Rensselaer Union, Volume 1, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 May 1869 — A Live Man in a Dead Man's Cofftin. [ARTICLE]

A Live Man in a Dead Man's Cofftin.

The latest attempt of a convict to escape from prison occurred at the Joliet Penitentiary last Tuesday mornipg. On the evening previous a colored convict had died, and his dead body WM placed in a rough coffin , for buriaf Oh "Tuesday morning, when the remains stere about to be conveyed to the burying ground, which is a short distance Ohm tna premises, oae of the officers perceived a slight movement of the coffin lid, which had not yet been screwed down. ,The IM being raised. Io and behold. Instead of a dead black man, a live white convita wg found lying in the coffin. He .yag pushed out summarily and required tojfrre-an explanation. It appears thateartymthe morning, while the other convicts were at breakfast, be smuggled himself into the room where the coffin waA rtafowed the the lid Slightly to get a breath Of tfir, and was thus discovered la" time to spoil his "little game.” If he had remained quiet a minute pt two longer, the I'd would been screwed down, and he would probably have been Snumhetaq to US^j—CAtmhor Ms .U-