Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-11-08

to get outa here.
Jake Breaker, escaping prison.
er, gasped this phrase over and
over as he scattered through
mud under cover of the river
bank It was one of those sudden, drenching
and resounding July afternoon thunderstorms.
The working gang from which Jake had just
vanished was hurrying to the sheds for shelter.
1t would soon be time to go for supper, any
how. The fugitive was half mile away when
a count eff the workers revealed his absence.
messenger was hurried to the institution with
the alarm. Jake was classified there as killer.
Must keep Off the roads" This was the
refrain as he kept to the river, crouching as
he slithered along in the shadows. The chance
for freedom and the soaking from the storm
seemed to have cleared the cobwebs from his
mind. Must keep off the roads for God wants
me to get outa here" He was taking long,
quick strides that were almost kangaroo hops.
His own splashing made him believe pursuers
were close behind. Fear urged him to speed
and that same fear stirred his imagination
until he heard the voices and. the noise of
people behind and around him, intent on his
capture.
Jake believed he had been treated unjustly.
He had killed, he admitted. But to his mind
there had been ample justification. He had
never thought of the unwritten law Yet the
terms in which it is so often quoted were as
clear to him as to any lawyer who ever put 1t
forward as plea Jake knew that he had loved
his wife, Helen intensely Without having
heard of such type, he was one woman
man. How he had loved Helen! Loving, he
had trusted implicitly and this had always
seemed recprocated until that one terribly
unexpected morning. red morning at dawn,
meaning storm. He had come home to find
his best friend in his home, with his gwife. He
saw that she was in negligee. Before he could
ask questions his eyes seemed drawn to
Ratchet that felt If it leaped into his hand.
He did not remember much of what followed.
UI1ani WA all fhQv had h Was
crazy Perhaps, he admitted to himself. he was
for q few minutes. But he was not crazy now.
Were they claiming him a lunatic to save
his life? No. Jake was sure they wanted to
get him out Of the way.
THE storm went crashing westward, ahead Of
the fugitive. When the rain stopped he
could still hear the almost continuous thunder
growing, fainter and fainter, as it went into
the mountains 1t had brought escape ia him
and Jake was sorry to see 1t CO. for 1t w<eht
also have impeded pursuit. It had other mis-
sions to fulfill Owing to the high wind and
the low ceiling, an eastbound mail plane had
been forced down to an emergency landing
field in the hills. The pilot would send his
precious pouches and passengers on their way
by rail- Still farther on, bridge on the main
highway would be washed out and trafic
hampered by delaying detour. OF these de-
one thing-keeping ahead Of possible captors
It was dusk and he was 10 miles to the west
ward when he seemed to sense an invitation
from a railroad bridge that flung itself across
the water Climbing to the track, he went on
blindly, yet, with the unvarying instinct of his
kind, headed for home. The one place where
he was least welcome.
For 10 months of smoldering rebellion
against confinement, Jake had nursed q fierce
faith that he would finally get away to even
III FTT,
her, then, at leisure kill her, was his idea Of
settling the score. He blamed her for the glib
bering days and CHASTITY nights he had fret
ted in the Hospital for the Criminal Insane
For 19 months his mind had been a whirling
maelstrom Of leaping, spindrift thoughts. They
had not told him he was insane, but he knew
they all thought it. Liarsl From the first day
in that iron-framed, locked and weaponless
ward he had watched the others. Some paced
pantherlike and muttered. Others were fat
tened against the wall and stared with fierce
unwinking eyes. There were those who crouched
on benches and covered their heads with their
hands, elbows on knees. 1t was an inferno.
AL through those weary months his one
thought had been to get outside. AS he learned
the routine he had schemed so to behave that
some day he would be chosen for a working
gang. How he had sweated his temper and
ground his teeth when ordered to mental du-
ties inside. Far back in his throat he had
cursed and bitten his lips as time after time, he
was passed by for outside work. Were they
afraid of him? He had tried to keep the glare
out of his eyes in the daytime, but, in bed, with
his head under the blanket, he had let murder
run riot in his mind. He too clever for
them, he knew, for five days before the storm
that gave him liberty he had been picked for
the party which was changing the course of the
creek that ran through the grounds of the in
stitution. All this he reviewed as he went
jogging along
bod 70 Tn