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.
[Illustration: _Boston Journal, Tuesday, March 20, 1906._