Dodger of the Dials (27 page)

We then spent some time tying the three bed sheets together and pulling at them to see if they was up to the task. Then, once the parish church chimed one, we readied ourselves to leave. The iron panels what covered the locks, and that I had removed earlier, was now just stuck in place with glue. I prised them off with the file and again I took the picks to them. I had been practising this action throughout the day and could now perform it with a flick of the wrist.

The door now needed to open with as little sound as possible. I had stuck the bolt sliders back in place with a generous amount of glue so that the turnkeys would not think them tampered with. We counted to three before shoving and then we both pushed hard at the door with our elbows in one solid thump. There was a bang, not too loud but loud enough, and the door had shifted outward. We halted then to hear if any turnkeys was coming to investigate the noise but none did. The other prisoners in the neighbouring cells was heard stirring though and I had to hiss at them before silence fell.

In the darkness I could see that the door had not opened enough, the well-glued bolts was resisting too much. But I could tell that one more hard push would do the job. I indicated to Mouse to put some real power into his next shove and we went at the door again.

This time a horrible clatter as the top two of the glued bolt-holds gave way and clattered to the floor. The bottom bolt was still stuck in place though and I told Mouse to shove again, hard and immediate. The sound it made was not loud but it was strange
enough to betray us. Any nightwatchman what was stationed at the top of the winding staircase could not help but be alerted to it. So we banged our third and final assault upon the door and this remaining bolt at last fell too. Our door swung open.

With my metal file in my hand I darted out into the pitch black corridor ignoring the disturbed cries from the cells around. I reached the bottom of the staircase down which any investigating turnkey would come and crouched in the shadows beside it. The metal file was held up in my fist and I prepared myself to strike anyone what might come down to challenge us. Just then I saw a light at the top of this staircase what could only be from a guard’s lamp.

‘What happening?’ came the voice of a guard. ‘Who’s down there?’

It was not a young man and I could see from the lamplight that he was hesitant to come down. He was no doubt wondering if there was a desperate convict down here what would be prepared to kill him. So, for that matter, was I. The file was a sharp weapon and could even do fatal damage if it needed to. I considered then – as I held my breath and listened to hear if this old boy had the steel in him to descend – if I had it in me to take a life tonight. Society had locked me up for two murders I was innocent of. Would a real murder be the thing what was needed to secure my freedom? I had never wanted to be a killer but I feared this turnkey was going to give me no choice.

‘Who goes there?’ he demanded again but it was a weaker call and I could hear that he would be easy to overpower. He had more to lose from any confrontation than I did and if I was in his place then I should be the frightened one. My whole self was wound to spring if he was foolish enough to be a hero but I just wished he would be sensible and move off so we could pass up this staircase
unhindered. But he stayed there, with the reflected light of the lamp still shaking against the stone wall.

At last the lamplight began to retreat away from the staircase. He had made the right choice not to come down here alone but instead to go and fetch help. As I heard his hurried footsteps heading off in the other direction I breathed out and loosened my grip upon the now wet file. I then used my shirt sleeve to wipe away the sweat from my palms and brow. He would never know how close he came to me giving him a deadly blow and, I suppose, neither would I.

I turned to look for Mouse and found that he was already at my shoulder in this dark corner. It was clear that he had been watching me with my arm raised to strike, and there was a look of horror upon his face. He had the sheets looped around his neck and waist and was holding the tub of glue. I grabbed him by the shoulder and motioned for him to follow me up the winding staircase.

Once I reached the top step, I peered out to see if there was anyone waiting, but no one was around. The narrow corridors of the prison would have been impossible to run through had it not been for the lit lamps on the walls every nine feet and so we scurried off, sticking to sides of the wall, swift and silent. We was heading for the north quad, where the debtors was kept. Further along, I peered around a corner and saw that the next run was clear also. Our purpose was to make it out into the courtyard where we had played cards and skittles and then climb those walls to reach the rooftop. We was not far from that courtyard and I still had the small pick in my pocket, but as we was nearing its door we heard approaching footsteps and knew we would not have time before being discovered. So I pulled Mouse back in the other direction until I found a low wooden door what was set into the wall. We crouched into it and made balls of ourselves as the runners came
round the corner, as if we was in prayer. I heard the same voice from the staircase then but now that turnkey was all of a puff and talking to the others. They spoke in rapid tones and I could tell that the new guard was younger than the older man.

