SHOOTING AT THE POLICE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 151, 26 June 1907, Page 7

SHOOTING AT THE POLICE.

THE STORY OF A GAOL ESCAPEE. ! TEN YEARS' PENAL SERVITCDE I BATHURST. (NS.W.), June 12. lAt the Quarter Sessions to-day, I Thomas William Vaughan, also known •as Thomas Cant, the Berrima gaol esj capee, was charged with shooting at j Senior-Constable Patrick Joseph Byrne, :a t Forbes, on May 7. with intent to mm*i der him. There was a second count of | maliciously shooting at Byrne, with mii tent thereby to prevent his lawful api prehension. Accused pleaded not guilty, I and was undefended. [ Senior-Constable Byrne said he first I saw accused on May 7, about one and aj half miles from Forbes. Between 5.30 and 5.45 p.m. of the same day he saw a i man going into the scrub at the rear of I a house occupied by William Pennington. I He could only see his head and shoulders, as he was a quarter of a mile away. He became suspicious, and went in search, but could not find him. He afterwards I got Constables Kennedy and Bowden, j who were in plain clothes. He sent them to the front of Pennington's house, and I witn-ess went to a paddock and took up a ; position near the fence. He heard KenI nedy say something, and then heard two j shots. He heard a voice, which he afterj wards recognised, saying. "If you come j a step further, I will blow your brains I out." Witness heard a sharp report as '_f _ ___~.__ .._; _:~-u.., 1 TJ_ .u__

lot a pea-rine being discharged. He then ! heard Kennedy's voice, and rode in the ', direction whence it came. Witness saw I Constables Bowden and Kennedy and acI cused running across a common. Witness galloped after accused, and got close to i him near a dry lagoon. Witness called i out, "Throw up your hands, Vaughan,

and surrender." Vaughan. who was ten yards away, turned sharply round, and fired at him. and the bullet whizzed past close to his head. Witness fired three revolver shots over accused's head, and called on him to surrender. Vaughan put up his rifle, made a rush at witness, and said, "I'll never surrender." Witness' horse became restive, and accused again got away. Witness fired two shots at Vaughan's legs, but missed him. He again caught up with Vaughan, who appeared to be loading his rifle. Vaughan said, 'When I put this cartridge in. I will put you past following.*' Witness thereupon jumped off his horse, rushed at Vaughan, and knocked the rifle out of his hands, and threw him on the ground. Vaughan caught hold of him, and he had to hit him hard

on the chin to make him let go. Vaughan then started biting him on the leg behind the knee. Constables Kennedy and Bowden then rushed up to witness' assistance. On searching accused witness found 13 pea-rifle cartridges in a box and three loose ones in his vest pocket. Constable Daniel Kennedy said that he

j discovered accused secreted behind a I stump about 100 yards from Penningi ton's house. A pea-rifle was on the | stump. Accused ran away, and witness i two shots over his head. Accused i said, ""It you come a step further. I will : I shoot you." and at the same time fired, I a bullet humming past witness' shoulder. . | Witness fired at accused's legs, Vtt f i missed him. , I Warder Barrett, of Berrhna Gaol, said [ i that accused made his escape from the i J Berrima Gaol on April 17. He had been j sentenced by Judge Murray at Young in 1904 to seven years* penal servitude for arson. • Accused elected to give evidence. "I lam an innocent man,'' he said, "and i never attempted to fire at the police. I | escaped from Berrima with the intenI tion of proving myself innocent of the i charge for which I was imprisoned. I I went to Forbes to get the affidavits of . j several ■witnesses."

The jury, after a short retirement, returned a verdict of guilty on the first I count of shooting with intent to murder. ■ The gaol records showed that accused I had been twelve times convicted, on the j last occasion being sentenced to seven I years' penal servitude for maliciously i setting fire to a dwelling at Yonng, and i was due for release on February 4, ! 1911. He also escaped twice from cosj tody. i Accused pleaded for leniency. He said i that he was only 28 years of age. and bad spent ten years in gaol off and on. i 'Tt is no sin for a man to get out of gaol." he said. "I was allowed too : much freedom. A man loves liberty, and ; I took the opportunity of escaping." j His Honor agreed, and said if the | pla-ce was so laxly managed as to afford an opportunity of escape it was human I nature to try to escape. Accused was 1 sentenced to ten years' penal servitude, ! sentence to commence from to-day. I Vaughan then pleaded guilty to the | larceny of a gelding and other articles :at Forbes, and was sentenced to five i years' penal servitude, sentences to be i concurrent.