PAGE SIX
I THEN AND THERE <s> f
HISTORY TOLD AS IT WOULD BE WRITTEN TODAY || ||
By IRVJN S. COBB 1 1
I Original Houdini Tells How He Did It jjjjjj
Harry Houdini was not the first of the handcuff kings There was Sixteen-String
Jack, an English malefactor, who seemed to be aa!e to wriggle loise from manacles as
fast as his jailors could forge 'em for him and who finishe - ! h.s days with
chains weighing pound for pound almost as much as he did. There was the even
more famous Jack Sheppard, whore exploits in getting out of New-ate and incidentally
out of shackles, gave him a London notoriety which h!s ca:ear as a petty criminal
would never have earned for him.
Long before Houdini’s day there was a lock-dicker and a jail-picker and a jail
breaker who set a mark which never has been equaled, and this mau in hi* strugg.es
for liberty against seemingly unconquerable odds was actuated by an indomitable pur
pose which stamps him as one of the most unique figures of his ewa tim* ur, for that
matter, of any time.
Earon Trenck was born in 1725. of Austrian descent, at Konishei j ini Germany.
He was the son of a Prussian general, and before he fell into disfavor in high places
had distinguished himself as a courtier and as a soldier. He had been a favorite with
that tyrannical but brilliant ruler, Frederick the Gnat, the anc. stoi of the !i\ ing ex
kaiser 'rota whom the present descendant acquired his delusions of Divine Right,
without having inherited either the military abilities or the genius for statecraft which
his imperial forbear possessed. This ycur.g nobleman, Trenck, dared to have a love
affair with Great Frederick's sister, the Princess Arade. For his presumption the
royal brother of his sweetheart determined by rlgo ous captivity eithei to kill him
or to drive him insane For upwards of ten years Trenck was tortured with da.k
ness, with semi-starvation, with solitude, and most of all with ponderous irons. How,
through that whole decade he kept his wits, his bodily endurance and his courage, and
bow he broke out of his bonds and his dungeons seeming l ,/ at will, mahes a memorabl*
chapter in history.
FIIOM his own autobiography—
one of the most remarkable hu
ll'd.n documents, I think, that
ever was written —ami from
contemporary accounts of his incred
ible achievements, we get a graphic
likeness of liaron Trenck at the time
he falls into disfavor with his auto
cratic overlord, the (.treat Frederick.
Me is enormously wealthy. 11 is cour
age is known in every military camp
in central Europe. He has a brilliant
mind, a handsome face, a powerful
and graceful body, lie is of noble de
scent. lie has friends in high places
and he had powerful enemies there,
too. You could search the continental
courts of the period and find nowhere
a more dashing figure than I’aron
Trenck. Hut it will be eleven years
later, when lie has emerged from his
living tomb and has written down tlie
epic of his captivity, before the world
will know him for one of the most
resolute, the most resourceful, the
most indomitable beings that ever
lived in any age.
First, for seventeen months, he is
kept in strict solitary confinement at
CJlatz. Then under heavy guard he i
removed to Madgehurg, on the borders
of Saxony, and lodged in the citadel
of a medieval fortification, gloomy
and dark. Ilis keepers think they'll
hold him fast here. If there is any
guarantee of security in s‘one walls
seven feet thick, in massive iron bars,
in double gratings, in high palisades
outside, their confidence is justified.
Their charge is buried in a lower case
matte, on bread and water —one jar
of water, one and one-half pounds of
coarse soldiers’ bread every twenty
four hours.
Trenck declines to be vanquished
either by the processes of slow star
vation or by tbe rigors of bis prison
place. I’comptly be sets to work to
dig out. With his bare hands he pries
loose the iron strips which bolt his
bed to the solid masonry of the floor.
By persuasion and by promises of re
ward he corrupts certain men among
the soldiers who have been told off to
watch him. They agree to aid him
in escaping across the boundary into
Saxony; but as for getting out of his
cell, that is his own job.
