Bisbee daily review., 1914-09-29


 his job was done for the night and gave him a slip containing the list of pieces intrusted to him to deliver at the Osslning freight station
 In another half minute convict No. GO10S was outside of the wall of Sing Sing. He braced himself with his knees and elbows when the truck jolt ed over rough places in the road
 Bin had told him that he would find a path down the cliG a half mile north of the prison. It would lead to the railroad tracks. He was to find 1t and get away from main roads
 Montgomery counted on one hour be fore his tier guard would demand an explanation of his absence at the ma chine shop and then give the alarm.
 He estimated the distance by the speed of the horses and at the proper moment released the end of the box. He drew himself forth and tumbled, with a sidewise twist to the soft, earth road. On hands and knees he scram- bled into the shadow of some bushes and took his bearings
 The road was deserted and the houses all dark. The only sound was the creaklng of the load of machinery, which rapidly became fainter and fainter He plunged down the path and at the bottom Of the cliff turned and ran to the south through the little tunnel under the prison.
 There were six miles to cover to Tar rytown. then three and a half miles across the Hudson to Nyack and then a mile and a half westward to the West Shore railroad, which would take him to the meadows of Newark bay. Bllrs inside informaton was that at West Nyack he would get an express freight at four in the morning. It | would not stop until Homestead was reached. There some of the cars would i be shunted to the Erie tracks, and he would be able to slip into the tall | marsh grass just as day was breaking 1 Montgomery had five hours in which | to make the schedule outlined for him ! by his burglar friend He took the cin- | der path between the tracks brought ] his clinched hands to his chest and : started tO run in a swinging stride, | bis mouth closed and his head thrown | back
 It was not easy going, for the prison brogans are made of heavy, stiff leath- ! CT, with soles that would sink a diver ] to his task below the sea. His heels | and toes were badly blistered by the end of his second mile, and he was ! compelled to stop and rest. He did not | dare lie down for fear that fatigue might close his eyes in sleep. When his feet had cooled and his breathing had become normal again he ! climbed to the top of a great rock and l looked toward Ossining. In the velvet I distance he could see the prison lights ! high on the cliff above the village sta ! ton. Below the cliff he saw tiny lights ! twinkling, and at first he thought them | drenies. His years within prison walls had destroyed his sense of perspective l He studied these will-o-the-wisp lights and soon realized that they were from lanterns swinging in the hands of men | hunting him.
 The fugitive turned, threw back his head and began to run He increased ! his speed gradually until he struck gait he thought he could hold for an i hour without rupturing a blood vessel. | The torn skin on his heels fell away under the chadng Of the heavy leather and exposed the quick of his flesh. | Blood began to fll his shoes. but as he ran he kept telling himself that he | could well afford to suffer ten times the torture if he reached his goal-his liberty
 He felt as if he had discarded hls
 number and was once again James | Montgomery. a human being, out in the open. the ground beneath him and the river running beside him. It was early summer, and the cool night air was sweet with the fragrance of breathing flowers and fields
 Ahead of him showed the northern
 boundary lights of Tarrytown. Once he looked over his shoulder as he ran,
 but he could not see the lanterns of
 the hunters. He was beginning to gather stronger hope of ultimate es- cape when the will-o'-the-wisp lights showed ahead of him. He stopped short i'm his tracks.
 It was evident that the Sing Sing of-
 icials had telephoned the police of sur ] rounding villages. To his left was the 1 open country, but with villages every three or four miles and from each yil-
 lage perhaps a squad of men with
 lanterns. forming a circle to close in
 on him.
 To his right were the river and the
 country beyond, country he knew as
 only one could know who roamed it in
 boyhood He lost no time in deciding.
 Montgomery ran to the rivers edge
 and stripped or the heavy prison
 shoes. He peeled of the blood soaked
 socks and from one of them took the money Bill had given him. This he
 tied in an end of his shirt under the
 blouse. Then he hid the shoes and