Tinker Escapes from Jail
Newburn, N.C. Feb. 11
On the night of Friday, the 25th of last month, Edward Tinker made an escape from the jail in this town, in the dungeon of which he had been confined in irons since the 19th of last April.
He was originally committed to prison on the charge of having perpetrated a murder of the blackest, most wanton and most cruel kind, in all its circumstances, that could shock humanity, or well be conceived of, on the body of a youth about 18, an Irish lad, a stranger to this place, of whom the only memorial is that his name was Ned; who had unfortunately a short time before shipped with Tinker, as a cabin boy, on board a vessel of which he was then master, lying at Baltimore and bound to this port on her passage to which she was barbarously stranded by a villainous concern between Tinker and his crew as they have all since confessed. And there is too much reason to believe that to prevent the possibility of an exposure, this ill fated lad thrown friendless and perhaps an orphan on the wide world, was taken by Tinker from under his own roof, decoyed to a march near the town and murderously shot in the back, head and neck and sunk in the adjoining channel.
So atrocious and malignant were the circumstances attending this horrid transaction and made so public at the time, that we cannot conceive it necessary to republish them for the purpose of reviving the recollection of them. At the April court which followed immediately after the discovery of the murder, an indictment was found against Tinker, and though opposed by his counsel, he was ruled by Judge Taylor to trial, which was postponed only because a sufficient number of jurors could not be found who could not say that their minds were not conclusively made up as to his guilt. The failure to form a jury was afterwards quoted as proof of public prejudice.
In this notice of the case, we mention the vox populi of the vicinity as affording strong presumptive evidence of the guilt of this fugitive from the laws, in the hope that it will prove an incitement to all good citizens to be vigilant, and yet use their best endeavors to drag him from his hiding place and bring him to the bar of his country.
In the interval between April and October courts last Tinker made two ineffectual attempts to break prison; first by making a breach through the dungeon wall, which though dexterously managed, and though it cost much labor proved too small and he got so jammed in it, that he could not be extricated from it until assisted the next morning by a workman. In his second attempt he succeeded in freeing himself from his irons and was at large in the jail yard, in the disguise of female dress, about nine o’clock in the evening, with no visible obstacle to prevent his escape, when, from some intimation but the moment before given to the sheriff, that something was amiss at the jail, he at the moment of flight stepped in and arrested him. At the last October court, a supplementary affidavit of the prisoner was presented to the judge with a view to create a belief in him, that an impartial and unprejudiced jury could not be obtained upon the trial of this country; and upon that affidavit judge Wright postponed the trial, and removed the cause to Carteret: where it would have stood for trial on the first Monday of next month.
Although the judge professed to steer clear of militating against the decision of his predecessor, and to justify the postponement and removal of the cause upon new grounds, the public will be at a loss to distinguish between the grounds of the motion made before overruled by Judge Taylor, and those that proved successful at a subsequent term, before Judge Wright. If their shape was altered, they were still substantially the same, “Public Prejudice;” and if this be allowed, ingenious council will never be at a loss to give old grounds a new dress; and thus in desperate cases, and in the defense of criminals charged with the highest crimes, especially if possess of wealth and influence, their trial may be procrastinated, and the cause moved and removed, until the criminal escapes; and the laws and courts of justice, instead of being a terror to evil doers, become objects of contempt and derision. We would not be understood as doubting the purity of the motives or the integrity of the considerations, which influenced the decision of this virtuous and amiable judge, but we had rather incur the charge of presumption than be guilty of the civility of sanctioning with our approbation, a decision which we have always held to be unsound in itself, and at variance with the principle on which it professed to be founded.
Early on the Saturday morning following Tinker’s escape, Mr. Jones, the sheriff, on his own responsibility, issued advertisements in all directions, offering a reward of 500 dollars to any person who should apprehend and secure him; at the same time he raised the “hue and cry” and every exertion to assemble the inhabitants of the town to make search and pursuit after the felon; of whom no trace could be discovered until Monday morning, when it was ascertained, by a message brought to town to the sheriff from Mr. Street at Neuse ferry, 10 miles from town, that Tinker had been in the course of the night preceding in his kitchen – was mounted on a horse known to belong to his neighbor Leonard Loftin, and had persuaded a slave of Mr. Street’s to conduct him to the Greenville road.
Mr. Street in the mean time commenced the pursuit, and was soon joined by Mr. Benajah White and others. Mr. Jones our sheriff, with several other young gentlemen of the town, on horseback, followed without loss of time. Street and White, followed by Jones, kept the Greenville road and were soon convinced that they were upon his track. Another party, misled by report, took the Washington road. Tinker passed Greenville about eight or nine o’clock on Monday morning; White and Street about 12. Tinker passed Tarborough Bridge about dusk the same day; White and Street arrived at the bridge about eight at night; here it became uncertain whether Tinker had crossed the river or kept up the road on the left side and two hours were lost in waiting for the man who kept the gate at the toll bridge throughout the day, and who alone could give the information required.