Using his bits of scrap iron for
tools, he removes the bricks of the
partition which stands between him
and an adjoining corridor. To do this
lie must first scrape off the coatings
of lime from this wall, which, as lie
says, had perhaps been whitewashed
a hundred times, and then, after each
bit of excavating, must replace the
powdered grit so as to defy detection
hy bis guards. Very simply he de
scribes the process:
*T formed a brush with my hair,
then wetted tbe I : me nn»i rubbed it
on the wail, e.gv.'..-v.kidi I applied
my warm naked body until it was
quite dry and of a piece with the rest.”
Wasted Labor.
tie hides the removed debris in his
bed and at night lies on it, with only
a thin mattress between him and its
rough irregu 1 arities.
In one brief casual paragraph lie de
scribes bow, after persevering for six
months, he practically is ready for
his jail-break. He has tunneled
through many yards of masonry. By
bribing his sentries lie has secured a
knife, a fi’c, and writing paper. He
has smuggled out letters advising bis
sister and certain of bis friends of bis
design and bidding them to be ready
to stand by when the hour conies.
On tbe very night of his intended
flight, disaster befalls. King Freder
ick lias visited Magdeburg, and by bis
orders another prison has been pre
pared in tbe Star-Fort, as it is called,
on the opposite side of the city. With
out warning, throe officers enter bis
casomatte. Hearing them at the door
he has barely time to secrete Ins prec
ious knife on his person. They shackle
him iiand and foot, blindfold him, lead
him out, put him in a coach, and ride
with him across the town.
Let us quote the baron here —cer
tainly bis story Is as graphic a one
«s we could ask for.
"At length the coach halted; I was
conveyed from it into my new prison,
Hie cloth was loosened from my eyes.
Two black, diabolical-looking smiths
armed with a fire-pan and hammers
presented themselves to my view and
1 saw the floor covered with ponder
ous chains!
‘‘lmmediately they began their
work; my feet were bound with heavy
chains to an iron ring driven into the
wall; tills ring was raised three feet
/
from Ihe floor so that 1 could move
about two paces to the right and left.
An in>n girdle as broad as my band
was locked round my naked body, to
which was chained a thick iron bar
two feet long, at the opposite ends
of which my hands were fastened in
heavy iron rings boiled and riveted
over my wrists. 1 was left sitting in
gloomy darkness upon the wet liner
“By degrees 1 a-vu domed myself to
my chains. I learned to comb my bait
and even to tie it with one hand. M>
beard 1 plucked out ; the pain was ter
rilic.”
Hut Trenck does not succumb to
everlasting gloom. Neither that noi
loneliness, nor the misery of hearing
half ids weight in dead iron, nor tbe
seen rug hopelessness of Jiis situation
can break that dauntless spirit. With
in a day after reaching the Star-Fort
he is contriving means to remove and
replace his fetters at will, lie ham
mers the iron pegs of his bandctilTs tin
til the blood streams from under In
nails, but eventually the rivets beentm
loosened and be may free both wrists
I’.y main strength he snaps two links
of t’he chain which binds him to the
wall, and to bide the break, ties the
severed ends together with a scrap of
hair ribbon. He wrests away tie*
short chain which fastens his arm-bur
to his iron belt. When his keepers
call, be is squatted on the floor, ap
parently hobbled at wrist and ankle
and waist. But no sooner is the door
closed behind them than he has the
use of liis limbs.
Dsfiancs Against Odds.
In less than forty-eight hours he has
accomplished these seemingly impossi
ble undertakings. He goes straight
way to a yet more herculean task.
Within the space of the next six hours
lie has. with his knife, dug the wood
from about tbe lock on the inner door.
He decides that, given a whole day, lie
probably can master the bolts of the
three remaining doors. On tbe Fourth
of July he begins the task. Head what
he says:
“Tills, with great labor, T accom
plished tmt found it more difficult*as
everything was to be done by groping
in the dark. Soon my fingers were all
wounds, tbe sweat streamed on the
ground and the raw flesh bung bleed
ing to my hands.”
Nevertheless lie perseveres. The
fourth door has been attacked; its
tough oak has been whittled through
when the knife snaps, its blade fall
ing through the hole into tbe ditch of
the lofty rampart on beyond.
