BOLD ATTEMPT

Hokitika Guardian, 27 September 1933, Page 2

BOLD ATTEMPT

; '/ TO ESCAPE-GAOL. ',! ' A DARING RUSH. A prisoner in' the county gaol at San Jose, : Santa Clara, California, named Leo Redoni, lately missed his dream of freedom by exactly two coat tails.

Itedoni had been planning for some time h'dvv he/ could escape aid avoid trial.on a theft charge. Then opportunity knocked on the corridor door, Into, the prison came 30. ministers front a Presbyterian synod in' session on a tour of inspection. As tie group milled around, looking here and there, Itedoni from some secret hiding place produced a pair of. dark glasses and • a ilap-brimmed ecclesiastical hat. So 'accoutred lie joined the group in ,the gaol kitchen and became one of them. He even called a couple of them “brother”— and “got away with it.” The inspection concluded, Itedoni and the others shook hands with the warders, thanked them for their courtesy and walked out of the prison yard. Many of the ministers were strangers, to each other, and Itcdoni’s joining of their group passed unnoticed.

Redoni’s long dream of liberty, says a correspondent of the San Francisco Chronicle) lay straight ahead down the sunlit street. Then came Deputy 'SheriffJohn Moore, who, heading for the gaol, passed the group of clerics -at the yard entrance. He had seldom seen such a distinguished gathering. Somewhat awed by their dignity and imposing importance he glanced back at them as they passed. His eyes roved over the group, taking in their decorous mien. Suddenly he started. Right in the middle of the group was a man without any tails on his coat. His knee action, exposed to view by the deficiency, did not have the measured stride of one used to church aisles. It was jerky and nervous. Mr Moore looked again and saw the dark glasses. Without a sound he dived into the startled gioup and gathered Leo Redoni to the ungiving. bosom of the law. The ministers /protested at one of their number being ruthlessly grabbed off the. sidewalk in such a manner by a strange man with a determined expression; But Mr Moore took off the dark glasses and flap-brimmed, hat of the prisoner and indicated the absence of coat tails, and the clerics were convinced. ; •

Redoni was back in a cell that night on a diet of bread ahd water. His disguise, found a resting, place, in , a drawer in the sheriff’s office. .