‘We should go to the firearms closet first, sir,’ one of them said as I saw the wobbling lights of their three lanterns approach. ‘For rifles.’ I was certain that these lights would reveal Mouse and myself as we huddled into this doorway and then I panicked as it occurred to me that this here door was the firearm closet itself. I shuffled further into this deep space as they drew closer and waited to be exposed but by some miracle they raced past the door without even a glance our way. We waited for them to turn the next corner which would lead them to our cell before we crept out again and continued to the courtyard.

We was turned around a few more times as we negotiated our way through the ancient, haphazard building but we at last came to the door we needed. I fiddled with the pick until the lock turned. Then once inside the courtyard we could see things much better as the moonlight shone down from above. We did not have long until the alarm bells was rung throughout the prison and the place would then be swarming with guards from all areas. But I used the pick to lock the door behind us and Mouse stuck his finger into the tub of glue and applied it to the lock. These walls of the yard was high walls but we was burglars and we knew how to scale them as there was ledges and footholds as well as a drainpipe that would aid our ascent. We crossed over to the corner what looked less exposed than the rest and I hoisted Mouse upwards to the first window ledge. He then grabbed onto the iron bars of the window and ascended further using the drainpipe. By the time he was up at a window of the second floor he was able to tie the bed sheet onto a bar and dangle it down for me. We continued upwards like this,
using the sheets where we needed to but also grabbing onto helpful protrusions like those stone cats. As we reached the third floor we heard a tremendous cry from inside the prison. Then the sound of a bell and guards calling out, ‘Hark! Prisoners out of cells! Prisoners out of cells!’

There is nothing like a strong whiff of panic to spur you upwards. We was both climbing much quicker now and was soon up to the fourth and final set of barred windows. The courtyard door with the glued lock rattled and frustrated shouts was heard from behind it. But Mouse and myself was sure-footed and fast and we soon reached the revolving iron spikes at the top. Just as the door far below us was bashed open I grabbed an iron spike, let go of the piping and climbed over the edge like a circus performer. Mouse did likewise further along the wall and if we fell now, then we would have done the hangman’s job for him.

‘They’re up at the roof!’ shrieked a voice from below. ‘Fire at them!’

Below us, rifles was heard being cocked. I made it over the spikes and heaved myself over this final ledge. Just as I did so a shot rang out and hit the spike I had just climbed over. I rolled onto the rooftop as I heard another shot ring out. Mouse was not yet over the ledge and I heard him scream as the shot missed him by a small margin. I grabbed his arms and pulled him over the spikes to safety. We was both now on the rooftop and unhurt, but we was not free yet.

Knowing our pursuers would soon be up here, we moved as fast as we could across the long and difficult roof of Newgate. The building was made up of three parts and we had just climbed up to the centre tower. However, we had to scale another tower before we reached the side of the prison what we needed to lower ourselves to the safety of the houses across the way. I could already hear the noises of the guards coming behind but the trick to keeping ahead
of a chase is to just want your freedom more than they want to catch you.

So, after more climbing and dashing, I reached the edge of the prison before Mouse and was running so hard that I almost plummeted straight over the side. But I stopped myself in time and looked down to the cobbled lane below and was struck by fright. The drop was far more horrible than I had anticipated.

‘It’s too low down, Jack!’ Mouse cried as he drew up next to me and saw the distance to those rooftops we needed to jump to. ‘We’ll break our legs!’

‘You can do it, Mouse,’ I assured him, although the gap between the prison and those houses was much more intimidating now we was up here. ‘Just remember what I told you. Lower yourself down to a ledge – then jump.’ I started tying one end of the bed sheet around a chimney and told Mouse that I would go first and show him how it was done. The turnkeys was still far enough off if we hurried. ‘I’ll go first and show you,’ I said. ‘Once I’m across I’ll be able to catch you. Don’t worry.’

