ESCAPED PRISONERS IN CUSTODY AGAIN.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 2996, 9 February 1926, Page 3

ESCAPED PRISONERS IN CUSTODY AGAIN.

SUBMIT WITHOUT FIGHT.

Auckland Yesterday.

The two prisoners, Charles Wahle and Samuel Rattray, who made a sensational escape from the prison camp at Rongitoto Island last Tuesday morning (in a dinghy fitted with an outboard motor) were recaptured at the back of Cowes Bay, Waiheke, yesterday morning, and brought back to Auckland last evening. Information that the men were somewhere in the vicinity of Waiheke Island was received by the police on Friday night and detectives Moon and McWhirter with Constables Butter, Yeoward and Audley were despatched by steamer. Constable Isley, who is stationed on Waiheke, states that yesterday morning, Mr. W. J. McConnell postmaster at Cowes Bay, saw the two escapees as they were leaving the rear of his store. They had something in a bag, biscuits which they had taken from the storeroom. McConnell immediately informed Constables Butler and Yeoward who, accompanied Constable Isley, went to McConnell’s place. Wahle and Rattray were traced into the bush behind Cowes Bay. After a search lasting two hours the police party at last were hot on the trail. The first to locate the two men was Sydney Weir, who saw the men in the bush. The other constables soon arrived and both Wahle and Rattray submitted to arrest quietly, contrary to expectations. Neither of the men appeared to have suffered from hunger or the weather. Both were clean shaven. In fact, their gear included a shaving ''outfit. The only thing they said they were in need of was cigarettes! Both were clad in civilian clothes having got rid of their prison garb. They wore ordinary caps. They stated the dinghy which they used to escape from Rangitoto Island was blown on the rocks near Church Bay, and wrecked, one side being stove completely in. They had been using a blanket for a sail and intended to make for the mainland when they were cast ashore, a distance of twenty miles from where they were arrested. They stated they had experienced a bad time since they made their escape on Tuesday. After both had been arrested and handsuffed, a search of the immediate vicinity revealed that the men had lit a camp fire. They had even killed a lamb and after cooking it over the fire, ate it.