Chapter 7 Evans Tries an O level Solutions
Question - 21 : - Write in detail about the preparations that were made for Evans James to write his examination.
Answer - 21 : -
When Evans applied for permission to appear for the O-Level Examination in German, the Governor decided to look at the security measures personally. Evans was to write the examination in his own cell. To invigilate the exam, they had decided to call one of the parsons from St Mary Mags. The authorities assumed that they would not have much trouble preventing his communication with others. The examination was to be taken in D Wing, which had a heavy outer door and a heavy inner door that led to the cell.
The two-hour examination was scheduled to start at 9.15 a.m. So the next morning, at 8.30 a.m., two prison officers, Mr Jackson and Mr Stephens, went to Evans’ cell. Mr Jackson asked Mr Stephens to take away his razor after he had finished shaving. Even his nail-scissors were taken away. Evans was allowed to retain his hat as he begged to keep with him his lucky charm. Two small square tables were brought into his cell and placed opposite each other.
They had a listening device installed in his cell, above the door, so that the Governor could listen in. Stephens had to dutifully peer through the peephole at regular intervals to keep a close watch on Evans.
Question - 22 : - How did Evans plan his escape amidst tight security?
Answer - 22 : -
Evans was known as “Evans the Break” by the prison officers as he had escaped three times from prison, previously. At Oxford Prison, he managed to outsmart everybody once again. He arranged for a man who came disguised as Reverend Stuart McLeery, an accomplice of Evans, while the actual parson had been locked in his apartment.
He came carrying a ring to sit on, filled with pig’s blood which helped Evans mislead the police. While he pretended to give instructions to Evans to fill in the examination sheet, McLeery actually told him of the escape plan. His corrections were clues of the escape plan. The blanket given to Evans at 10.50 a.m. helped Evans with the disguise. The cap, that was his lucky mascot, was an aid to hide the closely cropped hair which helped him look like the parson. Stuart McLeery, wore two black fronts and two collars to provide one set to Evans. After McLeery was escorted out, Mr Stephens was aghast to see McLeery sprawled in Evans’ chair with blood oozing out. He refused to go to the hospital but offered his help to find Evans. He also showed the Governor a photocopied sheet that had been carefully and cleverly superimposed over the blank page of the question paper.
McLeery led the police to Elsfield Way and from there to Headington and finally to Newbury in order to put the police off Evans’ track. When Superintendent Carter informed the Governor that McLeery was in the Radcliffe Hospital, and the Governor went to check on him, he found McLeery missing and discovered the truth about Evans’ plan. All along, it was not McLeery, but Evans who had been in the cell, pretending to be injured. He had executed the plan through his so-called invigilator, who was in reality his friend.
Question - 23 : - How did the Governor track down Evans? How did Evans outsmart him again?
Answer - 23 : -
Once the Governor found out that McLeery was not in the hospital, he realized the truth. They found the real McLeery bound and gagged in his study in the Broad Street. They also realized it had not been Evans impersonating McLeery who had walked out; it had been Evans impersonating McLeery who had stayed in. On the other hand, Evans, after a delightful meal, returned to the hotel Golden Lion wearing a hat to conceal his closely cropped hair. He noticed the pretty receptionist.
As he went up to his room, to his surprise, he saw the Governor sitting in his bedroom and realized that the blonde girl at the reception was an informer. The Governor, who knew a little German, had deduced “zum goldenen Lowen” meant the Golden Lion and using Evans’ Index number 313 and Centre number 271 as coordinates on an Ordnance Survey Map, he figured out the location of the Hotel. When Evans was handed to the police once again, the Governor heaved a sigh of relief. But much to everyone’s surprise, the prison van driver and the officer were impersonators who helped Evans flee right under their nose.