Oct 28 1808 - Gaol Break in Carlisle - Cumberland and Westmorland Newspaper Transcriptions

Oct 28 1808 - Gaol Break in Carlisle

The Times, Friday, Oct 28, 1808; pg. 4; Issue 7504; col A

On Friday morning, Carlisle gaol was again broken open, when the notorious
NAYLOR, along with three other prisoners, viz. WHITE, ROW, and BARNES, made
their escape. The manner in which this undertaking was achieved, displayed much
ingenuity and courage, and gives some consistency to the bravado of NAYLOR
himself, that no gaol in England but Lancaster Castle could hold him. Since his
last return to the place of his confinement, he was loaded with above 60 pounds
weight of iron, only eight pounds short of that which the famous Baron TRENCK
had to sustain while confined in his dungeon at Magdeburgh; he was chained to
the wall, frequently handcuffed, and generally shin-bolted and neck-bolted.
Under all these disheartening circumstances, he effected his escape merely by
means of two iron bars, which had been wrenched from the windows of the cell.
With these implements, he, with the help of his fellow-prisoners, forced the
flags from beneath the door (each stone being sunk a great depth), and
proceeding forward, made a hole sufficient to admit one person at a time. Having
accomplished this, they scaled the iron palisade, and the outermost wall of the
prison, and got clear off. The ingenuity of NAYLOR, as a prison-breaker, has
long been known: some years ago, when confined in Richmond prison, in Yorkshire,
he removed a stone from under the door of his cell, which was above a ton
weight, by taking away the earth from below it, when it sunk down, leaving the
iron work that secured it, and gave him room to free himself.

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