The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1912-06-25
A CAN OF
PEACHES
BY EDWARD L. HICKS


itentiary a young man was sent up to
the institution to serve term for
burglary. To look at him no one
would take him for burglar, for he
had as honest face as any man |
ever saw, and believe that can tell
an honest man from his expression.
A young girl came to see him soon
after his Imprisonment who seemed
completely broken down on his ac-
count. She asked me to let her see
him, and when inquired as to their
relationship she said she was his be-
trothed
Those who call to see prisoners al
ways assume that the latter are inno-
cent, but from the story this girl told
me about her lover / made up my
mind that he had been victimized. He
had fallen in with a couple Of rogues
who intended to crack crib"
Working on the young mans sympa-
thies by telling him a yarn about a
girl held In a certain house against
her will, they proposed rescue.
Thompson-that was his name-yield-
ed to their solicitations to assist them
and consented to watch while they
effected an entrance into the house
for the purpose.
On the night when they proposed to
do the job they stationed Thompson
on a balcony TO give the alarm IL any
one came. Then, raising window
with a jimmy. they entered the house
and got away with lot of valuables,
leaving Thompson to be caught. or
course the story he had been told
about the rescue had no weight with
the jury, and despite this being his
first offense he was convicted. l
would not have believed the young
man capable of being thus victlmszed
had it not been, as / have said, for
his honest expression and for knowl-
edge of his character, which was child
like and sympathetic. Convinced of
his innocence. felt sorry for him
and for the girl, who was devoted to
him.
One day Agnes-she was Agnes
Brown-came to me with can of pre-
served peaches that she asked TO be
permitted to give her lover. / told her
that all I could do in the premises
would be to have the can opened, take
out the peaches and let him have them
in that way. But she said that he
couldn't eat them all at once and beg
ged that he might be permitted to re-
ceive them as she had brought them.
She would open them before me to
show me that the can continued moth
ing but what she claimed it contained
didn't see what prisoner could dc
to effect an escape with a tin can IL
there were no instruments inside to
enable him to do so. l brought can
opener, cut the top of the can and
poured the contents out into dish.
proposed to the girl to let the prisoner
have them in the dish, but she said
she had brought some wax with her
with which he could seal the lid after
using a part of the preserves, and
well, / did something l never did be-
fore or since: l consented that be
should have the peaches in the can.
But before sending the gift to the
prisoner / scrutinized it. There were
preserved peaches. can and label-that
was all. The label bore the name Of
the concern that canned the goods and
a picture Of fine ripe peach. A man
might make a saw out of the tin to cut
wood, but he could not get out Of his
cell without cutting iron. Besides, he
could not make a saw even out OF tin
without file.
l mention these minutiae as the rea-
sons why / permitted tin can to go
into a prisoner and to show that there
did not appear to be any harm in my
doing SO. / soon had occasion to state
them to my superiors as l have stated
them here, for that can of peaches was
the first and main feature in one of
the most ingenious and well carried
out plans of escape have ever known
or heard of. On the morning after the
gift had been given Thompson his cell
was found empty and two bars at his
window sawed through. He had for
some time been making rope of his
DeQClOIDlDE, by WHlSh uc ict hiuiooA
to the ground A confederate, prob
ably Agnes Brown, who had by fire.
auent visits become familiar with the
premises, had thrown a rope over the
wall, by which he had climbed to the
top. where he found ladder on which
to 20 down on the other side, There
he had found a bicycle and on this
scorched away.
/ lost my position as warden of the
prison, though those who deprived me
of it could not explain how a can of
peaches had anything TO do with
prisoners escape. But, on the whole,
I was glad he had regained his liberty.
being assured that he was innocent OF
the crime for which he had been i'm
prisoned. There was no evidence by
which Miss Brown could be convicted
OF assisting him to escape, and since
she did not go away with him l sought
her, and on my promise to take no ac-
ton against her she told me the secret
She had removed the label on the can
of peaches, put several very thin high
ly tempered saws under 1t. the ends at
fached to the can by bits of solder, put
strips of paper in position to bring the
whole to the same level and replaced
the label. She must have done her