The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1908-11-19
The Anarchist

Syndtcate.l
John Cunningham had been gov
ernor Of Dartmoor prison for thirteen
years. and during that long interval
not a convict had succeeded in making
his escape. The governor fattered
himself on this fact. He lived four
miles from the prison, and the less he
visited it the better things were run.
Governor Cunningham finally decid-
ed to write a book on criminOlOgy.
That was a perfectly natural thing,
since he had SO many specimens at.
hand. He meant that book to be i.
standard and to contain matter to as
tonish the world. He was entirely ig-
norant of his subject, but he went to
work like a man who means business.
To get his data he had to have prison
ers brought before him to be question
ed and to have their heads examined.
The governor had boosted more than
once that he could tell a predisDosed
criminal ten rods away.
One of the prisoners called before
the governor was James BrOughton,
who had received a sentence of five
years for embezzlement. The family
was q respectable one, and this was
the first offense for hundred years.
Broughton himself had anything but
criminal tendencies. He was well edu-
Gated, well appearing and was remark
ed for his intelligence. The governor
e.
which he sought. He put him down as
q man who was born with the In
stsncts Of a thief. He did not credit
hm with ordinary intelligence. He
found him a victim of homicidal mania.
Broughton had entered prison de-
Assmined to make his escape If it was
WITHIN the possibilities. After years
good conduct he was named for the
agricultural gang, the TRUSTEES who
moved the meadows and raised a
share Of the fresh vegetables consumed
in the prison. He had friends outside
@ aid aim In so far as furnishing him
q suit Of citizens clothes and small
aum Of money. He had made up his
I'D to 20 to South America, and he
wnss have several hundred dollars.
TAe fact that he knew not where to
ealBe the money prevented his escape
for months. 1t was not until after the
sovernor had made him q choice speci-
men Of criminoiogy that brilliant idea
came to him. As the agricultural gang
marched back to prison one evening
jBroughton was missing, and the alarm
was given He had found the suit, had
been met by a friend with horse and
buggy, and by the time the guards
were securing the country for him the
convict was at the governors house.
A rather queer thing had happened
to the governor ten years before, and
as the Incident had been published 1t
was common property in prison and
out. He had made a trip to Russia,
aided an anarchist without knowing
what the man was, and after being
shut up in a fortress for month he
had been given his noerty and escorted
to the frontier. This humiliation ran
killed. In his breast, and he was not
backward about saying to freeman or
convict that he would DO most any
thing to get square with the Russian
government He had been so outspo-
ken that he had received a hint from
his own government to moderate his
speech. He took warning by it, but he
still chafed. The telephone called the
governor up to inform him that con-
Wet had escaped, and while he was
fussing about it the card of a stranger
was brought in. The name was that
Of Russian, and the governor at once
thought of anarchists and nihiliSts and
arbitrary measures and became not.
There was q confab lasting an hour.
The Russian did not hesitate to confide
In the governor. He informed him
that q plot was on foot to Overturn
the government and raise q republic
on its ruins He was asked to assist
Ia the conspiracy. He knew that such
action would make him amenable to
the law, and yet he remembered the
dreary days and nights in that cell in
the fortress He had never talked with
met with another foreigner who spoke
the English language so correctly.
The warning received by the great
man was ringing In his ears, but he
thought of the miserable food, the wet
straw and the manner in which he had
been bounced out Of the cars domin-
ions and warned to stay out. The tele-
phone gave him the particulars of the
convict's escape and inquired about Of
fering q reward, but he was too busy
to attend to such trifles. He first said
no, but as the Russian rose to leave
the house the governor brought out a
bag containing $500 In gold and placed
1t on the table and turned his back
+ and began to hum the air Of tune.
The Russian tumbled to the subscrip-
ton and murmured his thanks. With
the gold he picked up one Of the gov
srnor's cards. An hour later a train
was bearing him to Liverpool. He was
stopped on the way and stopped again
as he went aboard steamer for South
America, but that card Of the governor
carried him through. @
The search for Broughton was thor
6ugh and long drawn out. AS 1t was
the first escape from Dartmoor under
Governor Cunningham's reign, he was
overanxious for the mans capture. In
the course of month fifty. different
men were arrested In different parts of
England, but Of course none Of them
proved to the person wanted. Not
until Broughton reached South Amer
lea and knew that he could not be ex-