Perth Amboy evening news., 1906-09-19
The Effected Purpose


tial. 1 would rather take my chances
Of acquittal in a case whereI had been
seen to commit the crime than in a
strong case against me Of circumstan-
tial evidence. In the former there is
always a plea of emotional insanity,
while in the latter the prosecution has
only to put the evidence together, true
or false, to prove the accused guilty.
Hugh Bassett was convicted of muir
der on circumstantial evidence, but
since 1t was proved that he had been
prosecuted to frenzy by the murdered
man he was not hanged, he was Inn
prisoned for life. This persecution,
though it saved him from the death
penalty, was the main cause of his con
victioh. His prosecutor was murdered
and who could have murdered him but
the nan he had prosecuted? This is
what twelve good and true men de-
cided, and decided wrong. Ten years
after the conviction a hardened Grim
final on his death bed confessed to a
mitted the murder.
"Bassett, torn away from his wife
and children to be taken to prison for
a crime of which he was innocent, had
but one thought-to escape If his escape
should cost him his life. He was an
ingenious man, quick to see an advan-
tage another would not see.
"But several years passed before he
saw any avenu of escape whatever
and then a very desperate chance. He
had been graduated at a scientific
school and from there had taken a
position with manufacturers of ma
chinery. In prison the officials were
glad to avail themselves of his services
in the engine room, and on several oc-
casions he attracted their attention by
certain ingenious devices in the matter
of repairing the machinery. In mathc-
matics he had taken prizes long before
he became u convict. For good be-
havior as a prisoner he had many priv
ileges, and was allowed to have a light
in his cell long after hours.
"One day Bassett saw a means of
escape from the engine room which he
had not noticed before, though he had
worked there regularly since his i'm
prisonment three years before. 1t in
volved possible freedom and probable
death. 1t also involved a very nice
mathematical calculation, on the accu-
racy of which life depended. 1t was
after the conception Of his plan that
his keepers noticed that he was burn
ing the midnight oil and laying down
innumerable figures. The guards did
not know it, but the prisoner was cal
culating just when the broad belt that
ran the machinery would stop after the
power had been turned off. He had
noticed that in the evening when the
men were ready to leave the engine
room the machinery was stopped. He
had also noticed that the driving belt
Of the engine passed over its upper
wheel near a window high above the
reach of any one. Then he had learned
that from the window could gain
a roof from which he might reach the
top Of the wall and thence down out
side. One day 1t occurred to him to
ride on the belt to the window and es-
cape.
'To do this he must mount the belt at
q certain moment-that Is, on q point
that would stop at the window. He
could see the lacings in the belt as It
moved-greatly blurred, of course-and
for days, weeks, months, counted rev.
Olutions of the belt, and at night in his
cell made calculations. At last he fixed
a point where he could jump on the
belt which would stop at the window.
Zone evening in winter when the
days were short the convlcts were lined
up ready to march away. Suddenly
Bassett sprang upon the belt and,
clutchlng each edge with a hand was
carried to the window. So startled
was every one that no one took In his
intention till he reached the window,
the belt stopped, he sprang Off and
through the opening and was gone.
Nothing was heard again of Bassett.
So determined was he in his object
from the moment of his Imprisonment
that he had arranged with his wife to
go to a foreign country, change her
uhlC oA0 iObC ntIScll W I'LL SdNc Hill.
II b wrote nothing he was to know
that she was at the rendezvous. She
waited two and a half years for him
without having heard a word from him
or writing a word to him. Consequent
ly when he escaped it was impossible
to track him by his wife. One day he
appeared before her and their children
in a little town in Central America.
There, neither of them known to those
about them, parents and children were
united in one embrace.
"Bassett at nee found employment
in the mechanical department of the
great canal-of course under an as
sumed name-and 1t was not long
before he worked himself up to one of
the principal positions In that depart
ment. Long afterward he saw In a
newspaper the confession of the man
who had committed the murder for
which he was convicted, but he con-
sidered his former self blotted from
the world and never reappeared among
his friends to receive their svmpathy