ATTACK ON GAOL WARDEN Prisoner’s Vicious Punches

Manawatu Times, Volume 64, Issue 307, 29 December 1939, Page 8

ATTACK ON GAOL WARDEN Prisoner’s Vicious Punches

SYDNEY, Dec. 13. After battering warder Carl Harper at Long Bay (Sydney) gaol, a convict shouted: “Lock me up. I’ve gone mad.’* The prisoner is Harry Barker, aged 27, a notorious criminal, who is serving a sentence of 10 years for kicking a man to death in Surrey Hills in 1930. Harper, unarmed, was in charge oi the cookhouse, when Barker entered and asked the warder a question. Aa Harper answered and turned away, he was attacked. He ws viciously punched and knocked to the koor, and his face was severely pounded. The other prisoners became excited, but made no attempt to aid Barker. The noise created attracted other warders. They dragged Barker away from Harper, who was bleeding from his wounds, and was conscious, buR dazed. Barker ,a powerful man, was take nto his cell. Tempers have flared in gaols on several occasions this year, and Barker was a ringleader in a mass attack on wrders in Bathurst gaol a few months ago. He is recognised as one of the most recalcitrant prisoners in the State. H eis officially described a sa man who loses his temper on the slightest text.