Home Run. In Atmore, Ala., a baseball game between Atmore State Prison and Kilby Prison ended abruptly in the fourth inning, when prison guards took their eyes off the game long enough to discover that 19 convicts had cut their way to escape through a steel-mesh fence.

Shorn. In Doylestown, Pa., Charles Messantonio was sentenced to a year in jail for stealing and cashing checks after his attorney pleaded in court: "His family always considered him a black sheep, and that's the name he's lived up to."

Handy Reference. In Milwaukee, police wondered how burglars had stolen $1,200 from the Sailor Ann's tavern's locked, undamaged safe until Owner Gerrit Stell admitted that, since he could never remember the combination, he had scribbled it on a calendar over the safe.

Maw's Delays. In Los Angeles, retired Blacksmith Abraham Jones won an annulment of his marriage when he complained that his wife Amelia "had no love for me," once took three days to cook a chicken.

Wear & Tear. In San Antonio, held on suspicion of robbery, Robert Middleton asked officials to transfer him from the city jail to the county jail, complained that he was living in unsanitary conditions, had to eat poor food, at night could not sleep because of the noise made by newly jailed drunks.

Commandment 8-a. In Levittown, Pa., thefts of top soil from the grounds of the Hope Lutheran Church stopped after the Rev. Charles L. Ertman posted a sign reading: THOU SHALT NOT STEAL CHURCH TOP SOIL.

Overstaffed. In Chicago, seeking a divorce, Mrs. Marilyn Reilly testified that, after a 99-day honeymoon cruise, her husband Vincent informed her that since he already had a housekeeper, a chauffeur and a laundress, he did not need a wife.

Rendezvous. In Birmingham, Mrs. Earl Andrews told police that someone had broken into her parked car, made off with two tickets to the forthcoming policemen's ball.

The Big Push. In Milwaukee, charged with speeding 64 m.p.h. through city streets, Motorist Arthur Garrett was fined $50 despite his excuse: "Another car pushed me."

For the Record. In Nashville, charged with drunkenness, Vernon Shelton was asked by the judge how long it had been since he was last in the city jail, was promptly acquitted when he replied: "One year, six months, seven days, twelve hours, ten minutes and three seconds."

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