RECAPTURED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24423, 8 October 1940, Page 6

RECAPTURED

THREE ESCAPED CONVICTS SURPRISED BY POLICE MEN HIDING IN SCRUB ONE MAN STILL AT LARGE (Peb United Press Association) AUCKLAND. Oct. 7. Surprised while hiding in a small area of bush not far from the Titirangi Loud av 6.30 a.m. to-aay and without offering any resistance beyond an attempt at bluff, three of the four men who escaped from the Auckland prison last Tuesday nisTU were recantnred by three constables taking part in the search tor them, on; convict was Randal! Reginald David Smith, a convicted murderer serving a life sentence, and the others Bryan James Ohehir and John Henry Silva, both burglars. They had eaten nothing for two and wore a heterogeneous collection of garments sioten from different places they had visited at night. Organised Search An organised programme of search began over a wide bush-covered area on Sunday and continued throughout the night, and the discovery by Constable A. J. McTavish of fresh footprints in swampy ground led to the apprehension of the hunted men. Tne circle of search was narrowed abruptly at 9 o’clock on Sunday night with the theft of a coat and a pair of trousers from a house nearly opposite the filtering plant on the old exhibition drive. All through the night, patrol cars; and police sentries kept a dbse watch upon the territory between the Titirangi Hotel and Parau, and early this morning Constable McTavish, Constable D. J. Dwan and Constable W. Saunders were detailed to patrol the area in the neighbourhood of the hotel. They went carefully through the undergrowth, inspected sheds, baches and houses, but found nothing suspi<;ous until they reached a small slip-rail on the other side of which Constable McTavish saw several footprints evidently made by someone in a hurry. The three officers separated. Constable McTavish took the top of the ridge and had net gone far when he saw Smith’s head appear cautiously from the other side of a fallen log. As the constable approached the log he saw Smith crouched' down behind it and near by his two companions, Ohehir and Silva, hiding m some scrub. From all accounts Smith, who acted as spokesman for the three, denied their identity, but the constable whistled a prearranged signal -to summon Saunders and D^van.

No Signs of Truculence At no time did any of the fugitives show any signs of truculence, even when they were being handcuffed, although they had ample opportunity while Constable McTavish was alone with them. The three convicts had ample tobacco, but from what they said they had had very little to eat since the night of their escape. For the most part they had lived on a packet of oameal and some raisins they had stolen from roadside grocery boxes belonging to farmsteads in isolated: districts, supplemented with edible roots they found in the bush.

Dirty and unshaven and dressed in variegated clothing " which, ranged from a football jersey' jto ; a suit of naval denim overalls, they presented a curious picture. Nevertheless they were in good phyical shape.

While the three constables with their captives were making toward the road patrol cars and about .20 officers on foot were converging' upon the area following an alarm given by a civilian a short while befcre that he had seen three men m the bush about 200 yards or so below the Titirangi Hotel. Consequently when the three constables and their prisoners reached the road they were met by a considerable number of men. The prisoners were searched and Silva was found to have about £4 in silver and pennies in his pockets. Smith, Ohehir and Silva were placed in separate patrol cars and brought to Auckland. As scon as they arrived at the Central Police Station Superintendent Cummings arranged for them to be given a substantial breakfast. The fourth man, David Fraser Watson, aged 21, apparently parted company with his fellows when they abandoned at Newmarket the motor car they took frcm outside a house in Seccombes road a few minutes after their escape from the Auckland prison. Watson has not since beep seen. It is said he has a chest complaint which would have precluded his risking the rigorous experience of nights spent in the bush and the doubtful diet of the fugitives from justice. Condition of Warders All three warders who suffered injuries on the night the four igien escaped are still in Auckland Hospital Mr J. G. Crawford, who suffered severe head injuries, has improve-' slightly, but is still in a serious condition. Mr J. W. Scholium and Mr A. Burgess, who are being treated for concussion and slight scalp wounds, are making satisfactory progress. Praise for all those who had taken part in the arduous search was given by the superintendent, of police at Auckland, Mr J. Cummings. Whether in their long watches at police stations or in traversing rough, difficult bush territories in the bad weather during the early stages, everyone engaged in the task which confronted them had upheld the traditions of the New Zealand Police Force. He made special mention also of the help given by warders from the Auckland Prison.

The Mayor of Auckland. Sir Ernest Davis, sent a letter to Superintendent Cummings congratulating him and his staff upon the success they had achieved. He said he felt sure it would bring'relief to householders generally, and that the citizens were highly appreciative of the efficiency with which the police in Auckland had undertaken their work.

The four men who escaped after critically injuring a warder were;Randall Reginald David Smith,. a labourer, aged 27, who was sentenced to death at Timaru on February 4, 1938, for the murder of an aged storekeeper at Arundel, Canterbury. The death sentence was commuted to imprisonment for life by the Executive Council. David Fraser Watson, aged 21, a seaman and labourer, who was sentenced to reformative detention for 18 months for arson. John Henry Silva, alias Shortcliffe, aged 25, a labourer and butcher, serving a term of two years for breaking and entering and theft at Christchurch. Bryan James Ohehir, aged 23, serving 18 months’ reformative detention on nine charges of burglary, and recently sentenced at Christchurch to an extra year for escaping from the Christchurch Gaol. WEAPONS IN PRISON DISCOVERY AFTER THE ATTACK An old-fashioned counterweight, «of the type, used at one time on scales and weighing machines, fastened securely with tape to a leather thong about a foot long, with a loop at the end and two hammers of the type used in the bootmaking and repair shops at the Auckland Prison, were found in the prison some time after the assault upon the three warders. A

surprising aspect is that such potential weapons could have been secreted. Each of the two hammers, it i« stated, like the counterweight, had a leather loop which could be slipped bn to the forearm. The counterweight

had a slot at one side, and the leather thong had been passed through the slot and bound round the remaining thickness of metal, which might have weighed up to half a pound.