RE=CAPTURE OF SMITH.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 203, 21 May 1908, Page 8

RE=CAPTURE OF SMITH.

MOUNTED AND ARMED WARDER BAILS HIM UP. PEOPLE OFFER HIM FOOD AND ARMS. (ox TELEGItArjI.—SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.) Auckland,! May 20: Tlio story of the rccapturo of the convict Smith—who was serving a scntcnce of ton years', imprisonment for burglary, and for attempting to shoot a constablo at Auckland, and who 011 Friday leaped from the Rotorua express whilo travelling in custody from Waiotapu prison camp to Auckland— makes interesting reading. Yesterday morning AVardor Richards and / a man namedFrank Ottaway left Drury at f.30. When: they; wero within a milo and a half of Hu'nua; Richards suddenly noticed a man emerging from somo denso manuka scrub about 200 yards' ahead. , Ho, recognised the man as Smith, and the watchers cautiously waited till ho had taken tho road and was walking along with his back to. them. "HANDS UP." Galloping along tho. grassy side of the road, Richards got within ton yards of tho man boforo tho lattoif discovered there was anyone in the vicinity, and when tho pedestrian turned his head ho found himself looking into tho muzzle of a revolver. "Bail lip, Smith," shouted tho wardor, "or I'll put a bullet through your head." Smith was so astdnishod thatVfor a moment lie conld'only gazo; in, amazement at his captor. .Jumping down from his-horse, and. still keeping Smith covered with the reyolvdr,. Richards said,: "I've got you, Smith. If you've got arms .-about - you, it's no use, for LJiavo. the drop on y'ou., ' Put up your, hands." Tho corfvict held lip his hands,and tlio warder,-putting his revolven in his pockot;' drew out a pair of handcuffs, and caught hold of oiie of Smith's wrists. A STRUGGLE. The prisoner immediately started to struggle, ■ and tho, warder shouted out that he.would draw his revolver again; but'thoro was no.-necessity for this, as-110 managed to throw tho man after .a struggle and to slip tho handcuffs on. Ottaway by this time was' alongside/ready to assist, and. the prisoner, recognising that tho caso was hopeless, consented to' go quietly, and ho was marched/into Hunua.- ' When in custody again tho prisoner, not reticent about , his adventures since tho escape. Asked how ho managed it, he said he.. was passing from one railway, carriage to another, with tho warder close behind. The iron gato on the platform of the first carriage was opened, and ho leaped from there. He did not know whero the tirain was,, but ho alighted _ well off the line, falling into . a mass of briers and scrub which broke 'his fall, so that ho / escaped injury, 'beyond scratches on his faco and handstand several bruise's. t , HID FROM HIS PURSUERS. . A'few minutes afterwards'a railway jigger came along, and, he. lay concealed till ->it passed. This' statement shows that it was near-Drury whero the-prisoner accomplished his sensational leap from the express, as the warder sent a jigger back from Drury. Smith wont on to. say that ho kept to the rough country as much-as possible to dodgo tho police. Ho know they .were searching, as ho several' times _ saw Constables Lanigan arid Rati, they being pretty closely on his trail more than once.- ' ■ ,

He asked for food at'various farmhouses, and was helped by 'numbers of people with :food, clothing, otc., ,and ho was 'also offered arms, . which ,ho had refused. Tlio. moment when ho was surprised by the .warder ■ was tho first time ho- had como out on an open roadway since his cscdpe. \When seairched, the convict was found ,iri possession of Bs'. 6d., half a pound of tea, a quantity of sugar, and somo bread which had been given him/at farmhouses. He was wearing rough old.'clothes—also .given him by settlers,, lie said—and in a swag 110 was carrying wc,3 the suit of clothes ho had on at tho-timo of tho cscapo. ' ' '. V ,IN DEFENCE OF V/AIOTAPU. ' AVhen . capturing liira, the warder had feared that Smith was in possession of a revolver, but no weapon was found on him. Tho prisoner was placed on board the Waikato train to Auckland, closely guarded; and was-then conveyed from Newmarket station; to Mount Eden Gaol. The wardor, in an' interview, said:— ■ . "A .lot has been-said about '--Waiotapu, but I can assure you that there- is no stricter; or'more thoroughly conscientious officer in tho. service than Gaoler Rohorts, who"; is in charge of .'the camp. Ho is ono of the strictest men in tho service. I liavo beeii.in a_number of the big gaols, , and the work at. Waiotapu is liardeV than at any other gaol in Now .'Zealand, but j tho prisoners work well, arid-if. the right class were, drafted, there, there would, be nothing against, it. Latterly .we-.havp ,boe'n getting notorious criminals. Smith: was well known to, have an Australian record. Usher, who is still.at largo, has a Scotland Yard record, . arid : has been in gaols all over England and South Africa, and moreover is believed fcot to be quite sane, - THE WRONG SORT. "This, is'the class, of criminal that has been sent along there lately, and, of course, the result could only ho expected, and there was- one'oscape. after another. There was nothing to prevent tho prisoners bailing up all the warders arid then going off 011 a pandemonium of crime through tho district —a small army of'criminals lot loose. The work is undoubtedly hard. ' Every second day the warders'«o on duty from 6.30 a.jn. till 7.15 p.m., and thoy are often labouring alongsido the prisoners; but when dangerous long-sentence men are to -be. allowed to join tlie -camp and bo armed all day with picks* and mattocks, there is a big element- of danger." ; ■ • .