“It is utterly impossible to describe
niv weariness. M.v blood dyed the
walls and tbe floor, and but little re
maim'd in my veins. My wounds pained
me; my hands were stiff and swollen
with my excessive labor; I have been
without sleep; T had sen: ly strength
to stand upright. As soon as it was
noon and the head keeper came with
his men. they found me standing op
posite the inner door, a most frightful
figure, covered With blood, i’ke a des
perado. In one band I held a huge
brick, in the other my broken knife,
and I cried out, ‘Keep back! Keep
back! Major, shoot me. No man shall
enter, I will slay fifty of you, ere one
gets in!’ • >
A parley follows. Finally Trenck
capitulates on condition that be is to
have better treatment. The pledge L
given, only to be broken. As soon a
he gives up, bis irons are renewed:
this time they are heavier and stouter
than before.
He does not despair, though. In
this man’s nature there is never am
thought of surrender. He wins ovet
a grenadier of the fortress and this
man slips him a file. With it he file*
liis fetters, hilling the cut places with
dough which lie has moistened in spit
tie and then coated with earth.
He fabricates a screwdriver from a
ten-inch nail pried out of the floor
He unscrews the grating at Ills win
dow and with smuggled wire he make
a false grating identical with flie orig
hial but removable at will. P.y grind
ing his arm-bar against liis own tomb
stone he forms a eliisoj with which In
gouges through nine inches of three
ply oak flooring. Burrowing like s 1
mole, he has penetrated several yard
of the sandy loam upon which tin
building stands before lie once mort
is detected.
A Fresh Attempt.
His head keeper vows that this time
he will rentier the prisoner lielples-
After renewing Trenck’s forme*
shackles, the jailer brings smiths who
weld about his neck an iron collar an
inch thick and four finger breadths in
THE RECORD. F t TTP'ROT?Q. N C
width. From this huge necklet a
heavy chain extends down the b')»*r»n>
front to liis ankle shackles. Two short
er chains join tbe collar to Ids wri«r
fetters. He is woven into a veritable
net of ironmongery.
A certain Lieutenant Sonntag, an
under officer of the garrison, is won
over by Trenck’s fortitude. Sonntag has
false handcuffs made which Trenck
substitutes for the others. He brings
a file, too, and soon Trenck disencum
bers iiis burdened body of all his
bonds excepting the necklet and its
pendent chains. These he dares not
remove. Through Sonntag’s good of
fices lu obtains sausages and wine;
until now iiis sole fare, even in his
illness, has consisted of dry bread and
water.
Again he breaches the floor and
through the earth beneath the founda
tion lie bores with his bare bands a
passage thirty-seven feet long leading
towards a cross-gallery in the princi
pal rampart. This operation takes
him six months. When he is within
arm’s reach, almost, of freedom, with
but six feet more of soil to be exca
vated, a sentry on the ramparts hears
the rattle of the chain dangling from
Trenck’s throat. The captive manages
to regain his cell and slip into his oth
er irons before the chief jailer bursts
in on him. The filed places in his
fetters are not discovered, nor is his
tunnel found, so the stupid commander
decides that the sentry has been mis
taken. The warden, though, thinks up
a fresh torture. He gives orders that
day and night at intervals of a quar
ter of an hour Trenck shall he visited
and if found asleep shall he forcibly
awakened. This dreadful system pre
vails until a more humane governor
succeeds Trenck’s old oppressor.
Writing on Pewter.
The successor suffers the prisoner to
have more light and more air. But
since stands at the door to
him. Trenck cannot resume his
tunneling. But lie finds employment
and incidentally a method of commu
nicating with his friends in the outer
world. Here’s how he does this, as
told in his own words!
