IRISH TIMES ODDITIES: A novel escape: A prisoner in Duke Street Prison, Glasgow, escaped on Saturday in amazing circumstances, writes Allen Foster.
After eating his dinner he told an official that he had swallowed a spoon, giving the impression that he was suffering great agony. He was immediately rushed to hospital, where, on examination, it was found that the story was a hoax. Escorted by one warder, the man was taken on a tramcar which passes Duke Street Prison. The two alighted from the car at Cathedral Square, and were on the point of walking over to the prison gate when the man pushed the warder and dashed off.
As students were making fun in the square in connection with their charities collection a large crowd was present, and the man managed to mix with them and get away. An exciting hunt in and out of side streets proved futile, and up to a late hour last night he had not been recaptured. - January 21st, 1929
Hooking a cormorant
Mr Carl D Williams, of London, who visits Ireland on business every autumn, spent last weekend fishing with Mr Stanley Falkner, of Dublin, at Mountshannon Hotel, Lough Derg. He succeeded in catching 19 good pike, weighing in all 130lbs. The largest one was 15½ pounds weight. Most of the fish were caught spinning with a natural bait in the weed beds. The use of a live bait led to a curious incident.
A perch over one pound weight had been hooked when it was taken and swallowed by a cormorant, who was hooked in the gullet and duly landed. - September 20th, 1928
Rook cheats angler
An angler at Lake Simsee, near Munich, was puzzled by the mysterious disappearance of his bait every time he left his line for a drink at a nearby inn.
Finally, he hid in some bushes and saw a rook settle on the rod, draw up the line with its beak and claws and eat the bait. Infuriated, the angler fetched a gun and shot the thief. - January 19th, 1934
Culled from the archives of The Irish Times, available online at www.ireland.com/archive