Juking Out
August 24, 2010
When I was in my early teens I lived at the Montreal Home for Boys, otherwise known as Weredale House. It was home to 175 boys aged about 8 to 19. We were closely watched most of the time and the building was surrounded by very high chain link fences.
Getting out illegally was difficult but we were always looking for openings of any kind. We realized that there was a weak spot in the security. We had a fastball league that played on an asphalt 'field' with lines and bases painted on the asphalt. If someone hit a foul ball to the left and very high it would go over the fence onto some high grass and railroad tracks. The ball would often disappear in the grass and someone would be sent over the fence to look for it.
We would arrange for one of our buddies to hit the right kind of foul ball. One of us would volunteer to search for it but be sure not to find it. In that case you could ask for more volunteers to help search. Once you had enough boys out searching the staff members would lose count of how many were outside the fence. A few of us could sneak away to meet friends at Staynor Park a short walk away.
One fall evening my friend John and his brother David wanted to get out and meet their girlfriends. We made the usual arrangements to lose a foul ball and the three of us slipped away just before the ball was suddenly 'found'. We could not get our winter coats before we left so we all wore light jackets. The evening kept getting colder and the girls couldn't keep us warm enough to prevent frostbite. We reluctantly headed back to Weredale House to break back in before we were missed.
Weredale had only two ways for us to get in without being noticed. The only door to the asphalt field was locked at night but could be opened if you knew the trick. We discovered the trick doesn't work if you have frozen fingers. That left a more dangerous way to get back in.
There was a fire escape that led 6 stories up to the top floor from just outside the kitchen. If we could pull down the bottom steps without making any noise we could walk up the fire escape and crawl across the roof to one of the dormitories. The timing was critical. We had to get up the fire escape and across the roof in the short time between the call for the boys to go to bed and the first bed check.
We timed our entrance perfectly. Even with frozen fingers we managed to jump up and pull down the bottom steps of the fire escape. We were up the stairs and across the roof just as the first boys were in their pajamas. We tapped on a window so they would open the fire escape door for us. We couldn't believe how smoothly it all went. Even with frost bitten fingers we were elated to have pulled off the perfect escape and return.
Our high only lasted until the next morning. John and David's mother had come by to deliver a gift for them while we were out. An announcement was sent over the building's public address system. When the brothers didn't come to the office runners were sent out to find them everywhere in the building. It was soon apparent they were not in the building.
I was lucky and no staff member knew I had gone with John and David. They would never tell anyone I was with them and faced their punishment without me. I would have done the same for them.
Peter White
