Summary
• However, London Police had no other choice than putting him in the most secure Oxford Prison where jail breaks were not at all common.
• Evans was aware of it, too. Seeing that he was in all sense trapped for life, Evans made a new plan to escape and it was very complicated and it involved many people at the same time.
• In the first week in the jail, Evans requested the Governor of the jail that he was genuinely interested in learning some German lessons to acquire sort if academic degrees. Suspicious as he always was, the governor arranged a German tutor for Evans and watched how things proceeds. With a microphone hidden in the study room or in his cell where Evans took classes, the governor waited to hear if Evans would ask the tutor to help him.
• It so happened but no one knew how Evans managed to do such a risky thing while the mic was listening to him. Probably Evans communicated with the tutor through a letter which the latter was asked to read silently. I believe it was what Evans wrote - "Mr. Tutor, do not raise your voice on reading this letter. I have requested for German tuition with an entirely different purpose. You have been called to act like my mediator with my friends. You will carry similar messages to my friends and help me escape this prison for which I will pay you more than you can count." After reading the letter, the tutor must have smiled and agreed, for, Evans was so charming a personality.
• At the end of the six months' coaching, the tutor informed the Governor that his student was ready for an ordinary level exam. Suspicious as always, the Governor contacted the examination board and arranged an O'level exam for Evans. The board contacted St. Mary Mags and requested Rev. Stuart McLeery to go to the prison to invigilate the exam. The parson agreed and began his preparation for the exam.
• Today is the exam. Rev. McLeery was getting ready to go to the prison early in the morning when two of Evans' friends came to visit him. They gagged and tied the parson while one of them dressed himself as him. After half an hour they went out - one of them as Stuart McLeery.
• At the same time, at the prison, officer Jackson and a newly appointed - or specially appointed - officer, Mr. Stephens, were making sure if Evans had any potential weapon to make a jail break during the exam. Evans had put on a bobble hat and hadn't shaved. Inside the hat he had hidden his makeup stuff for his escape plan and he delayed shaving for the smart purpose of keeping its blade with him. Thus, while giving the razor back to Stephens in the most artificial haste, Evans took out its blade. When Jackson ordered him to remove that hat, Evans requested the kind hearted officer Mr. Jackson to let him keep it as he considered the cap to be his lucky charm. Well, Jackson was always like that. He was full of sympathy and the hat was full of what Evans needed for transformation!
• It was already 9am when the invigilator reached the prison. He was shown his way into Evans' cell and the exam was about to start but the Governor felt something... something wrong. He asked Jackson to get the parson frisked. Accordingly it was done and the officers confiscated a pair of scissors that the parson had brought with him - well, it was for Evans. Having done so, they went on frisking and searching till they found that the parson - do not forget that it was Evans' friend who made himself up as the parson - had got a semi inflated rubber tube in his briefcase. On enquiring the reason for which the tube was brought, the parson replied it was a cure for his extremely painful disease of piles. Having made a decent parson disclose a secret in such a shameful manner, the two officers felt embarrassed. They didn't want to search any more. The parson was allowed to resume his seat. The exam began; three men - Evans to write the exam, the parson to invigilate Evans and and Stephens to keep watch.
• At the start of the exam, Evans had to get rid of officer Stephens and get a covering for himself. These he required because he was not going to write any German O'level Exam. He was only going to make himself as the parson who had come to invigilate him! Height for height, beard for beard, dress for dress and accent for accent to create confusion in the prison once the exam was over. By complaining it was extremely cold inside and he was not able to concentrate in his exams because of Stephens, Evans managed to get a blanket for him and get Stephens out of the cell.
• Exam began in full swing. The Invigilator remained reading his magazine, Stephens went up and down the corridor, the Governor himself listened to the loud speaker that caught conversations from Evans' cell and Jackson kept a watch of all the rest. Keeping a pen between his lips, Evans observed Stephen's position in the corridor with the help of the shining, bulbous head of the pen. The closer Stephens came, the dimmer was the brightness of the pen-head.
• Well, there remains just five more minutes for the examination to call off and Evans and his friend, the invigilator, did all that was part of the plan. Evans trimmed his long hair with a razor blade, put on the extra pair of clerical dress - cassock, front, collar, etc. - that his friend had brought in and glued a fake beard. Just five minutes and then Stephens heard Jackson shouting from the other end of the corridor, informing that the Governor was on the telephone line, wanting to talk to him. Stephens was more than excited. He was feeling proud of himself because the Governor wanted to talk to him!