“Having light, I began to carve with
a nail on the pewter cup out of which
I drank, satirical verses and various
figures, and attained so much perfec
tion flint my cups were considered as
masterpieces both of engraving and
invention, and were sold as rare curi
osities . s I grew more expert
and spent a whole year in this employ
ment. The officers made merchandise
of my cups and sold them. Their
value increased so much that they
were now to be found in various mu
seums throughout Europe. There is
another remarkable circumstance at
tending these cups. All were forbid
den, under pain of death, to hold con
versation with me or to supply me
with pen and ink; yet, by writing
what I pleased on pewter, I was en
abled to inform tbe world of all I
wished arid to prove that a man of
merit was sorely oppressed. I at
tained the art of giving light and
shade and, by practice, could divide
a cup into thirty-two compartments as
regularly with a stroke of the hand
as with a pair of compasses. The
writing was so minute that it could be
only read with glasses, yet I could u*e
but one band, both being separated
by tbe rigid bar, and therefore must
a cup be held between my knees while
I labored.”
Another year passes thus and yet
another. Trenck wins over certain
olficers and certain common soldiers.
Secretly they give him aid by furnish
ing tools for digging. An Ingenious
device occurs to Trenck. He makes
two different openings in bis floor.
One hole be bides; at widening the
other lie purposely makes so much
noise that a sentry becomes alarmed
and calls tbe governor, who comes and
finds on the floor a great heap of
sand. The second opening is nailed
fast and convicts wheel away the sand.
No one except those in The conspiracy
guessing that most of it lias been tak
en front tbe still concealed working.
lie continues to delve underground,
aiming always to break through the
earth outside the walls. When victory
is almost within bis grasp, an accident
almost costs him his life. He de
scribes it thus:
“While mining under the foundation
of the rampart I struck my foot
against a stone in the wall above, and
it fell down and closed up the pass
age behind me. I began to work the
sand away from the side, that I might
obtain room to turn round, but the
small quantity of air soon became so
foul that a thousand times I wished
myself dead, and made several at
tempts to strangle myself with my
hands. My sufferings were incredible;
' I passed full eight hours in this dis
traction of horrors. ... I made a
desperate effort, drew my body into a
ball and turned round; I now faced
the stone, which was as wide as tbe
whole passage. My next labor was to
root away the sand under the stone
and let it sink, so that I might creep
over, and by this means, at length, I
once more regained my dungeon.”
This terrific exertion makes Trenck
very ill. Months pass before his
strength and his will power are re
stored to him. Front now on, while
he digs, he hangs a knife about his
neck so that if again entombed alive,
he may end his miseries by suicide.
For tbe sixtli time bis undertaking
fails; clnioce defeats it. For tlie sev
enth timer.it fails. Undismayed he is
planning an eighth attempt to win his
liberty when word reaches him that
bis unrelenting enemy, King Frederick
is dead. Hope of pardon grows 1
stronger, and eventually he is released
after eleven years of such incredible
experiences as probably no other man
ever endured and lived to tell ttie tale
of afterwards.
(© bv the Bell Sjmdlcate, Inc.)
' i
Interesting N.
Carolina Items
Richmond County Receives
$452 for Mother’s Aid;
Other County News
,
i
RALEIGH, Nov. sth--“ConsoMda
tion of counties, suggested as a
means of combining administrative
units and thereby reducing operat
ing costs, will probably not be ac
complished by the 1931 session of
the General Assembly and, if it
comes, will develop over a period
of years as a result of urgent need
for the lowering of county costs
and therefore tax rates”, said
Governor O. Max Gardner, relative
to the suggested combinations of
counties in the State.
“Too much sentiment is attach
ed to names of counties and county
seats that would lose their identity,
and too many office holders and
politicians would oppose the move
ment for it to get over now, even
though it would doubtless result
in more efficient and economical
operations of county affairs”, said
Governor Gardner.
He does feel, however, that there
will be a movement, probably suc
cessful, in consolidation of various
administrative units, mentioning
especially the combinations of
counties into a school unit, under
one administrative head. Sugges
tions have been made that this al
so extend to jails and prison farms
for small counties, as well as
county poor homes, and it is con
sidered likely that an act permit
ting such combinations will be
passed.
Elimination of county road
boards or commissions, and placing
county road construction, main
tenance and supervision back in
the hands of the county commission
ers, is one of the plans that is be
ing studied and will be the subject
of a report by the government ex
j ports engaged in studying methods
;of reducing costs and increasing
: efficiency in State and county ad
ministrations.
