一周后，特努托（Tenuto）安排他的一個兄弟來探望他，這樣他就可以告訴他，我們需要一輛小車離開這。
在1947年2月10號的早晨，開始下雪了。一整天，雪下得非常大，我們都決定晚上嘗試越獄。我們都已經(jīng)割斷了欄桿，并且用油灰和油漆恢復(fù)了原狀。（囚室守衛(wèi)，格林伍德，不是個壞家伙。因此被解雇了。根據(jù)守則的要求，他的職責(zé)是每天用錘子敲打欄桿進行檢查。不管怎么說，這就是當(dāng)時使用錘子的原因。自從我們進來他從來沒有這么做過。這又是對他們保安系統(tǒng)的過分自信。）
凌晨一點鐘，警衛(wèi)從中心區(qū)域走進來，每半小時檢查一次，拿著手電筒上下走動，然后又回到中心區(qū)域。
這是我們起床穿衣服的信號，在下一個檢查時間前5分鐘，我們拔出欄桿爬到鋼門前。我把手槍給特努托。我們蹲下并等待著。我們穿著黑色的監(jiān)獄的褲子，藍(lán)色襯衫和薄薄的風(fēng)雪衣。我還戴著一個棒球帽，在我玩手球的時候，一個隔離區(qū)的囚犯給我用于保護我的眼睛避免被陽光照射。
在晚上的那個時候，牢房和中心區(qū)域的燈光都有些昏暗。我們可以聽到鑰匙插入的聲音。當(dāng)門打開的時候，我們沖了過去。按照計劃，我和斯賓斯在第一次襲擊時壓制兩位守衛(wèi)，這樣特努托就可以通過縫隙沖出來，在5位獄警和副巡長行動前控制他們。整個過程近乎完美。其中一個守衛(wèi)試圖抓住門的一側(cè)并關(guān)上門，但這純粹是條件反射的行為。特努托成功地用自己的一只手指卡住，穿過并離開。
中心區(qū)域里六個守衛(wèi)中有5個圍繞在桌子周圍，看著特努托沖過來，特努托揮舞著手槍，完全把他們嚇呆了。我也會被嚇呆的。即使沒有槍，特努托也是個足夠駭人的家伙。隨即，他命令副巡長站起來和其他人排成一隊。斯賓斯和我已經(jīng)將那兩個家伙完全控制住。他們完全嚇壞了，根本不知道我們是否有槍。我沖他們大叫，好像我有槍一樣，他們的反應(yīng)看起來是相信了我的話。
當(dāng)我們將他們?nèi)靠刂坪螅覀兠钏麄冊趫A形大廳的正中心排成一隊，遠(yuǎn)離其他所有物體。當(dāng)他們排隊時，從醫(yī)院區(qū)域傳來了敲門聲。是吉米麥基（ Jimmy McGee），他的出現(xiàn)完全是意外。他對那天晚上我們正在進行的事情一無所知。為了保護他，我們威脅他如果不照我們說的去做，會有各種悲慘結(jié)果，然后命令他和其他獄警呆在一起。
特努托靠近桌子后做的第一件事就是從墻上拿那一圈鑰匙。現(xiàn)在所有的事情都在控制之下，他吧手槍給我，然后去D區(qū)把克萊尼和艾肯斯（ Kliney and Aikens ）放出來。副巡長看上去非常不舒服，我很容易就猜出了原因。他因為帶違禁品給囚犯而從東區(qū)（監(jiān)獄）調(diào)到這里，你可以看到，他正在想誰會是那個帶進那只槍的最大嫌疑犯。
關(guān)于我們要如何處理吉米麥基的問題得到了干凈利落的解決。為了要去動力房，我們必須穿過B區(qū)，我們就把他鎖在路上的一個空房子里。
就和麥基說的一樣，兩個梯子靠在地下室的墻上。每個大約21英尺長。就和他告訴我的一樣，一卷銅線，就在工作臺的抽屜里，鉤子和繩子也在里面。
在我們出去前，我挑出體型和我最接近的守衛(wèi)，命令他脫下外套和帽子。特努托和沃德龍照葫蘆畫瓢。這三個人和另外兩個，然后被鎖在小公用室里。還剩下兩個守衛(wèi)和副巡長。我告訴他們要帶領(lǐng)我們出去到院子里。"我會給你指令，"我說，"你最好仔細(xì)聽。如果事情出了差錯，我們會把你們當(dāng)做人質(zhì)。如果發(fā)生槍擊，你們會是首先爬上梯子的人。"除非是絕對必須，我不想把他們帶在一起。離開他們，我們爬梯子的時候，我不想他們感到輕松，相比擔(dān)心我們的逃跑，他們更愿意看到我們消失。
按照我的指令，他們將梯子扛到院子里；兩個守衛(wèi)走在前面，副巡長扶著后面。我們?nèi)齻€穿著制服緊緊跟在副巡長后面。克萊尼和艾肯斯（ Kliney and Aikens ）在加入我們前還要在地下室呆一分鐘。
原文
211-212頁
After a week, Tenuto arranged to have one of his brothers visit him so that he could explain to him that we needed a car to get out of there.
