The Meeker herald., 1912-11-30


proved. Looking about him. be could
distinguish only n few people. and they
were absorbed In their own efforts
He munnged to get coat. wnist.,Mit and
trousers Oh the corpse and. without
stopping to put them on. set about
drawing his striped garments OH to the
de,ld man. Some time WAS needed to
effect the exchange. since the body
was partly covered with heavy tim
bcrs which were removed with dlth
Guilty.
However. when the fugitive had nn
ished the work lie ran on with the
clothes he had obtnined on his arm till
he reached clunp Of trees. which he
entered ind put them on. When he
emerged 1t had grown quite dark. md
he took heart. feeling that he had
some chance of making hts escaI'e.
But he well knew that force from
the prison would seour the nelghbOr
hood till every one of the iabOrinx
gang outside the wallis ut the time Of
the storm had been brought in either
nlIve or dend or WIS known to have
put long distance between him md
the penitentiary; therefore 1t betooved
him to 90 on.
He did not ovcrestlmnte the energy
Of the prison officials, for he had not
gone quarter OF a mile when. henr
Ing distnnt shouts. he turned and saw
clump Of lights flashing In his eyes
It was too soon after the storm for a
rescue party to have collected; such
rnpitlity could only have come from
the prison. Satisfied TINT 1t would Ike
better to employ strategem rnther than
attempt to outrun these persons. he
looked about for a place Of conceal
ment. He was near house TINT hnd
been spun around, its front door fac-
Ing yard that had been In its renr.
1t had been partly wrecked. aud the
fugitive crawled In under some lower
timbers. drn wing post over him to
Indicate that 1t had fallen on him.
unving thus prepared to plny dead
man. he waited in his uncomfortable
position under the timber which he
would make others believe had killed
him. The voices came near. and the
party at last tackled the house in
which l.edtield was lying with view
to saving any person In 1t who might
still he alive They we're. as he had
supposed. the prison officials looking
for escaping prisoners. but they had
been Joined by several persons who
were bent on rescue work. Redheld
had taken the precaution to lie on his
face so that he mist be turned over for
1t to he exposed.
Here's corpseI" called a voice that
he recognized as that of the warden
of the prison. "You fellows look into
II. We must move on"
The warden's footsteps died away.
and Redfeld knew that another liGht
was turned upon him. Then the tim.
Der was .tiafs6 ~. him. ard ~ felt .
hand laid over hts heart
Bring some liquor,~ cried a voice
'.This man ISN'T dead. We may save
him
His jaws were pulled open. a mask
put to his lips and whisky poured
down bis throat He needed It. but
not for what the rescuers supposed. 1t
was required to give him strength and
courage to plny his part Having slim
ulnted him. bis rescuers carried him
out and laid him on a board. 1t being
evident from whit they said that he
was to await an examination from a
surgeon whenever one could attend to
him hut there were calls in 80 many
directions that one by one his attend
ants left him for more pressing duties.
There were by this time 70 many
persons about that Redfield concluded
that 1t would be safer for him to TEN
porarily Join a rescue party tlmn to
pursue his flight. Arising from his
hard bed. he went to the nenrest
wrecked house. where some men with
lanterns were working. and assisted In
the removal of several wounded per
sons. While doing 30 he heard man
say to another:
THE party we laid on board to
wait for surgeon has disappeared"
'lmposSible." said the other
Sure MS you live. found a doctor
for him. and when we found the place
where we had left him the board was
there. but the man was gone. ! won
der II a rescue party came along and
thinking him dead. buried him."
1t was midnight before all the wreck
ed houses had been examined and the
persons engaged in the work dispersed
and stiffness reigned. Then Retfeld
began tramp that did not end till
he had reached the Mississippi river.
where under the name Of Jacob Thonp.
son he shipped as deck hand on n steam-
boat bound for New Orleans.
Meanwhile Mrs. Redfield learned that
her husband had escaped from i'm
prtsonment during the cyclone and his
body found under wrecked building
though no one could account for his
having been there when the house was
demolished. 1t was two months after
this that she received letter from her
husband dated af Rio de laneiro In