CLOSELY SEARCHED FOR KEYS.
Briefly, here is just what happened: Houdini had secured permission from Superintendent Pierce to make an effort to escape from the city prison, and this forenoon, in the presence of about 30 men, the superintendent let Houdini into cell No. 77 on the ground floor of the Tombs, where Houdini, in the presence of the witnesses of the test, removed every stitch of his clothing, which he left lying on the bunk in the cell. When he came out, Capt. Clarence A. Swan, the keeper of the prison, locked the cell door upon Houdini's clothing, and then the young man was taken to the second floor of the block of cells, where Superintendent Pierce and a number of the men witnessing the test searched his hair for possible concealed keys or other instruments. Not a thing was found, and Houdini even asked to have his feet examined so there would be no question of his having a key concealed between his toes, and this was done.
Boston Journal, Tuesday, March 20, 1906.
SHACKLED AND LOCKED IN, HOUDINI BREAKS JAIL.
CENTRAL FIGURES IN WIZARD HOUDINI'S MYSTIFYING JAIL ESCAPE AND DIAGRAM OF HIS MOVEMENTS.
Cut by permission of The Boston Journal.
Inside the Cell at the City Tombs, Boston, Mass.
SUP'T. PIERCE LEFT HIM SHACKLED AND HANDCUFFED IN CELL No. 60
SUP'T. PIERCE SAT CHUCKLING IN THE CAPTAIN'S OFFICE WAITING FOR HOUDINI TO WHISTLE FOR HIM.
IN SIXTEEN MINUTES AFTER BEING LOCKED UP HE ESCAPED OVER THE WALL.
THE SUP'T. FOUND THE SHACKLES AND HANDCUFFS—BUT NO HOUDINI.
Caricatures by permission of Boston Post.
Then Superintendent Pierce took a pair of the most approved handcuffs used in the police department and fastened them securely about Houdini's wrists, and on his bare ankles he clamped a pair of tested steel leg irons so tightly that the iron sank into the flesh. After that Houdini was locked in cell No. 60, and Superintendent Pierce and the witnesses went downstairs and out into the office, expecting Houdini would go there, providing he got out of his cell, and the police officials who were present seemed to feel pretty confident that he couldn't do that. This feeling was shared by some of the outsiders present, who could not bring themselves to believe that it could be done.
Over the Wall at the City Tombs, Boston, Mass.
Photo with permission of the Boston Globe.
The only condition Houdini attached to his performance was that no one should be allowed to go into the part of the prison where he was confined to watch him escape, and the superintendent and the witnesses respected that condition, and most of them stayed in the captain's office. A few of the witnesses, however, went out into Somerset Street to wait and watch; for, knowing Houdini, they were prepared to see him come out anywhere.
These confident ones were rewarded for their trust, for 16 minutes after Houdini had been locked, naked, handcuffed, and ironed by the legs, into cell 60, he was seen running, fully dressed, except that he had not put on his collar and tie, across the prison yard, to climb up the wall leading into Somerset Street, to vault the iron railing at the top, and then to leg it like a scared rabbit over the hill in the direction of Keith's Theatre.