THE MASQUERADER

Hokitika Guardian, 11 March 1929, Page 5

THE MASQUERADER

RELEASED FROM GAOL,

(United Press Association.—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.)

LONDON, March 8

The woman, Barker, lias been released at Holloway gaol. The release was perhaps the most dramatic of any individual. adventure in her career. She was attired in a brown tweed costume and a black velour lint She was smuggled through a small side door at the rear of the prison, used by officials alone. She at first was led along the side of the moat to the back of the prison, where a. six-foot brick wall barred the way. The woman Barker made light of this harrier by pressing her foot in a niche of the brickwork and vaulting over into a garden. She was in a most jolly mood, laughing and joking with a cigarette in her mouth. Meanwhile the -main gates of the prison wer besieged by such a crowd, mostly of women, that the mounted police had to be summoned. The crowd continued to grow, and it waited from three to four hours. A decoy car then swept from the prison, containing two wardresses, against whom another woman was huddled.

The crowd, however, were not deluded. They burst into laughter and refused to move.

When Barker was taken through the secret doorway at the rear of the prison, she was faced by two resourceful pnotograpliers, who suspected the possibility of this ruse. She hurriedly hid her face in her hands, and then jumped into a waiting car, which rounded the road in view of part of the crowd. She was leaning hack, smoking a cigarette. Her solicitor states the next step will he a public examination of the woman in bankruptcy, the date of which is not fixed.

Barker was not long released before she was besieged by newspaper offers for her life story. Jt is understood that this lias been secured by a group of London newspapers for a. big sum. Barker was released after having supplied information regarding her bankruptcy, and thereby purging contempt.