{"id":8353,"date":"2022-07-11T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-11T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newspaperhistory.com\/?p=8353"},"modified":"2022-07-11T01:00:00","modified_gmt":"2022-07-11T05:00:00","slug":"the-escape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/the-escape\/","title":{"rendered":"The Escape"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

From The Times Dispatch, July 11, 1914<\/a>. By Alvin Hattorf.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll\u2019s well,\u201d cried the prison guard, as he walked his beat\u2014the echo came \u201cAll\u2019s well.\u201dI was still in the silence as they cried away, twelve strokes had lately fell.The lightning darted across the sky and a peal of thunder sounded plain,The black forms of the pickets were seen, through the lightning and the rain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

It came in pouring torrents, drowning every sound,The convicts in their cells slept on, in spite of the raging storm around.But in one cell its prisoner slept, but was wide awake;To him the storm was welcome; it seemed that God had sent it for his sake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Over and over in his burning brain came the words as he paced the cell;The words of the letter pressed to his lips, and again and again they fell:\u201cCome, I\u2019m dying\u2014come! \u2018ere it be too late;I must see you\u2014come!\u2014for my sake.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m coming,\u201d he whispered hoarsely; \u201cI\u2019m coming from this prison hell!\u201dThen falling upon his knees, he prayed within his cell;\u201cBe with me now, Oh! God. Let all happen for the best;I\u2019m going; I give all to you\u2014the rest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Quickly he arose; swiftly to the door; the guard had heard not;Softly to the bed and he drew a file from his cot.Then one by one he began to cut the huge iron bars,In nervous anxiety and with many a trembling pause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Half-past 12 struck the clock, and the storm raged on in fury;One, two sounded, as he paused, tired and weary.Again racing to the door and again his heart stopping dread;To the window\u2014let down the rope, and began his perilous tread.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Slowly, yard by yard, sometimes he swung in space,Oft pausing to escape detection, then downward in hurrying haste.The rain the while beat upon his face, but the lightning flashed less;Only the roaring thunder; \u2019twas as if his escape were blessed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

At last he reached the ground with one mighty leap;Here he crouched trembling, then slowly began to creep.The guard paused\u2014did he hear a noise? But no, he paces on.The shivering convict pauses below and waits till he is gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Swiftly, cat-like, he climbs the wall, clinging to every rock;At last reaching the end, lay panting at the top.But only for a moment; he crouches over, high and steep,As a crash of thunder drowns the noise of his daring leap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Here, stretched upon the ground, then came a thought:\u201cWhat good to see his dying wife for a while\u2014in life to part?\u201dHe, innocent of crime, to spend the rest in a cell!\u201cNo, no,\u201d he muttered in his pain, \u201cI\u2019d rather go with her than back to that long, hard hell!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

In mute appeal he waited for a flash of lightning\u2014and it came.The guard saw the escaped, and his gun crashed deadly aim.The convict clinched his bleeding breast, but with a smile of joy, better.\u201c\u2019Tis best, thank God! Now I\u2019ll be with her forever.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From The Times Dispatch, July 11, 1914. By Alvin Hattorf. \u201cAll\u2019s well,\u201d cried the prison guard, as he walked his beat\u2014the echo came \u201cAll\u2019s well.\u201dI was still in the silence as they cried away, twelve strokes had lately fell.The lightning darted across the sky and a peal of thunder sounded plain,The black forms of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,20],"tags":[49],"class_list":["post-8353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newspapers","category-the-times-dispatch","tag-alvin-hattorf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8353\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}