A PRISONER AT LARGE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 449, 28 January 1909, Page 3

A PRISONER AT LARGE.

Archibald John McNeil, who was serving a sentence in the Terrace Gaol, Wellington, for obtaining money on false pretences, escaped on Saturday morning at about 11 o’clock. He was in the yard in charge of a warder when he bolted down the hill and escaped attention. He was seen making for the gully at the back of the gaol, and evidently hid himself amongst the scrub there, with the intention of getting clear away from the prison. McNeil has broken bounds before, at the time when he was deemed to be an habitual criminal, and was on probation on a Government larm in Taranaki. He then got clear away and reached Wellington, where he was alleged to have committed the further offence of procuring money by false pretences. Subsequently he was arrested and sent to gaol. McNeil is 35 years of age, sft 5 Jin in height, medium build, fair complexion, close shaven, brown hair, and brown eyes, has a slight scar on the bridge of the nose, ; and the first finger of the right hand is crooked at the first joint. He was seen in Woolcombe Street, not far from the gaol at ten o’clock recently. On Saturday night a lady occupying a house in Woolcombe Street retired to her sleeping room. She thought she smelt burning tobacco, She got into bed and read from a book. The smell of burning tobacco persisted, and she leaned over and looked under the bed. A man in convict dress was lying under the bed on an old dress and was smoking. The lady was naturally alarmed, and immediately rushed out of the room screaming. The convict escaped by the window, leaving his gaol boots, head covering and jacket under the bed. On investigation by the police it was found that the articles of clothing were those that bad been worn by They were soaked with rain.