make England keep her word and promise and, thereby, give my country her freedom. The warder, however, either by design or due to his low intelligence, ignored such logic. Then, suddenly, came a call for me to report at the Governor's office. This man had already meted out to me solitary confinement on a few occasions, once I was in "solitary" for fully seven days with nothing but water and a little stale bread. At that time, incidentally, the prison Doctor insisted that my "punishment" be divided in two stretches of 3½ days each. This. to my mind, and I told him so, was far worse and more of a torture. Arriving at the office, the Governor, who intensely disliked all Irish people, then told me that I would be leaving the prison soon, and that I would be given a railway pass which would take me to Cork, via the Mail boat Holyhead-DunLaoghaire ('Kingston', to him, of course) and thus home. As usual, I also got a stern lecture that I was to do and to proceed exactly as he ordered me (he would never let an opportunity pass with [44] out reminding us that HE had all the power and that HE gave the orders!) I could not help but remind him that, once I would be released from prison, I would no longer be under his jurisdiction, and I would then do precisely as I liked. Some time previous, I had learned that, as soon as Irish prisoners were released from jail, they would promptly be re-arrested outside the main gate of the jail and then be sent back under guard only to be interned once again on arrival in Ireland. I was for that reason and information I had that I thought by myself that the Governor was nothing but a cold-blooded, scheming liar. Long since, I and the rest of my companions had realised that it was, indeed, most helpful and worthwhile to cultivate the friendship of some of the long-term criminal convicts. They knew the ropes inside out, had all the tricks, and their advice was extremely helpful. There was one "old lag" (that's how the old-timers were defined in the prison slang) who had observed me one day getting into a fight in the tailor's shop. There and then he warned me of the hostility the Governor held against us and that it would only net me solitary confinement, if I did not learn to check my temper. As to the solitary confinement, he made no bones warning me that this particular punishment had more than once driven men right out of their minds in the course of time. Some days later, and while we were on exercise, I noticed two civilians quite openly mixing with the warders. Obviously, I was intrigued and made discreet enquiries only to be told that they were detectives probably there to look us over. From the prison barber (who, incidentally, used to shave us with a machine) I learned how to get to the Queens Hotel and also to the railway station in Birmingham. The day before my release, the Assistant Catholic Chaplain sent for me. He was very cordial and told me that, some day, he hoped to see me again to which I commented, "And I, too, Father hope to meet you again but, hopefully, NOT behind prison walls.!" He laughed and wished me the best of luck. Then, Saturday morning came, I was ready at 6 a.m., and by 6:30 a.m. I was already out of prison, wearing my own clothes, and once again feeling like a member of the human race. The tram car stop was about 30 yards away from the prison gate and, just as I was thinking of crossing the street and going [45] over to the stop, I suddenly recognised one of the detectives, I had previously seen in the prison exercise yard, standing right there on the foot path. So, I purposely stopped about 20 yards away from the tram stop, the car was already standing there, and as the bell rang, and the tram started off, I suddenly sprinted and made a flying jump aboard. Looking back, I saw the detective desperately sprinting trying to get the same car and, with that I, obviously, knew that he was right on my trail. Arriving at the Queens Hotel, there to clean and fix myself up, who came along but Jim Young, and Irishman who worked in the dairy business in Birmingham. While in the Hotel, I also thought it wise to change my clothes and, all spruced up, and on my way out, I passed right by my detective friend who, while closely watching the entrance, failed to recognise me in my different clothes. That was, indeed, a close call but I couldn't help feeling rather pleased with myself for having fooled him so nicely. Next I bought a train ticket to London; Jim Young who had unobtrusively come along and gone ahead warned me that he noticed several local detectives right inside the train station. Once I knew this, it was not too difficult to get inside the station by a side entrance and to stay away from the main hall. Quickly I said good-bye to Jim, thanking him for his help and fine scouting work and within a couple of hours, I had safely arrived in London. In all prisons in England, it was customary to have us finger printed right away. It so happens that I have an indelible and quite distinctive scar on my right hand which, of course, I did not wish to have noticed at all cost. In addition, and due to my actively playing our Irish national
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