At the same time as a Hungarian American magician born with the name Erik Weisz was making his name as one of the world’s most daring escape artists, famed for breaking free from shackles and manipulating locks, one criminal captured the imaginations of a nation on the other side of the Atlantic. Called at various times ‘the Little Welsh Terror’, ‘the Little Turpin’, and Coch Bach y Bala – translated as ‘The Little Redhead of Bala’ – a Welshman named John Jones became a household name in 1879, when he managed to escape from Ruthin prison, Denbighshire in north Wales, while awaiting trial. What followed was a series of prison breaks that evoked the talents of a vaudevillian escape artist, and saw Jones dubbed ‘the Welsh Houdini’.
Coch Bach’s early years We know very little about John Jones’ early years, his name being common in Wales means that pinpointing his exact place and date of birth has proved impossible. Sources suggest that he was probably born in the parish of Llanfor, near Bala in north Wales, around 1854, and was raised by his grandmother. Jones began his criminal career at a young age.
He had his first brush with the law when he was six years old, when he was allegedly whipped by a police officer for stealing eggs from a nearby farm. Young Jones would often steal random objects from neighbours and store them in walls or hedges before returning to collect them later – a practise he continued for the rest of his life. A penchant for crime.