fo chance, begins, and is sustained until the too daring convict is again within prison walls.
 Tt 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 quibble can pull the culprit out of his trouble.
 Lighter diet is one of the penalties of his offense, and that is no mean thing in this appetite reviving locality. Then the convict must don livery of bright l canary yellow and wear ten pound | irons per pay and night. These irons are fastened to the ankles, while chains pass up his legs and are linked to a belt around the waist.
 He may be flogged, too. It is prob | able that he will be. Thirty-six lashes laid on by muscular ex-marine are no joke"
 The ex-warden is proud of his prison. He exults in it's absolute security. "Whatever people may say, there nev- CT has been an escape from Portland" said my old friend, who has over a score of years of service to his credit.
 There is a rumor that Frenchman once crept away in 8 thick haze, clam
 bered 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 prisoner made dash
 for liberty, broke into a chaplains house and stole 8 suit of broadcloth,
 which he sent back six months later. Personally I doubt the truth of it.
 There was one fellow who managed
 to gain the Dorchester road, Weymouth seven miles away. That was in lS7S'
 His name was Beaumont, and he was
 really one of the fost daredevil men
 ever consigned to Portland.
 "When he first got away he managed
 to conceal himself in church. There
 he stole surplice which he somehow lrigged into a respectable imitation of a
 smock. Creeping cautiously down the
 road, he came across a couple of milk
 cans, which he promptly comman'
 deered. With these he proceeded boldl!
 on his way, passing scores of people
 who had not the faintest notion of hi'
 identity.
 He did not long enjoy his liberty however. A suerintendent of polic'
 was driving along the Dorchester roat when he caught glimpse of whit
 smocked man running rapidly out O.
 sight He drew the attention of tn
 constable who accompanied him to tn
 circumstance, and together they gav'
 chase. The issue was never in doubt The tired hungry, footsore convict wal
 retaken and suffered severely for hi
 temerity.''
 The latest recorded attempt occurred on January IS of the present year. Twt men-John Wilkinson and George Yin , cent-burst through the ceilings 0 their cells, crawled along the corridor
 and by means of a length of rope whicl : had been deftly smuggled, gained tn exercise yard. Thence they brok ) through four gates, all fitted with pa . tent locks. They made the attemp seaward at spot which was pointe out to me by a courteous officer. Win : cent, hile trying to descend a precipi tous wall face, fell and broke his an kle. $Both were then captured. : How fares the prisoner at Portland ! hDoes the system in vogue make a bel ter man of him; is it reformative a
 well as penal?
 suppose these questions will b Iasked and asked again with tiresom
 reiteration. My friend the ex-warde had responses, as ready as emphatic Look here," he said, Criminals don come here to have their palates tickle
 with dainty viands, their bodies reste
 upon beds of down, their ears regale with racy gossip. They come here flo :, punishment.
 "They are not badly treated, and z say this in spite of your opinion. Eel f lows sodden and debased have quite ! s.,o,o LJ,o11 eoToa rls