About 5 miles beyond Tarborough, Tinker topped a young man on the road, dismounted, and insisted upon a swap or purchase of his horse, offering as it is said, the sum of 300 dollars of his (the young man’s horse) but the young man discovering Tinker’s pistols, and apprehending danger or treachery, deemed it most prudent to give his horse the whip and made off. A few miles further Tinker stopped at a house, and upon giving the owner a difference of 50 dollars, exchanged his for a horse of known reputation in the neighborhood for bottom and speed. Tinker crossed Roanoke ferry at Halifax, some hours before day, on Tuesday, and asked the distance to the next tavern. He paid a slave one dollar to hunt up a ferry-man, and the ferry-man two dollars to take him over the ferry. White and Street reached Halifax after sun-rise; at this place White and Street were obliged reluctantly to discontinue the pursuit, their horses had given out and nobody would supply them with fresh ones, they were jaded and exhausted themselves with a journey of 120 miles performed in less than 24 hours, during which they were without sleep and had snatched but one hasty meal, which accident had thrown in their way.
Too much praise cannot be given to these gentlemen for the activity, zeal and perseverance, displayed on this occasion. Had they have been able to rose correspondent dispositions among the citizens of Greenville, Tarborough or Halifax, there can be little doubt but this enemy to the human race might have been overtaken in his course, and the majesty of the law preserved.
We are sorry to record, that near the latter place, a little after sunrise, a number of young gentlemen of Halifax and its neighborhood, all well mounted, going on a fox hunt, were met by the gentlemen in pursuit of Tinker and persuaded to join in the pursuit: and that with a sang froid little credible to their patriotism, regard for the laws or sense of duty they refused. Three hours chase by this party must have inevitably overtaken the fugitive. Unable to proceed and deserted of all assistance, Messrs. White and Street returned and meeting Mr. Jones, advised him to abandon the further pursuit as hopeless.
No doubt exists in the minds of those who had an opportunity of knowing the mode of his confinement and the situation of the jail at the several times when he attempted and finally made his escape, but that Tinker must have had the aid of foreign and external agents. He was under four doors and five locks and bars, and chained down by leg irons to ringbolts in the floor, all of which were to be burst asunder before he could penetrate beyond the prison. The jailor’s family slept in the room adjoining the dungeon. Whoever was accessory to his escape let them lay it to heart, their offence in the eye of the law is equal to his. They are unworthy citizens and answerable before heaven and their country, for the further murders this monster may be tempted to commit.
The design of his publication is to spread the knowledge of Tinker’s crime and escape from the justice of his country as wide as possible, and in doing his we think we discharge a duty to the public – and we earnestly solicit our brother editors throughout the Union, but especially those of the Northern and Eastern states to give this a place in their papers, or to publish it in some abbreviated form, as by this means this most wretched offender against all laws human and divine, may be stopped short in his career of unparalleled villainy or be driven an outcast from the United States.
It is certain that he took the road to Petersburgh, Vir., and as he was bred to the sea, it is probable he will still follow it, and will no doubt pass under some assumed name. He must be very generally known in most of the seaports in the United States, and in the West India islands, and it is hoped will soon be recognized and placed in limbo by some generous Tar, who will feel the injury done him by having the name of Ned Tinker attached to the profession of a Sailor.
We cannot close in justice to Reuben P. Jones, the Sheriff of this county, without observing, that not only does his well known character for public and private probity, and of vigilance and fidelity in his office, place him above all suspicion of connivance or neglect in his escape; but such has been the artful and daring character of his prisoner, such the difficulties of obtaining suitable persons to keep the jail, such his means of corruption, and we may add, so seducing the motive to influence others, rather to aid than to impede his escape, and such the “law’s delay,” that all who know how to estimate these things, and have had an opportunity to observe this excellent officer’s car, anxiety, vexation, trouble and expense, will find more in his conduct to applaud and admire, than to censure or blame. Mr. Jones’s task has indeed been an arduous one.
Source: The Centinel, Gettysburg, PA March 20, 1811. Contributed by Nancy Piper
Tinker Escape
Edward Tinker, whose escape from the jail of Newburn, North Carolina, is mentioned in the first page of this week’s paper, was last week apprehended in the city of Philadelphia and lodged in prison.
Source: The Centinel, Gettysburg, PA March 20, 1811. Contributed by Nancy Piper
