#jailbreaks

the kilmainham gaolbreak, pt. 2: wherein mick and harry act complete idiots

so we left off with mick finding the key-and-lock sketches at the de valera house while babysitting

he jumps up and races out the door, forgets his hat and coat, looks a complete madman

leaves the de valera kids on their own, to boot. nice going mick

gets to ira headquarters (fuckin forgot where that is for a second, wait is it vaughan's hotel at this point? i can't remember) he gets to whatever place that is

runs up to harry boland and goes absolutely wild. then when harry understands he also goes absolutely wild. they immediately send the sketches to the place they get their bullets from (again, no clue where that is. tim pat coogan ((my source)) didn’t really specify), so that the metalworker can make them a key based on the sketch

they get the key back and they’re like ok we gotta figure out when the guards come by so that we can sneak through the outside door and nab dev

because i forgot to mention this but dev has a copy of his own cell key made out of fucking WAX

who the hell thought that was a good idea? (dev, probably)

they set up the time through dev’s wife who visits and gets her husband the information in an encoded letter about their children

the night comes, harry and mick are outside kilmainham ready to unlock the gate as soon as dev gives the signal

never happens

never fucking happens

they just wait around till daybreak trying not to look suspicious (and they obviously do, two rough-looking guys in trench coats and gangster hats, smoking cigarettes outside a prison? please) until they give up

what happened is dev’s WAX KEY broke in the lock to his cell because it was MADE OF WAX

he manages to destroy said wax key before anyone notices anything but like seriously

so they make him a key to his cell made of actual metal and sneak it in inside a CAKE THIS IS NOT A JOKE THEY SNEAK IT IN IN A CAKE I AM DYING

luckily they didn’t have metal detectors in 1918

anyway so dev gets out of his cell on time this time

gives the signal to our boys

they try to unlock the door but i think either 1. mick was too hasty or 2. the key was made improperly (it could have been a combination of the two) because it gets. stuck

it gets stuck

the key gets stuck

the guards are coming and the kEY IS STUCK but somehow by the mercy of god dev manages to push the key through from the other side and so he sneaks back into his cell and locks himself in and mick and harry run off. again

the third time it actually goes off without a hitch and they get dev out BUT the guards spot them so they disguise him as a prostitute, throw him into a cab pretending he’s (she’s?) drunk, they both act drunk with the guards, the guards are disgusted (but remember, this is a slightly rougher area of dublin back in the day - not sure if it still is now but it isn’t exactly nice, so the guards don’t suspect anything by way of treason) they drive off back to the ira headquarters cackling with delight