THE PRISONER'S BLOWPIPE.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1429, 2 May 1912, Page 4

THE PRISONER'S BLOWPIPE.

CUTE ATTEMPT OX CELL WINDOW FAILS. B7 TeleErant-Prcss AEseotfttleiLl Auckland, May 1. A youth named Joseph Christie, who has & long list of convictions for theft and houscbreaking ogainst him, attempted to escape from Mount Eden Gaol yesterday in a novel manner. Ths cell window is barred outside, and has a pane of glass inside the bars. It was the prisoner's unsuccessful endeavour to silently get. tha fiass out of the way, and then attack bo bars, that caused tho prisoner's detection, and investigation then showed some unusual ingenuity on his part iu the use of the blowpipe. To vapidly heat glas3 and then maie a sudden, application of a cold sponge is a method known to "cracksmen" for the rilent removal of glass in any shape or size from windows. Christie evidently was aware of this, and, though he had no blowpipe, ho managed to got hold of n candle end, and the stem of a clay pipe, and, with theso as an improvised blowpipe, he endeavoured to silently put out a portion of the window protecting tho cell bars. He had not, however, tho wherewithal for tho cold application to the heated glass, and, in experimenting with a view to arriving at an enicierit substitute, he broke the glass noisily, and precipitated his detection. This morning ho was brought be-fore Mr. Catten, S.JF., and sentenced to seven davs' close confinement.