HOUDINI MIXES THINGS UP AT THE UNITED STATES JAIL.
PRISONERS CHANGED IN CELLS.
Consternation Accompanies Feats of the Expert Lock-picker,
Who Gets Laurels from the American Police Chairman After
His Third Exploit in Washington--Crowds Are Transfixed.
Two condemned murderers, four others under indictment, and two noted
criminals were released from the United States jail yesterday and for a
brief time tasted a counterfeit liberty.
Harry Houdini, the international Prison Breaker and Handcuff King, as
he is styled, was the hero of a sensational exploit. On the invitation
of Warden Harris and the jail authorities he ravaged bolts and locks.
Houdini escaped from the cell in which Charles J. Guiteau, the assassin
of President Garfield, was confined, released all the other inmates
of the murderers' row cells, and transferred each into some other cell
than the one to which he was originally committed.
* * * * *
For several days--in fact, since Houdini's remarkable escape from the
Tenth precinct--Warden Harris, of the cathedral-like prison along the
Eastern Branch of the Potomac, has been endeavoring to secure Houdini
for a cell-breaking exploit, as the warden had full faith in the
efficiency of his lock system. He wished to have this faith justified
by an attempt at escape of Houdini, and his failure would induce that
state of mind.
[Illustration: JAMES A. GARFIELD
the Martyred President
Copyright and Published by J. F. RYDER, Cleveland, O.
The sitting for this portrait was made June 10th, 1880]
Until yesterday Houdini has been so occupied with his other invitations
to break out of the police cells and the other penal institutions that
he had abandoned the idea of an adventure at the jail. Not wishing to
seem discourteous, he concluded about noon yesterday to present his
compliments to Warden Harris and assure him that he would be pleased to
test the jail.