• Stephens attended the call - well, it was not the Governor who talked to him nor was it Jackson who yelled from the other end! Excitement brings wise men to unforgivable errors. As per the call, Stephens carried out the Governor's orders - took the invigilator from the cell and led him out of the prison and once again returned to Evans' cell to make sure he was really there. Looking through the peep hole, Stephens saw the most unbelievable sight in his life - the invigilator, not Evans, inside the cell!
• Even you believed that, eh? No, guys, truth is sometimes stranger than fiction. Underline this – Evans was still inside and his friend, the dupe invigilator was out. You can just imagine him laughing out in great amusement. Half is done and the next half began.
INTERVAL.......
• A complete chaos! In utter disbelief, Stephens called for Jackson and in no time the entire prison was roused. Officers rushed to Evans’ cell and saw the tortured parson, the poor invigilator, all bleeding and weak. If you remember the rubber tube that the invigilator had brought, you can now guess how Evans was bleeding!
• Well, everyone reached the one and only conclusion – Evans escaped after beating the parson and fooling Stephens.
• Governor had, by this time, called in detective Carter to find the escaped prisoner and in no time the famous detective arrived and offered to help the Governor. He got a vague idea about the state of the affairs and was ready to run out to get the escaped prisoner when the “bleeding” invigilator made an unusual offer to help the police and the detective – he said he knew where Evans could be found!
• That made sense. If a parson (Priest), especially one beaten and dying, offered to help the police, there is some sense. Governor allowed the parson (Evans) accompany the detective and together they went out in the latter’s car.
• What is this Evans doing! He had a good chance to escape from the prison but he didn’t. Now, is he planning to knock the detective down and escape? God Evans knows!
• Back in the prison, the Governor abused Jackson and Stephens as much until he was a little less dejected. Having dispatched them, he examined Evans’ cell and got hold of a very important evidence to find Evans. It was the correction slip that Evans, so foolishly, left behind and it had a hidden message written on its back! Evans is heading to Newbury! So the correction slip was part of Evans’ plan. Heavens, but the plan backfired.
• This is what happens to the very smart people. I think this will serve you a good moral. The very very smart Evans made a mistake. Shame, man. We all thought you had made it.
• So the Governor contacted the detective for updates and was told that he had spotted Evans twice. Governor could not believe that. He believed the correction slip and decided to reach Golden Lion Hotel, Newbury, before Evans got there.
• In the meanwhile, the Governor was informed that the parson was admitted at Radcliff hospital under emergency. So far so good but when the Governor contacted the ambulance section, he was told that the ambulance could not locate a bleeding parson as was told by detective carter.
• Gone! With no clues about the disappearance of the parson, the Governor telephoned Mary Mags (where the parsons live) and on breaking Rev. Stuart Mcleery’s room, they found out that the real parson had never got out!
• The truth mostly out, the Governor knew what was to be done. With a skilled assistant, he drove to Golden Lion Hotel. He was excited. Sale, Kameenei! Evans! I am coming for you!
• Poor Evans, it took him six months to arrange everything but now he is running into trouble again. Not knowing how his correction slip had deceived him, he reached the Hotel, made his special orders at the reception and got into his room. He locked the door and moved to the bed to rest and sleep but… You got it?
• Sitting in the bed was the Governor, laughing out beaming with pride. Of course, he deserves a pat!
• “Don’t try anything, Evans,” said he and Evans was not in any mood to try. He had tried enough. Defeated, he sat down on the floor and this sign of defeat thrilled the Governor. You can imagine him giving out orders to the police and traffic department to stop searching for Evans.
• Then the Governor walked down to the prison vehicles parked outside and Evans followed, handscuffed. On the way the Governor asked Evans to explain how he managed to get the blood and all the other makeup and Evans had his humble answers, still accepting his defeat.
• Evans was handcuffed with a prison officer and was taken to the prison van. (Remember a call from the magistrate’s court for a prison van?) The van moved and the Governor followed it with an ebbing heart, imagining his consequent honor and awards in getting the smartest prisoner in the world.
• Post Script – Evans escaped! The prison officers in the van were Evans’ friends, disguised. An over confident Governor had never anticipated this. He will soon learn that it was part of Evans’ plan that he left the correction slip in his cell and walked into the Hotel room clearly knowing that the Governor was waiting for him.
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