When lawyer Brady was first taken into custody he seemed to treat the
matter very lightly, for he relied greatly on his own sagacity in keeping
his schemes from the knowledge of all except immediate confidants,
who would, he trusted, render him every assistance for the purpose of
dragging him through the difficulties in which he found himself involved.
Amongst the most prominent of these was Mr. Acteon Shaft, to whom he
promptly communicated his situation; but as no one was allowed to have a
private interview with the prisoner, previously to his examination, Mr.
Shaft forbore visiting him till after his committal for trial to Cold
Bath Fields prison--at that time called the Bastille by the disaffected.
He found Brady utterly subdued by the weight of evidence which had been
brought against him, and wholly at a loss to account for the accuracy by
which it had been got up. The cunning of the lawyer had been completely
foiled, and Frank's inauspicious appearance and testimony had almost
overwhelmed him, whilst the dependence he had placed on old associates
met with the disappointment which generally follows the unseemly
combinations of disreputable characters,--he found himself abandoned
by nearly all his former parasites and admirers, with the additional
mortification of suspecting that some amongst them had been the medium
through which his proceedings had been betrayed. In this frame of mind
it cannot be expected that he was very communicative--in fact, he knew
not on whom to fix; Shaft himself might be the individual who had given
the information, and therefore he felt that it behoved him to exercise
caution: their interview, consequently, was of short duration, and
terminated abruptly, both apparently weary of the other.
To the clear view of the lawyer there seemed to be but one chance for
his life, and that was escape from prison. Shipkins still adhered to
his master, and was the supposed channel of correspondence between the
latter and an eminent barrister, who, it was alleged, had undertaken
Brady's cause, but for the present remained in the background. It is
true that the clerk was suspected, and a watch was set upon them when
together; but their conversation was generally carried on in too low a
tone to be distinctly overheard or understood, though not unfrequently
their gestures manifested warm disputes, if not downright quarrels, and
muttered threats and menaces were exchanged, which usually terminated
in earnest appeals from the master, and the seeming acquiescence of the
clerk.
The apartment[17] occupied by Brady was one of those appropriated to
state prisoners--and the lawyer was well acquainted with its locality,
having frequently visited this particular part, to hold consultations
with his clients, who were confined for political offences. Its
dimensions were about twelve feet by eight; but one corner was occupied
by the fire-place so as to face the opposite angle of the room, and
as many indulgences were allowed by the authorities, and others were
procured by the aid and connivance of turnkeys, there was an air of
comfort about it which was rendered more striking by comparison with
other parts of the building. There were two strongly-grated windows
facing the north, and as the room was thirty feet from the ground it
commanded a distant view of Highgate and the neighbouring upland, whilst
the adjacent grounds--now nearly covered with houses--were at that time
open fields.
In his visits Shipkins had contrived to furnish Brady with extremely
sharp files, and the latter occupied himself, during several nights,
in cutting through the bars of one of the windows, which after nearly
a fortnight's labour he successfully effected, and from his general
demeanour during the day no suspicion was excited. On the night which
he had fixed for his escape, he was locked up at the usual hour, and
anxiously did he await the time he had appointed with Shipkins to make
the trial. Brady was not deficient in courage; but when he heard the deep
sonorous and lengthened tones of St. Paul's clock, as they came swelling
on the breeze, a sickening sensation crept over him. Watt had recently
been executed at Edinburgh for treason, under somewhat similar charges
as those brought against Brady, but not of so aggravated a nature. The
lawyer was aware of this, and being a clever man in his profession,
he knew his case to be so glaring, that he could expect nothing but
conviction, without a shadow of mercy. His present attempt, therefore,
was for the preservation of his existence, and every stroke of the
cathedral clock was to him as a death-knell, to warn him of his future
fate, should his endeavours fail.
The sounds proclaiming the midnight hour had ceased--the wind from the
south came in fitful gusts through the long passages and up the winding
staircase, and its moaning noise resembled the wail of lamentation from
those who were suffering the punishment for crime. Brady listened for a
moment, and then his energies reviving, he wrenched away the bars from
their slight hold, and cautiously placed them in the room. A coil of
sash-line doubled and knotted was drawn forth from beneath his bed--one
end was thrown over the projecting frieze of the side wall, which flanked
his window, the other he held in his hand; but hardened as the man was,
and thus peculiarly situated, he breathed forth a prayer to Heaven for
deliverance. His descent was easy, but just as he had gained the ground,
a lurid light was suddenly spread around him--and in the impulse of the
moment, the villain, who but a minute or two before had been petitioning
the Omnipotent to save him, now drew forth a sharp-pointed stiletto,
determined to perpetrate murder should there be only one to oppose him.
The light, however, disappeared, and he felt disposed to ridicule his own
alarm, as he called to recollection that it emanated from a rocket which
had been sent up from that noted and much-frequented place of amusement,
Bagnigge Wells. Without further delay, he proceeded to the outer wall,
about fifty yards distant, and here, at a particular spot, he found that
a rope-ladder, with a stone attached to the end, had been thrown over,
which satisfied him that his confederate Shipkins had not deserted him.
In a few minutes he was on the summit of the wall, and could perceive a
dark moving mass below; he looked over the dim expanse, and gloomy as it
was in the dreariness of night, it reminded him of freedom. In a short
time the rope was secured, by working it in between the coping stones, so
that a knot could not be drawn through, and after trying his weight he
descended totally unobserved, and found his ally awaiting him. The Fleet
river, which flowed by the western wall, was passed, a hackney-coach was
at hand in the road, and they drove off in the direction of Islington.
A few days subsequently Brady got down upon the coast, and obtained a
passage across to France, where he remained a spectator of, and often an
actor in, the revolutionary atrocities that marked this eventful era.
Reports, however, were prevalent that he had returned to England--the
police were directed to be on the alert; but though it was repeatedly
averred that he had been seen in London and its precincts, he contrived
to escape the vigilance of all.