Blackmailer’s Futile Dash for Freedom

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 732, 3 August 1929, Page 18

Blackmailer’s Futile Dash for Freedom

Sentences Totalling 217 Years

HERE are two convict establishments in the United Kingdom which ■ Jriy ■ ljU the criminal hates like poison Peterhead, which is situated on a bleak part of the Scottish coast, and Camp Hill, the preventive detention prison in the Isle of Wight. But the prison the hardened criminal loves to get to is Parkhurst, which lies just below Camp Hill, and is known to convicts as “The Home.” Quite a number of men, tired of confinement, have attempted to escape from Parkhurst, but, as it is almost impossible for them to get away from the island, they have all been recaptured in the course of a few hours. It was a key which played a great part in the recent attempted escape from Parkhurst. Two prisoners were concerned in the adventure, George William Taylor and another, who had previously tried to get away from durance vile and had failed. Taylor was the head of a gang of blackmailers who, over a period of several years, tortured an ex-army officer with their threats, and had extracted from his no less a sum than £IO,OOO. The officer, though he had nothing to be afraid of, for he was completely innocent of the offences which the blackmailers threatened to charge him with did not go to the police. Two blackmailers were convicted at the Old Bailey, and on one of them was found a new £5 note. This was handed to Chief Inspector Collins, of Scotland Yard, who traced it to its source, and found that it was one of a number of notes which had been handed over a bank counter in exchange for one of the officer’s cheques.- Mr. Collins sought the officer, learned the story, and then found that the case at the Old Bailey, already referred to, had scared the gang which had been bleeding the army officer. They had scattered to the four winds. Taylor had gone to Belgium, the others were in remote parts of England. Mr. Collins, working with great secrecy, bided his time, and, like Brer Rabbit, “lay low and said nuffin.” Lulled into security, the blackmailers drifted back to London and into the net which Mr. Collins and his assistants had spread for them. It was a long time before they got Taylor, but in the end they surprised him in bed one Monday morning, and with his capture the whole gang were In safe custody. The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Hewart, trie<\ the case at the Old Bailey, and passed exemplary and deterrent sentences. Taylor was convicted on 17 counu of the indictment, and the -Lord Chief Justice passed upon him nine sentences of penal servitude for life and various other terms, totalling in all 217 years. In course of time, and in accordance with prison routine Taylor, having spent a few months at Wormwood Scrubs and other prisons, arrived at Parkhurst, where he speedily got into touch with another guest of his Majesty's. Convicts have many ways of secretly communicating with each other, and apparently these two hatched a plot which, if successful, would give them at least a few hours

of liberty, and perhaps more, if they were lucky enough to reach the mainland. Taylor’s assistant in the plot, whom we will call X, had already made one attempt to escape whieh had been foiled, and in consequence, before he went to bed every night, he had to place his clothes outside his cell door. In Parkhurst Prison there are three halls. A, B and C. Both Taylor and X were confined in cells in B hall. Now at 7 p.m., when the prisoners are all in their cells, most of the warders go off duty, leaving a patrol in each hall, who is relieved at 9 p.m. by the night warder.- X had put his clothes outside his cell door as usual, but, when doing so, took the opportunity, when the patrol’s back was turned, to Insert half a key in the lock. The warder seeing X inside his cell, closed the door and proceeded on liis way. X, however, had no thought of going to bed. He had in some mysterious way managed to bore a hole in the iron plate on the inside of the cell door, the aperture, just large enough to insert one’s little finger, being immediately back of the keyhole. X had the other part of the key in his possession, and inserting it, engaged it with the first, so that with a sharp twist he was able to unlock the door and let himself out into the hall. He had also obtained some clothes —how he did so has not yet been discovered. Watching his opportunity, X dashed down the hall, unlocked Taylor’s cell and let him out. Then the two convicts crept quietly out of the hall, unlocking the relocking two doors on their way. Then they were in the grounds of the prison, the first step to freedom accomplished. But it was now that Fate took a hand in the adventure. One of the warders living in quarters inside the prison walls had dressed himself for a Saturday evening stroll, when he thought, as the night was chilly, he would make up the fire, so that Jie could return to a warm room. The coal-scuttle was empty and the warder proceeded to the back of the quarters where the coal is stored. Arriving there, he found that a lamp which usually illuminated the spot had been extinguished. Looking round for an explanation, he saw two fleeting shadows pass across the white-washed wails of the prison. Coolly he turned and hastened to the warders’ club, gave the alarm and had the gaol surrounded. The grounds were searched, and Taylor was recaptured before he could get outside the walls. There was no trace of the second man, X. It was at first thought that he had eluded the warders and got away; but when Taylor was taken back to his cell the warders went on to the cell which X had occupied. To their utter astonishment they found him in bed and apparently asleep. He had used the same means to get back as he had to get out. Both men were found to be in the possession of money, one of them had a railway time-table, and in their beds were dummy figures which would make the night warder, when he peered through the peep-hole, believe that the prisoners were safely locked up. Had it not been for the emptv coal-scuttle, Taylor and his friend would have got clear away, and the probabilities are that their escape would not have been discovered until 7 o'clock on the Sunday morning, when the cells are opened. By that time two such ingenious and entei'prising men might have reached the mainland and disappeared into the blue.