The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 209: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Leen eee RS eae aE aaaas asa 192 in the Magsman’s chains; and had he caught the faintest glimpse of anything calculated to excite his suspicions, he would have immediately sum- moned an assistant who had accompanied him as faras the entrance of the passage, and the most rigid investigation would have been the result. However, his penetration and shrewdness were baffled for once; and the Magsman chuckled in- wardly as he sate down to the enjoyment of the roast fowl, the sausages, the mashed potatoes, and the porter, which an eating-house in the Old Bailey had supplied. -We should however observe that the fowl and sausages had been previously cut up into pieces, the potatoes turned over with ‘a spoon, and even the very beer poured from one’ pot into another, by the busy hands of Mr. Soper, to assure himself that no file nor watch-spring was secreted amongst the articles intended for the prisoner's dinner. The Magsman understood the meaning of all this, and knew that a strict watch was kept upon him: but he was very far from despairing of his escape ; and as he devoured his food with a ravenous appe- tite, he said to himself, “To-morrow I shall not dine in Newgate.” At the expiration of about twenty minutes, Soper returned to take away the dishes and pewter- pot, all of which Joe Warren had cleared; and when the door again closed upon him and he was once more alone, he knew that he had four hours and a half to work in before he should experience another interruption. And with such hearty good will did the Mags- man ply the irresistible file, that by the time St. Sepulchre’s Church struck six in the evening, two thirds of the labour was accomplished in respect to the massive chains with which he was laden. The booming of the bell, as it proclaimed that hour, was tho signal for him to desist again; and, having concealed the file and filled up the severed portion of the links with the black putty, he lay down on the iron bedstead and affected to have been sleep- ing when Mr. Soper re-appeared with his supper and a candle. . A few remarks were interchanged; and the Magsman was left tu the enjoyment of his meal. Jn twenty minutes Soper returned to fetch the plate and pewter-pot; and Warren had then two hours wherein ¢ continue his operations until the offi- cial should make his last round for the night. During these two hours the Magsman filed almost completely through each of the four links which it was necessary to sever in order to enable himself to throw off his chains at the proper time; and he had scarcely filled up the places with the remains of his blackened putty, when Soper entered the cell. The man examined the shackles all over, and appeared quite satisfied that they had not been tampered with. He then wished the Mageman good night, and took his departure, double-locking the door, and securely fastening all the bolts. The candle, having been sent in from the coffee- house which supplied the Mageman’s meals, was not taken away from him: for, in the times of which we are writing, untried prisoners were permitted the use of lights until a late hour,—and Mr. Soper saw by the length of the candle that it would not burn much beyond eleven o'clock. The Magsman resolved to wait until the church of St. Sepulchre should have struck nine, ere he commenced the grand operations which he heped would result in his escape. There was the possi- bility, though certainly not the probability, that Soper might take it into his head to pay him an- other visit that evening: but he felt confident that if the official came at al], it would be at nine o’clock. - Slowly—slowly passed that hour, during which the Magsman weighed, with some anxiety, all the chances for and against his escape. At one moment he dreaded lest Soper suspected his intentions: .at another he feared that his friends might fail in ac- complishing their portion of the work in the picture- dealer's house. Then his blood ran cold in his veins as the idea struck him that the implements which he possessed and the short time that he could command were totally inadequate for the immensity of the task that must be accomplished: and even when he reasoned himself into confidence on these heads, an- other source of alarm presented itself What if some prisoner had been placed, during the day, in the cell overhead—or in the cell higher up still? “ No—it isn’t likely,” thought the Mageman to himself. “ No one has been condemned to death yet during this session: and if there was, the ground- floor cells would be filled first.” Again did the voice of his own fears suggest, in whispering tones, that desperate characters like him- self, might have been incarcerated during the last few hours in the cells above. “Well—and if so,” was his self-solacing argu- ment, “any fellow that I might fall against in such @ position would be only too glad to seize the oppor- tunity of escaping along with me.” Scarcely had: he arrived at this conclusion, when the clock struck nine;—and no intrusive step ap- proached the door of his cell. He waited ten minntes Jonger;— and still all was quiet, save the rumbling of the carts and hackney-coaches in Newgate Street. “Now for it!” exclaimed the Magsman to himself; and, with a comparatively slight effort, he broke off his chains. A weight seemed to be lifted from his heart in a moment: it bounded with an elasticity which scat- tered all remaining doubts and fears to the winds. He felt as if half of his freedom were already ac- complished, and that it only depended on himself to consummate the rest. Had he imbibed a tumbler fall of brandy, the effects could not have been more exhilarating. Without losing a moment unnecessarily, Joe Warren screwed the three pieces of the jemmy to- gether. He then drew the iron as noise- lesaly as possible into the middle of the cell, and lifted it up on one end. By means of the chair he mounted on the head-board, whic was uppermost ; and now, through the deep loop-hole of his dungeon, he could see the lights in the houses on the opposite side of Newgate Street. Yes—and he beheld the people passing in both directions; and the forms of the drivers seated outside their vebicles were borne rapidly by. Life and bustle were without; solitude and death within :—and he must escape—oh! he must escape—from the gloom and the danger of the latter, to join once more the companionship and the pleasures of the former ! We have already stated that the cell had a vaulted roof: and consequently the centre thereof was the thinnest part. Mounted on the upraised bedstead, the Magaman attacked with his crow-bar the solid OONRANKA ateilo) S COMM pee