Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1909-01-05
BREAKING JAIL.
An Ex-Convict Tells How 1t Is Done

| An Ex-Convct Tells How 1t Is Done.
During the terms of penal servitude
which l have undergone l have on sew
eral occasions witnessed the excitement
and commotion caused in prisons by at
tempted or actual escapes. Further
more, have had chats with men who
nave escaped and have not been re-
captured for weeks, and they have con-
frmed the fact that in the majority Of
cases attempts to escape are not pre-
meditated, but are done on an i'm
pulse.
A man sees a chance, and if he is
game" he has a try. Perhaps, too, in
the twinkling Of an eye, he gives the
tip to a fellow-prisoner, and, without
thinking for single moment of the
serious adventure they are about to
undertake, they are off.
And when one attempt at escape has
been made, others generally follow in
the same prison, for it becomes a sort
of mania for the time being. The pris-
oners become most elated upon hearing
that an attempt to escape has been
made. The prison is instantly In a
commotion-whstles blowing, bells
ringing and all work stopped. All the
warders are eager to share in the
task of recapture, for q reward of G5
is given to the man who brings the
prisoner back.
1t is not generally known that three
days have to elapse before the hunt is
given up by the prison authorities and
handed over to the civil police. For
three days and nights the warders have
nc rest. They receive extra funds for
expenses, and are sent off after finish
ing work at night in different direc-
tions, coming back to work in the
morning.
AS a matter of fact, most captures
are made by civilians coming upon the
hunted by accident. l remember man
considered to be still in the woods, but
who had actually, it afterwards trans
pired, got clean out Of the district with
in six hours of his escape. A porter
going, without any thought of the run
away, TO a truck of goods awaiting
transmission to London from Bodmin,
in Cornwall, to see if it was properly
covered, in case of rain, detected the
fugitive concealed among the goods
had chat with the man some time
after his recapture, and he told me
that in another five minutes he would
have been we'll away. He had man
aged to get in communication with
some friends at Basingstoke, 1T which
place he meant TO leave the train,
whether it stopped or not.
Although most attempts at escape
are done on the impulse Of the moment
| it is wonderful what lot of possible
ways of escape are talked over by men
who never have the least intention, and
| in Il good many cases the courage, to
make the attempt. And ii is not i'm
probable that these suggestions are
acted upon by others when an op-
portunity suddenly presents ITSELF al
though few minutes before the pris-
oners entertained not the least idea OF
making an attempt
The press, by the way, often helps
an escaped prisoner TO evade capture,
as their reports regarding the prison.
er's whereabouts are frequently wrong.
This was especially so when King and
| 4, i al
me himself that he slept safely in
London upon the evening Of the day
Of his escape, although the papers pub
| liShed 50 much about the prisoners be-
ing seen together in different garbs and
IN different parts of the country for
days afterward AS matter of fact,
King and Soar parted Immediately af-
| ter their escape.
\ prisoner generally likes a COM
| panion with him when he tries to es-
cape. and in the case of smart cracks
men every effort is made by the Off
GERS to prevent their getting into touch
with one another. BY secret codes and
signals, however, couple of men, with
| patience ana care, Ctln llldhc lIleil al
rangements, although in the case of
! Wilkinson. the man who escaped from
Portland about three years ago, it took
him many weeks 10 get into commu-
nication with II companion.
\ prisoner is in no way disheartened
as Il rule, by his failure to escape. He
looks upon the attempt just as an out
slider would regard any particular kind
of undertaking that may have failed
He is proud Of the distinctive dress
which he is compelled to wear, and
which denotes an attempt to escape
and very little malice is borne by the
authorities toward him, as a rule. For
| the clevercSt attempts to escape are
generally made by men who, in other
respects. give very little trouble-Tit
Bits.
IT.. About twice as much power is re-