Have you ever seen in the movies or TV series the prisoners trying to run away from their cells using rope made of knotted bedsheets? It‘s headlined Jack Shepperd who invented this amazing method.
Jack Sheppard was born in 1702 in London, with a name inherited after his older brother who died before Jack‘s birth. Sheppard‘s father died when Jack was still a child. Therefore his mother suffering from the lack of money sent her son to the workhouse. He worked as a cane furniture maker and earned 20 shillings. At the age of 10 he found a job at the same shop, where his mother also worked. The employer taught Jack to read and write, he also apprenticed a boy to a carpenter. Young Jack had been fulfilling in this profession very well for a few years, but at the age of 20 he began visiting one of the local taverns, frequently attended also by the criminals. The young man very quickly got addicted to the alcohol and prostitutes; he got involved with Elizabeth Lyon – one of them. The beginnings of his criminal carrier started at that time.
The first escape – 1723
Sheppard was detained for the first time for pick pocketing. Arrested and detained, he was visited by Elizabeth, but she was recognized by the jailers and imprisoned together with him. The couple was then moved to Clerkenwell Prison. However, they didn‘t stay there long as Sheppard made a hole and pulled away the bars from a window in a cell. After that he knotted together all bedsheets and blankets and, using this makeshift rope, he ran away together with his sweetheart.
The second escape – August 30th, 1724
In 1724 Jack was accused of burglary and sentenced to death. Until the execution he was detained in one of the cells in Newgate Prison. The door in his cell had a small opening crossed with metal bars. For Jack this construction offered an ideal chance to run away. Some day he was visited by his sweetheart and her friend, Poll Maggot, also a prostitute. The women distracted attention of a prison guard and Sheppard pulled away a few bars from the opening in the door. After that he sneaked through the gap (he was of very slim built and only 5‘4? tall) and ran away together with his guests. Unfortunately, he didn‘t enjoy the liberty for long.
The third escape – October 15th, 1724
The third escape was his most impressive action. Jack was again imprisoned in Newgate Prison, but this time in order to prevent him from escaping, he was chained to the floor. Of course, it didn‘t hinder a veteran to make another attempt to run away from a cell. He found a nail on a floor, bent it in an appropriate way and prepare himself a picklock. After he had broken free from chains he climbed up the chimney in his cell, but a further way was blocked with an iron bar. The prisoner pulled it out and used to hew a hole in the ceiling! He climbed again and came into a room from which he got to a prison chapel.
From the chapel he moved onto the prison roof. The roof, however, was 60 feet above the ground. It was definitely too high to jump. So Sheppard came back to his cell, took all blankets, came back again onto the roof and using the knotted blankets he slid onto the lower roof of a neighboring house. He broke into this house, went down the stairs and finally he was on the town streets around the midnight. This escape shocked everyone!
Jack was only for two weeks at large. He came back to the city after he had broken into a fashion shop and used the stolen clothes to dress up as a gentleman. He was caught completely drunk, wearing a chic black suit, two fine rings on his fingers and a wig on his head. This time he was also imprisoned in Newgate Prison, but in a cell which was under surveillance all the time. Popularity of the runaway became so big that the fees were taken for a possibility to see him. Besides, the King‘s painter painted a portrait of Sheppard.
On 16th November Jack Sheppard was taken to the place of execution. Of course, he wouldn‘t be himself if he hadn‘t planned the next escape. This time he equipped himself with a knife. He was going to cut the ropes, but unfortunately one of jailers found a tool. Sheppard was hanged in front of 1/3 of London population and the atmosphere of carnival pervaded his execution. There is no doubt that Jack Sheppard wrote his name into the history of prison systems.