Evening star., 1924-01-13


near by. FIoin beneath its door he
took a civilian pair Of trousers, a
blue shirt and mackinaw coat and
a cap. 1t had taken him one full
month to steal them from the tailor
shop where the clothes of the new
arrivals were kept after they re-
ceived the prison stripes. The trous-
ers Dlackie put on under his striped
ones, pinning up the legs well out
cf sight. When his blankets went
to his CELL. the coat shirt and cap
were hidden in them.
A half hour before lookup time
Blackie rolled up his garden hogA and
carried 1t to the Toulouse. Once
within its doors and alone, he cut OF
six feet Of the hose and wound it
around his body, tying it in place.
Next from a pile Of rubbish he un-
eartned a single rubber glove. Two
hundred feet of heavy. twine from
the mill completed the list of prep
arations. ~
a. o'clock Boston Blackie and
- the other hospital inmates were
locked In their cells for the night.
1T. FIVE minutes past the Squirrel
began to play on his mouth organ.
Blackie Clipped away the soap and
lampblack with which he had plugged
a half-sawed window bar and cut at
it in frantic haste.
A mirror hung on the wall near the
door warned BlackfC Of the approach
Of the guard each time he made his
rounds. Hour after hour the Squirrel
played, and hour after hour Blackie
sawed.
The saw blade cut into his hands
and tore his finger tips. Often It
seemed as II he couldn't drive his
tortured muscles another second.
Sheer will power kept the saw NOV
Ing.
At last It was done. The prison
bell toIled out nine: the lights winked
out and silence settled over the DOR
mitory.
At 1 o'clock BlacSie waited for
the guard to pass, then slipped out Of
his convict clothes and fashioned
them into dummy, which he covered
with blankets to resemble sleeping
man.
He dressed in his civilian clothes
with his six-foot length Of hose still
coiled about his body. He tucked his
one glove carefully into his breast be-
! side the ball Of twfne, and hung the
shoes about his neck. Then he pulled
out one of the heavy legs Of his stool
and tied It across his back. He took
another stool leg and. using it as a
lever, bent the severed bars straight
out. A moment later he stood outside
on the window ledge.
Below him the wall fell away sheer
for four stories. Six feet above his
head the rain gutter marked the level
Of the fiat roof. with fingers and toes
cIutching the bricks that jutted out
few inches around the window coping
he climbed upward.
- At last his fingers clutched the
edge of the roof gutter. He swung
his feet clear and raised himself to
the roof by his arms
B1ackie crept silently to tho edge Of
the roof, nearest the wall, from which
he was separated by a full hundred
feet Of space. Two glistening copper
wires ran down from the roof at a
sharp angle to pole outside the wall
above which they hung full twenty
feet. They were uninsulated. live
wires which fed the prison machinery
and lighting system with current
that was death to wheatever touched
them.
Blackie unwound tho length Of rub
ber hose from about his body. He
laid the insulating rubber over the
strands OF shining metal. He bound
and rebound the stool leg to the
dangling ends of rubber that hung
beneath them.
Then he pulled out his ball Of jute
twine and attached II to g. brick
chimney; then seated himself on the
bar Of his improvised trapeze. With
his back toward the wall. he swung
clear of tho roof and began his slide
down the wires. regulating his speed
with the cord on the chimney.
The wires swayed and sagged but
supported his weight. Yard by yard
he let himself down. Suddenly the
chimney cord snapped. The hose
trapeze shot downward.
with the hand covered with his
rubber glove Biackie caught one Of
the wires ana checked his fall.
Slowly he slid over the wall and
down toward the pole. When its
shadow warned him he had almost
reached it, he slipped from his seat
on the. trapeze and dropped.