Jacobite gentlemen by the fair sex, who flocked to Newgate to express
it.
The prisoners were highly gratified by their attention, and exceedingly
delighted to see them, and the lodge was so beset by sedan-chairs and
coaches, and so thronged by ladies in fine dresses and loo-masks that
it looked more like the entrance to a masquerade than the approach to a
gloomy dungeon.
Notwithstanding his reverses, and though he was severely censured by his
own party, General Forster maintained his cheerfulness.
On Dorothy's arrival in town he was constantly visited by her, and it is
probable she suggested a plan of escape to him.
It is certain she brought him a large sum of money. How it was employed
can only be conjectured, though we do not think we shall be far wrong
in asserting that a considerable portion of it found its way into the
pockets of Mr. Pitts.
By whatever means he procured them, and, as we have intimated, suspicion
attached to the governor, Forster obtained false keys, and they were
successfully employed by him immediately after a bill of high treason
had been found against him.
The comedy, it must be owned, was well played. On the night of his
evasion, Forster invited Sir Francis Anderton, who was likewise a
prisoner in Newgate, to sup with him, and they sat together carousing to
a late hour.
They were still enjoying themselves when the governor came in to remind
them that it was not far from midnight. Forster begged him to sit down,
as he wished him to taste some very fine old brandy, and stepped into
the adjoining chamber to fetch the bottle.
Apparently, he could not find what he sought, for he did not immediately
return, and the governor, feigning to become alarmed, went to look after
him.
The prisoner was gone, and had evidently made his exit by the door
communicating with the passage, which ought to have been locked outside.
Indeed it was locked, as was the door of the other room, for when the
governor hurried thither, and tried to get out, he found himself a
prisoner.
The consternation into which Mr. Pitts was thrown by this discovery,
if not real, was extremely well simulated, and imposed upon Sir Francis
Anderton, who, however, laughed very heartily.
The governor knocked against the door, and shouted loudly for
assistance, but some minutes elapsed before the turnkey came, and then
it was found that a double-lock had been placed outside.
Search was made for the fugitive, but no traces whatever could be found
of him.
Every door through which he had to pass had been unlocked and
re-fastened, and if their statements were to be credited, not one of the
turnkeys had seen him pass out of the prison.
How he got through the lodge--how he passed the usually vigilant porter
at the gate--has never been satisfactorily explained!
But it is certain he proceeded to Blackfriars, where he found Dorothy
waiting for him.
She had hired a boat for Gravesend, whence her brother embarked before
dawn for France. Dorothy, however, did not accompany him in his flight.
A reward of one thousand pounds was immediately offered for Forster's
apprehension, but he was safe on the other side of the Channel.
Mr. Pitts was tried for his life at the Old Bailey for conniving at
Forster's escape, but was acquitted.