ESCAPING CONVICT SHOT

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 774, 21 September 1929, Page 1

ESCAPING CONVICT SHOT

Daring Attempt Fails brought down near cover Lies Dangerously Wounded SHOT by a warder, while attempting to escape from Mount Eden Gaol late yesterday afternoon, John Leslie Buckley now lies in a serious condition in the Auckland Hospital. Attempting for the second time to escape, Buckley, a notorious criminal whose previous record has stamped him as a desperate man, was noticed by a warder. He was seen running for cover outside the prison walls and was called upon to stop. Disregarding the order, he was fired upon and brought down.

In consequence of his previous escape, Buckley has not been given outside work at the gaol, but his work occasionally brings him into the gaol yard, which is under constant supervision.

Probably the attention of the warders on duty had been diverted for the moment or two when Buckley was In the yard at about half past four yesterday afternoon, for he managed to cross the prison yard and scale the wall at some spot between the railway line and the Auckland Grammar School grounds without being detected. He was first sighted running across a patch of open ground, making for the shelter of the rough scrub land that lies between the prison, Khyber Pass and Mountain Road. A warder shouted to him to stop, but the prisoner ran on. The guards are armed with large bore Snider shotguns firing heavy shot, and it was with one of these that the warder took hurried aim and fired. Buckley fell Immediately. BOLD ATTEMPT The prisoner was at once picked up and carried Into the gaol, where he was attended to by Dr. C. H. Tewsley. It was found that one of the heavy shot had entered his back, and it was apparent that his condition was serious. He was removed immediately to the hospital, where an X-ray examination was made in an effort to locate the shot. An operation was also performed, but the shot has not yet been located. It is stated that his condition is §till serious. It is not known whether Buckley had a rope or any equipment to help him over the wall. Although appar ently not so well-planned as on the previous occasion, the attempt was particularly bold, as it was carried out in broad daylight, at a time when a close watch is kept by armed guards stationed at vantage points along the top of the prison wall. Had he managed to gain the shelter of the rough country near the pfison walls he would n odoubt have gained his liberty, if only for a few days. A clever and unscrupulous criminal, Buckley left a trail of crimes behind him on the last occasion when he gained his liberty. In October, 1925, Buckley was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment for breaking, entering and theft, and declared an habitual criminal. On May 25 last year Buckley and a prisoner named Frank Bailer, who was also serving a sentence for the same

crimes, slipped away while a squad of prisoners were being escorted to the school in another part of the prison. On that occasion they were aided in their escape by a skeleton key, which they had manufactured, CAMPED AT NORTH SHORE

Bailer was captured on May 30 while bathing In a pool at Shark’s Bay, Bir-

kenhead, near where the prisoners had established a camp. Following a sensational man hunt on the North Shore, Buckley worked his way down country, a car, stolen from Remuera being later found abandoned three miles from Taumarunui. Despite the untiring efforts of the police several houses on the North Shore had been broken into and food stolen. It was the cessation of these crimes and the stealing of the car from Remuera that pointed to Buckley having left the district. Buckley was. recognised in Wellington by a constable, but managed to elude him. However, on July 17 he was recaptured by Detectives McLennan and Jarrold. On several charges of breaking and entering, crimes that had been committed during his liberty, he was sentenced to terms of imprisonment, concurrent with the sentence he was serving at the time of his escape. On the charge of escaping from prison he was sentenced to an extra three years’ imprisonment. Buckley is 27 years of age.