Los Angeles herald., 1907-09-29

thing as unconvincible scepticism. 1t is
these challenges that lend spice to my
existence.
Visits Many Prisons
Probably no other man has visited SO
many of the great prisons OF the worio
as l have. My profession has brought
me into touch with the prison and
police authorities everywhere and they
| have all been kind enough to explain
how securely their prisoners are held
| and to show me that it is quite impos-
| sible for their charges to escape All
4 of which made my escapes from these
same prisons the more interesting and
| Instructive 1t has also been my good
fortune to be able to point out on more
than one occasion where weak spots
existed in their systems, and l have
received the unsolicited acknowledge
| ments of more than one Jailer ana
| sheriff to this effect.
NV reputation as "the international
jailbreaker' was not won on paper 1t
is not merely an advertising catch
word few Of my exploits In this
line have attracted adverse attention
from the governments Interested, but
usually the authorities have acknowl-
edged that the escape of Houdini from
their prisons did not mean that the
prison could not hold the men for whom
it was designed.
The following list of my escapes In
cludes only the most famous ones:
San Francisco, Cal, July 1893.
: Siberian transport cell May, 1908.
II Old prison Dordrecht, Holland, Sep
! tember, 1908.
Sheffield, England, January, 1904.
: Liverpool England, February, 1902.
) Kansas City, Mo-, April, 1900.
Berlin, Germany, September, 1900.
| IInddarcfiald ENGLAND NOVemDer
1908.
The Guiteau cell No. 2, murderers
row, Washington. D. c., jail, January
1906.
:, city prison. Boston, Mass. March
1906.
All JaiIs Fail
: Do not suppose that these are by an!
4 means all the jails that have failed t
e hold me. They are the ones that com
g readiest to my memory. OF almos
q every one of these have attested Ger
:. tificates signed by the officers of tn
r prison in each case and by prominen
: persons and officials who witnessed tn
," performance.
y The most secure prison in the worl
/ is supposed to be the cells or "carettes,
q in which prisoners destined for Siberi
e are transported. Yet from this es
capped in less than twenty minutes. Be
fore entering itne cell was SupmlItc
e to a severe searching by the secre
IS police. Never have been so thorough
e ly searched as by these officers, VIII
IS certainly know that part of their busi
IL ness. The search was conducted an
y the escape accomplished in the presenc
le of the chief of the secret or spy polio
; of Moscow, Russia. After accomplish
20 ing this feat the management of tn
= Zoo Gardens, where / was performing
70 did me the honor of doubling the salar
- previously paid me.
Warden j. II. Harris of the Wash
l., ington, d. c., United States jail wa
- sitting comfortably in his office on
= day in January last year, when
ID stranger entered and asked to t
m locked up.
"a ''Why do you want to be locked up
al asked the surprised warden.
n 80 can break out" was the straI
or gers strange reply.
az The warden had never seen me- an
of as it is my custom to do this sort (
ne stunt without previous warning he ws
e. not expecting me. 1t did not take Ion
en- to explain the situation, and in q fe
RS minutes the warden had collected
of large crowd of the officials of the ia
Sc and their friends to see the first al
/ thorized attempt to break out of Wasl
ington Jail.
al The warden was kind enough to on