Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1921-01-27

who were indignant at what they felt
was an unjust sentence. helped him to
escape He went West and built up
q business and name for himself But
the shadow Of fear was always worry
Ing him. After consulting Doctor Duds
ding, he went back to the prison He
served four years and was pardoned.
AS Doctor budding says. escapes Of
any kind are rare. and the romantic
escape, from prison at least. Is sell
dom heard of any more. William Ho-
heDzollern. interned in Dutch cas-
tie, apparently never thinks of put
ting poison In the guards afternoon
tea or burrowing his way out Of the
grounds of his estate as any high
spirited monarch used to do in like cir
cumstances. Louis Napoleon got out
Of similar awkward situation quite
naturally by strolling out of prison
disguised in wOrkman'S clothes. and
carrying plank on his shoulder.
The Ingenious Casanova.
| Still more ingenious was the famous
Casanova. He was not of royal blood,
but his exit from a prison cell over
the room where the dreaded inquisi-
ton met is one of the most famous es-
capeS In history
| CaSanOva'S escape has been spread
Out over several volumes. The most
amusing incident Is that in which he
desires to send q crowbar to fellow
prisoner He planned to conceal the
crOwbar in big Bible, but it stuck
out few inches beyond the covers, so
he arranged with the jailer-who was
either naturally or Intentionally half
witted-tO carry a dish of macaronE
and the Bible to his friend The plat
ter was very large and very full. The
crOwbar was placed In the Bible and
the dish was laid on top of the book.
The idea was that the jailer would
have to walk so cautiously to avoid
splitting the sauce that he would not
notice the crowbar projecting from
the book below the dish.
Wild Ruse Succeeded.
You can imagine modern prisoner
evolving such wild plan or modern
warden guileleSsly bearing unexam-
ined gifts from one cell to another.
Yet the ruse succeeded. and with many
more breathleSs adventures, Casa.
nova and fellow prisoner battered
their way out Of one of the best priS-
Ons of Eighteenth century Italy.
In CaSanova'S day, prisoner was
shut up in fortress six feet thick and
then left alone TO get out any way he
liked Once a day somebody came
around to see that he was there, and
after this interruption, digging, rope
making and other preparations went
on undsturbed. Now watchful guards
in the corridors and walls too thin to
shut out the noise from pounding Sc
riously interfere with the traditional
methods of a dramatic escape.
Hoodwinking the Guards.
Once in great while, indeed, guards
are still hoodwinked by an audacious
trick. Some years ago, in Newgate.
Conn, a very unusual and original de-
parture from prison occurred.
prisoner had died and his body
was lying in pine box in the chapel
ready for burial A colored prisoner
realized the possibilities of that box
| Pret ending illness with convincing real
ism ut the dinner table, the negro was
permitted TO leave the room and go
to his cell unattended. Instead. he
went to the chapel. removed the body
from the box and hid it in a corner.
| Then he fixed the nails in the lid so
that the box would open easily and got
| inside.
| After dinner three Irish prisoners
and Il guard were sent to get the box.
The four got into the prison wagon
with their burden and drove off to the
| cemetery AS they set the box down
by the grave moan came from 1t.
The men stood staring at it with bulg
ing eyes. Then a loader groan arose.
"Murthcr!" yelled the Irish cOnvicts.
"The corpse is alive" And they tore
back to the Jail, the guard only one
step behind them
| Left Wagon for Him.
The corpse" lost no time in coming
out Of his hiding place. The guards
| gun lay where he had dropped 1t In
his flight, and the prison wagon was
also conveniently left. With these to
help him, the fleeing convict had
good start before the pursuit began,
and he got away.
This is an escape after the pattern
OF medieval affairs. There is adven-
ture in it. But such tricks are rarely
planned, let alone executed. Mostly.
prisoners who depart unofficially from
Jail do so by collision with guard,
by force Tin small jails, not strongly
policed), or occasionally by breaking
their word when given liberties under
the honor system And when the pris-
oner does carefully break out of Jail
by one of these methods he usually
ends by coming to Doctor budding to
help him break In again.