AVONDALE ESCAPEE

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8354, 14 February 1913, Page 7

AVONDALE ESCAPEE

JOHNSON’S RETURN TO AUCKLAND. WILL ENDEAVOUR TO PROVE HIS SANITY. Press Association. AUCKLAND, February 13. Thomas Henry Johnston, tho Waihi miner who escaped from tho mental hospital at Avondale, and had not been traced since ho left on January sth, returned to Auckland to-day of his own free will. There has always been a good deal of discussion as to whether he should have been committed to that institution, and letters which ho wrote after leaving Avondale created a good deal of sytnpathy for him. Johnston always maintained that he had been taken unawares, and that ho did not know until tho last moment that he was being examined with a view to his committal. It was insistently contended by certain people that the head of the hospital had told Johnston’s relatives that tho man was quite well. Since Johnston’s departure from Avondale it has been currently reported that he was at his homo in Waihi. This was not tho case, because tho police were not aware of his whereabouts. It now appears that he was in tho vicinity, and was closely in touch with his own family. Mr J. R. Lundon, of Auckland, who made Johnston’s case the subject of special investigations, managed to communicate with him recently, and advised him to report himself to the authorities and openly take steps to have his sanity admitted. Mr Lnndon’s letter reached Johnston, and tho latter informed tho Waihi police that ho proposed to como to Auckland today. Ho explained that ho was willing to do so under police escort. When Johnston turned up at Waihi railway station punctually on this morning, and formally gave himself up to custody, that was the first indication that tho police had of iiis presence in Waihi. He came on to Auckland by way of Thames with Constable T. Kelly. Johnston was accompanied by his wife and his little children. At the wharf he was met by Dr Beattie, the superintendent at Avondale, and the police escort (a purely formal matter) was ‘ dispensed with. It is understood that steps will bo taken to secure for Johnston leave of absence from the mental hospital, and that an opportunity will bo given him to prove his sanity. Johnston, who is looking remarkably well, was, in accordance with the Act, released for a period not exceeding twenty-eight days, and if by that time ho can get two doctors to testify to his sanity he will bo unconditionally discharged. Section 80, subsqction 2, of the Mental Defectives Act, 1911, says that “tho superintendent of any institution, on recommendation in writing of a medical officer, may permit any patient to be absent on leave from the institution under proper control for a period not exceeding twentyeight days, exclusive of the days of departure and return, and on such conditions as the said superintendent thinks fit,” while subsection 5 says that “any person so' absent on leave may at any time of his period of leave be discharged on receipt by the person who granted leave of a medical certificate that he is no longer defective, or that he no longer requires to be under oversight, care, or control.” ■