New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1920-03-10
ALL FOR FREEDOM
Desperate Chances 10 Escape
Taken by Prisoners.
Even When Almost Certain Death is
Faced, convicts Have Been
Known to Go On With
Their Efforts.

raced, ConvIcts Have Been
Known to Go On With
Their Efforts.
Pepper got his cognon1en from his
method Of highway robbery. Walking
along the street in the evening, he car
rled an unlighted pipe between his
teeth. When. in some lonesome spot.
he saw a pedestrians stop to light q
cigar. Pepper would aecost him, asking
him to hold the match When the
| fellow traveller obliged, PEPPER instead
|. OF lighting his innocent-looking pipe,
turned it toward the eyes Of his vie.
tim, and blew hard. The pipe was Of
special construction and filled with red
pepper. The victim, blinded by this
horrible assault, could do nothing. to
/ defend himself until relieved of his
.valuabIes.
With two terms already behind him,
Pepper was sent to Clinton There he
Immediately began to plan an escape,
and in his plans exhibited great clev-
erness.-
He worked in the clothing shop Of
the prison. One piece at a time, work
ing over period of eight months, Pep
per stole a complete civilian outfit
from the Shop. The ensemble he hid
in his pillow.
Banging his way loudly, Pepper
made for the warden's office. Without
even knocking he stumbled in. The
warden happened to be very busy at
the moment, but this did not deter
Pepper. 'I've come to sell sou some
meatr' he declared confitfentially.
Sergeant" bawled the warden,
"take this Id pest and throw him
out! He's bothering mer' The SER
| geant came in and removed the OBJ
streperous meat seller, dumping him
outside the gates with force and relish
It was not until Pepper was across the
| 20 intervening miles to Canada that he
really allowed himself a good laugh
Pepper stayed out Of the clutches Of
the law until five years later, when he
was foolish enough to return to New
| York.
! At the same. prison great courage
| enabled another break-out.
Near the prison laundry stood an
empty barrel. Taking the. bottom out
OF this, four prisoners took turns at
tunneling.
| After two weeks Of intermittent
work, they reached the wall, and eNca-
waited a small chamber there. for work
ing purposes. .aj-os =
Finally one Of the huge slabs was
loosened, and worked forward to a
| point where it was almost about to
! topple into the excavation.
/ Here a terrible difficulty became ap-
parent. It would be perfectly simple
to release the slab, but the second it
came out it would crush beyondirecog-
milton the man working in the excava-
ton. The men talked it over gravely
! and decided that one Of the number
must be sacrificed that the other three
! might escape.
| They drew straws.. BY ironic chance
| c., the one of the four with more
| than an ordinary reason for escape,
\ uICN tllC 'cliOllCoC q w. LID w do lllC
assignment. One Of the others. pro-
/ claiming himself unattached, offered
to take his place, but G refused.
| In the few seconds after his election
| he had formulated a scheme that
might give him something of a chance
TO escape the slab when it fell. !
[ He took down short piece Of plank.
This was insufficient to stop the rush
| OF the big stone, but he thought that,
in breaking, the wood probably would
delay the fall long enough to permit
him to squirm out of the way. Prop
ping it in place, he grimly worked the
slab until it gave way. 1'ss5s e
It struck the plank, breaking it.
Jumping back, c. endeavored. to
get out of the way. He succeeded
except. for his right hand. This was
mashed until it was scarcely recog-
nizable as member. Gritting his
teeth, he made no cutlery, however,
but turned to the work that vet re-
! mained.--E. T. Bronedon, in Popular
Mechanics Magazine.