The 100 counties of the State
fall into two general classes, 50
of them handling their roads
through the county commissioners
and 44 by special road boards,
four of the latter having township
or road districts within the county.
Richmond county’s roads are hand
led by the county commissioners.
Differences of opinion exist as
to which method ds more efficient
and economical and the proposal
for a change will doubtless find
many opponents as well as pro
ponents. But it will doubtless be
up for consideration.
•
A North Carolina lawyer recently
wrote to a State office here asking
for copies of several laws enacted
by the General Assembly, asking,
among others ( for a copy of the
“Austrian Ballad Law.” He was sent
a copy of the Australian Ballot Law,
of course. Yes, he was a white man.
<S
Although the highway fund for
counties from the one cent addition
al tax placed on gasoline by the
1928 General Assembly amounted
to slightly more than $2,500,000
last year and is estimated at the
same figure this year, plus the
$500,000 special fund to counties,
doubt is beginning to arise as to
whether the fund will reach that
figure, due to the decrease in use
of gasoline and the increased re
funds made on non-highway gasoline
using machinery.
Indications of the extent of the
decrease are shown by the drop for
the first three months of the present
fiscal year, which was $151,741.40,
as compared with last year, when
the amount was $3,381,930.30 from
the five-cent tax. The allocation of
the $3,000,000 to the counties is
made on a basis of area and popu
lation and will be the same for all
counties, unless the drop in tax gas
oline revenues carries the total be
low 3,000,000. Last year the amount
, THIS IS YOUR CHANCE TO WIN FREE AN AUTOMO
BILE, RADIO, OTHER PRIZES AND CASH.
Don’t Pass Up This Opportu
nity. Send Coupon Today!
LIE RALEIGH TIMES
- Raleigh, N. C.
was above that figure, due to col
lections for a month or more from
the preceding year, and this year all
of the counties had a small credit
balance from last year.
<i>
North Carolina received $203,-
433.60 in receipts from hunting
licenses for the past fiscal year from
, 1,275 non-residents hunters, $27,-
908 with State-wide licenses and
$96,328 who secured licenses for
one county only, in addition toss,-
423 from fur dealer licenses. For
syth county led with $7,849.50 in
« total game receipts and Guilford
was second with $7,754.25.
I Governor Gardener has addressed
a letter to presidents of local bar
associations, clerk of Superior Court
and chairman of Boards of County
Commissioners, asking them to con
fer and advise him by November 30
as to the needs for special terms of
court in hteir counties for the spring
term, 1931, naming the date, length
of term desired, and whether civil
or criminal, in order that the cal
endar may be made out for special
judges.
The second installment of the
State school equalizing fund,
amounting to $1,330,500, will be
sent to the 93 participating counties
October 28, hte first installment of
$1,141,000 having been sent Sep
tember 10. The total; of the two
installments, $2,471,500, is a little
less than half of the almost $5,-
000,000 allotted from the $5,250,-
000 equalizing fund by the board.
Richmond county’s first install
ment was $11.0041, and the second,
to go out October 28, will be
$12,000, a total of $23,000 of the
year’s total of $47,319.46 allotted
to the county. The balance will go
out in two installments, one before
and the other after the Christmas
holidays.
Auditing costs for outside audits
of county government operations in
North Carolina counties were great
ly reduced last year, as compared
with previous years, due to improve
ments made in county accounting
methods under the new laws, Charles
M. Johnson, secretary of the county
government advisory commission, an
nounces, following reports from the
counties.
The total costs for the 75 coun
ties making audits for the fiscal
year ending June 30, 1930, exclusive
of reports of three small counties,
was $75,763.65, as compared with
costs of $164,868.49 for two years
before. The costs of audits for a
year ago amounted to $203,878.79,
as compared with 204,581.92 for
three years ago. Two year com
parisons are made because in many
of the counties membership of
boards of county commissioners
change and the audits made for the
change years are more extensive
generally.
Value of Governor Gardner’s
“live-at-home” program, inaugurated
last year and stressed unceasingly,
was admirably demonstrated in the
exhibits at the State Fair last week.
