CAPTURE OF CHRISTIE.

Southland Times, Issue 1622, 20 August 1872, Page 3

CAPTURE OF CHRISTIE.

In our last issue we stated tbat nothing was definitely known of the whereabouts of the escaped prisoner, Christie, and it was not till Saturday night that information of a specific kind was received by the police as to the direction he had taken. Acting on the clue obtained, Sub-In-•pector Fox, and Mr Fraser, Governor of the Gaol, started at 630 p.m. in dijHH-sirit, »nd went as far as Menzies's Ferry, where tbey rested a few hours, j They then proceeded as far as the Mataura Bridge, taking with them Constable Purdue, stationed there, dey crossed the Mataura at the Long on the afternoon of Sunday, and staking towards the Waikaka, saw tracks _fc the snow on the Crown Ridge, which identified as Christie's. The tracks, Ibllowed for two or three miles, ultimately ted them to a shepherd's hut, where it ! wae discovered tbat Christie had recently partaken of a meal. It may be stated that Christie was well acquainted with this part of the country, having been for some time employed as a buliock-driver on the station, which belongs to Mr M'Nab. As evening was fast closing in, no time was lost in following up the information acquired, and his three pursuers, having taken different directions, closely examined the neighborhood, and shortly alighted on the object of their search, who was found concealed in a gully, close to a swamp, to which he had been making when he discovered that his pursuers were at hand. Having been challenged by Mr Fox, Christie submitted to be arrested, without resistance, and was taken to the Long Ford the same evening*. "Being brought into town last night, he was safely lodged in gaol about six o'clock. Christie after tome time became communicative, and related that on getting over the gaol fence, having previously thrown over a loaf of bread, be kept on the grass, going round by the Courthouse, and over the Puni Creek bridge, crossing to the Seaward Bush by the back of Mr Fraser's house (the old Victoria Hotel.) During his run he did not meet with a single individual. He dodged in the bush all day, without seeing anyone, until he came out at Mr Lawrence's, and had his tea there the . same night, representing that he was looking for a horse. After Mr Lawrence's lad had shown him over the Waihopai, which was flooded, he went across tbe flat and took the Seaward Bush at the back of Mr Coupland's. He lost himself in that bush until the Wednesday evening, when he gained the open again, and made for M'Lennan's, at Mavis Bush, in tbe hope of getting something to eat. On reaching the road, he heard two horsemen coming along, who proved to be Inspector Fox and Mr Fraser. He crouched down in the ditch in the shadow of the moonlight, and one of them, dismounting to open the slip-panel leading to M'Lennan's, passed so near him that he could have touched him. Fearing to be discovered, he went into the bush again, having first obtained an old velvet coat, an old black hat, and a pair of trousers. He kept in the bush till he came out at Morton Mains on Thursday j morning ; had a meal there, saying that j be had lost his way coming from Edendale. He then went on towards the Mataura, keeping a little lower down j than the edge of the terrace all the way, j and hiding in tbe tussacks when he saw I any one approaching. On Friday night, ! a little after dark, he got to Long Ford, and finding a boat on the west side of the river, got across, although with some difficulty, from not being acquainted with • "the crossing. He tied the boat up on the east side some distance down the river, and camped on the ranges tbat night. On Saturday night he went up to Mr M'Nab's sheep-wash, where he seems :;-: to have found something to eat. On Sunday morning, he went up the Crown Ridge, and arrived at a hut occupied by M'Fie, one of Mr M'Nab's shepherds. M*Fie was not at home, but when he returned, Christie, who was known to him, asked him to cross him over the Waikaka, which M'Fie refused to do. He then seema to have taken to the ranges again, and was discovered as previously described. For the last ten years, during which Mr Fraser has had charge of the gaol, this is the only instance in which a prisoner has succeeded in escaping, and during the nine days he was at large, Mr Fraser did not rest, night or day, along with Sub-Inspector Fox, until the prisoner was arrested.