Just then I heard a whistle and a shout from the far end of the roof.

‘They’re coming,’ Mouse panicked and he spun round to see the small dark figures of two turnkeys heading towards us. A third turnkey was further back and rattling a wooden clacker in the air. ‘Let’s do it then. Let’s jump.’

‘Very well,’ I said and I perched myself over the side of the wall to drop down to the lower ledge.

Something went pop. It was a quiet sound and seemed harmless enough and I turned to Mouse to ask if he had heard it too. He was facing the oncoming guards and his head cracked backwards. He staggered and then disappeared over the wall. A cheer went up from the guard with the rifle.

The shock of it threw off my footing and I called out his name as he vanished from sight. Then I too fell, following him straight down towards the lane.

‘Both of them!’ exclaimed a guard as I tumbled and crashed straight into the side of the Newgate wall below the roof. ‘Superb shot!’

I still had hold of those bed sheets and that was the only thing what saved me. The other end was tied secure to the chimney and I clutched on to that rope. I did not see Mouse’s body hit the lane below but I will remember the awful sound he made – and the sudden silence afterwards – for the rest of my days.

‘Shot!’ cheered a turnkey above my head as the first footsteps reached the side of the roof. ‘By God, that’ll be an unholy mess to clean up,’ I heard him say then as he looked down to where my friend had fallen. ‘Where’s the other one?’

My cries was desperate then as I dangled there beneath them. The sheets was stretching fast and I had moments before they snapped. ‘Here!’ I shouted terrified that they could not see me in the dark. ‘Pull me back up! I’m begging you!’

‘There he is,’ said one of the turnkeys. I could hear him scuttling over to the chimney and I felt his hand land on the sheet above me. ‘Still clinging on. What should we do?’

‘Pull him up of course,’ said the wheezing voice of the guard with the clacker.

I was struggling to keep hold of that sheet and I had never been so scared in my life. Then I heard one of the guards – the one what had been carrying the rifle – stop the first from reaching down to grab me.

‘Hold about,’ he said. ‘Why should we? Why don’t we just untie the sheet and let him plummet like the other one. He’s due to hang anyway and the little sod has caused us all sorts of grief tonight!’

‘
No!
’ I screamed up at them. ‘
Please help me! Please!
’

‘He makes a point, Baines,’ the first voice then said. ‘There’s only three of us here. Who’d know?’

‘
Please don’t let me die! Please don’t let me die!
’

‘What sort of men are you?’ wheezed a chastising voice from above. ‘That you would let a man drop who screams for his life? We’re his gaolers not his judges or executioners. Grab him quick or I’ll report the pair of you.’

Three sets of hands reached down then and took hold of me. Soon they had hauled me back onto the safety of the roof. I lay there underneath them then, panting hard and with my eyes still shut. I heard the noble Baines – he what had just argued for my life – tell me to open them. As I did so, I saw his kindly face and I recognised the voice. He was the old guard what had stood at the top of the stone steps and who I had contemplated dealing a fatal blow to.

‘You, my boy,’ he said, as I looked back at him with more guilt inside me than I had ever felt before, ‘just had a very lucky escape.’

Chapter 18
‘Oh! God Forgive This Wretched Man’

In which I receive another visitor

After that night, the turnkeys never allowed me out of fetters again. I was manacled by the hands and feet and taken back to my cell, the door of which was soon repaired and even strengthened with bolts and chains so heavy I would never be able to work through them, regardless of how many more files, picks or lucky chances I might be handed. Turnkey Baines guarded me in my cell until after this job was done and we did not exchange a word about the death of Mouse Flynn. Instead, my eyes just avoided the vacant and unlit side of the room where his bed still was and I kept them fixed upon the fire’s crackle. One of my oldest friends had just fallen to his death beside me and I doubted if they had even finished washing the blood from the cobbles of Ave Maria Lane yet. The numb sensation I now had in part made me wonder if my own end had come early, as it felt as though some of my own life had dropped away with Mouse.