The judges of agricultural products
reports marked improvement was
noticed in the quality of products
displayed this year and in all ex
hibits the improvement in seeds and
sires was marked.
While the prices of cotton, to
bacco and peanuts, principal cash
crops, are low, thus reducing very
much the amounts of money re
ceived by the growers, the food
and feed crops were increased the
past season, theState-Federal crop
reporting service estimating the in
crease is value at fully $16,000,000
in the State. This, it is pointed out,
is the salvation o fthe North Caro
lina farmers, saving for them the
$16,000,000 which they do not have
to spend for food and feed in the
amount of home-grown products.
Because the movement has thus
proved its value, Governor Gardner
believes that North Carolina far
mers, and those in other states as
well, will grow next year an in
creased amount of food and feed
products, increasing the yield by
fully 10 per cent through improved
seeds without a corresponding in
crease in production costs.
Durgey and Marr, defunct brok
erage firm here, had assets of
$118,953.16 and liabilities of $447,-
667.59, a deficit of $328,714.73,
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20 ioo n
the auditor’s report
clerk of Wake Superior r the
shows. This i s in addition to tu° Urt >
port of a shortage of “not e re '
$236 000” in the Tucker
which Carey K. Durfey, one
partners, was executor and * the
The firm has been pCrf *("*"•
hands of receivers and the Wall, ‘V
Bank and Trust Co. succeeded
Durfey as executor of the T , r '
estates. The partners, Mr n ker
and iS. Wade Marr, are both
sight criminal indictments f or Under
bezzlement from customers nf
firm. ' file
. Trapping of fur-bearing ,
in 15 western North Carolina Zt
ties has been prohibited f or t
years, by order of the Depart-mk?
of Conservation and De\e!op me ”
following petitions from these cm,’
ties, which are seeking to g reat ?:
increase the number of animals
later re-establish the furi nf f n a and + nd
on a large scale. The counfe ?
jC.uded are Buncombe, Clay Che
jkee, Graham, Swain, Jackson Hav’
I wood, Madison, Yancey, Henderson
Transylvania, Polk, Macon,
ell and Mitchell. u *'
<*>
Use your bricks to build your
town, not to throw at one another
The hunting season started this
year with more men hunting for
jobs than for game.
“Dangerous Days In Europe.”-
Headline. A sub-title would be:
“Dangerous Nights in America ’’
I* * *
“BEES”
(With apologies to Joyce Kilmer.
Note: A bee dies when it stings.)
I think that I shall never see
An insect dreaded as a bee,
A 'bee whose piercing sting is pr es t
Against my arm or head or chest;
Who swarms sometimes and clouds
the sky
And then sits down above the eye;
A bee that buzzes o’er my head
And makes me wish that he were
dead,
Who whiles away the lonely hours
And intimately lives with flowers;
Rimes are made by fools like me,
But it takes a sting to kill a bee.
»Jc
When a citizen is killed at home
we want a hanging. When he is
killed in a foreign country we de
mand an apology.
!;: ❖ •<:
The drys get drier all the time,
the wets get wetter .still; and
ne’er the twain shall meet I guess,
though at least not yet— until;
real temperance is brought about,
by some means not now seen; so
I am neither wet or dry, if you
get what I mean.
* * *
The Brazilian revolution may not
accomplish much more than help
American radio announcers to pro
nounce Rio de Janeiro.
* * *
Ours is a government by the
people who vote, of the people who
no not vote, and for the people
whether they vote or not. But isn’t
it nicer to have a little say about
it?
* * *
Scientists are both interesting and
helpful, but none ever has told
the world what good there is in
a common house fly
sj= * *
The horse and the mule have
practically disappeared from the
highway from the highways, which
are now lined up with a good many
silly asses.
* * *
If “Pensacola” does mean “cool
thinking,” it -.certainly was the
right ship, to send down to Bra
zil to protect American lives.
* * ❖
That Colorado football player who
made 35 touchdowns when a report
got out that »he (had smallpox was
lucky. The next time he might
try b. co. or halitosis. “Even the
best players wouldn’t tackle him.
- —1
Every business cloud has a
gold lining.
The RALEIGH TIMES, Raleigh N C.
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