On the morning of February 10, 1947, it began to snow. It snowed very hard through the day and we all decided we were going to make the attempt that night. We had already cut our bars and put them back in place with putty and paint. (The cell guard, Greenwood, who wasn’t a bad guy, got fired over that. According to the book, it was his duty to check the bars daily by running a hammer over them. That was the excuse that was used, anyway. He had never done it once from the day we got there. The overconfidence in their security again.)
At 1:00 A.M., the guard came in from the hub for his semihourly check, went up and down with his flashlight, and then went back to the hub.
That was our signal to get up and get dressed. Five minutes before the next check was due, we pulled out the bars and crept up to the steel door. I gave the pistol to Tenuto. We crouched down and waited. We were wearing our black prison pants and blue shirts, and thin blue windbreakers. I was also wearing a baseball cap which one of the other inmates on isolation had given me to keep the sun out of my eyes while I was playing handball.
Both the cellblock and the hub were kept dimly lit at that time of night. We could hear the two guards coming down from the hub. We could hear the key grate in the lock. As the door swung open we flung ourselves through. The plan was for Spence and me to bull both guards back with our first charge so that Tenuto could shoot through the gap and cover the five officers and the captain in the hub before they could make a move. It worked very nearly to perfection. One of the guards did manage to grab the side of the door and try to slam it shut, but it was purely a reflex action. Tenuto was already through and gone. All he succeeded in doing was jamming one of his own fingers very badly.
Five of the six guards in the hub were grouped around the desk, and the sight of Tenuto charging down at them, waving a gun, completely immobilized them. It would have immobilized me, too. Tenuto was a menacing enough figure even without a gun. Immediately, he ordered the captain to stand up and get in line with the others. Spence and I already had our two guys well under control. Stunned as they were, they had no idea whether we had a gun or not. I barked at them as if I had one, and they acted as if they were taking my word for it.
When we had them all together, we ordered them to line up in the exact center of the rotunda, away from everything. While they were obeying, there was a tapping on the door from the hospital block. It was Jimmy McGee, and he was there by sheer accident. He didn’t have the slightest idea we were going that night. In order to protect him, we threatened him with all kinds of unpleasant things if he didn’t do exactly as he was told and then ordered him to join the others.
The first thing Tenuto had done upon reaching the desk was grabbed the ring of keys from the wall. Now that everything was under control, he handed me the gun and went down to D block to get Kliney and Aikens. The captain looked positively sick and I could very easily guess why. He had been transferred from Eastern for bringing contraband in to a few of the inmates, and you could see him thinking who was going to be picked out as the prime suspect for bringing in that gun.
The question of what we were going to do about Jimmy McGee was resolved quite neatly. To get to the powerhouse we had to go through the B block, and we locked him in one of the empty cells along the way.
Lying against the wall of the cellar, just as McGee had said, were the two ladders. Each of them about twenty-one feet in length. A spool of copper wire was in the bench drawer, just where he had told me. So were the hook and the rope.
Before we went out, I picked out the guard who was closest to me in size and ordered him to take off his coat and hat. Tenuto and Waldron did the same. Those three, plus two of the others, were then locked inside the little utility room. That left two guards and the captain. I told them that they were going to lead us out into the yard. “I’m going to give you your instructions,” I said, “and you had better listen very carefully. If anything goes wrong we’re taking you with us as hostages. If any shooting starts, you’re going to be the first ones up the ladder.” I didn’t want to take them with us unless it was absolutely essential. I did want them to feel so relieved when we started up the ladder without them that they’d be more pleased about seeing us disappear than worried about our getting away.
Following my instructions, they carried the ladders out into the yard; the two guards out in front, the captain holding up the rear. The three of us in uniform walked directly behind the captain. Kliney and Aikens were to remain in the cellar for one minute before joining us.
