AN EXCITING FIGHT.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 313, 3 November 1888, Page 6

AN EXCITING FIGHT.

A desperate attempt was made by 12 convicts to escape from a chain gang at Kennedy Police btation, Hong Kong, on the 18j-h of September. The affair occurred about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, when the men threw down their earth baskets on the new road which they had been making and made a dash tor the bamboo jetty at the foot of the hill. On j their way there they encountered the Sikh i guard Mehall Singh, who was on patrol at the jetty, and he, on seeing them coming, lost no time in pointing and faring his rilie at the foremost. The shot was well aimed, for it tore a fearful gash in the jaw of the man who received it, and the Indian quickly followed this up with another discharge which lodged in the abdomen of another member of the gang. Notwithstanding their hurts, the two wounded men ran on, with their four comrades, up the jetty and then jumped into a two-masted coal junk that was tying, half-tilied with coal, alongside. Immediately they passed tiie guard six other prisoners started forward and before Mehall Singh was aware of their" presence he was attacked by the whole mob armed with bamboos. After a short but' severe struggle, during the course of which he received a nasty scalp wound, his attackers wrested his unloaded rifle' from him, and throwing him violently to the earth ran for the junk. Assistant Turnkey Pereira, whose attention had been attracted by the shots, without hesitation rushed down the jetty in pursuit of the escapees, who were hoisting sails and shoving the boat off from the place. Pereira then, without waiting to think of the -danger attached -to the action, jumped aboard, . and the junk immediately - sailed away. In the meantime the attention of Turnkey Foulkes, who had run down from above on hearing the exchange of shots, was directed towards four coal coolies who jumped off from the junk into ! the water immediately the convicts boarded I her, and, swimming very fast, made for the land, keeping as much out of sight of those on shore as possible. Foulkes plunged into the wacer and, although greatly en•mmhered by his clothes, swam out to meet

them. Then a inosfc exciting struggle occurred, the men doing their utmost to disable Foulkes, bub his strength and agility in the water bested them, and, after great difficulty, he dragged no less than three of them ashore with him while the other was captured on toe beach These four men were locked up in the police cells, charged by Foulkes with aiding and abetting the escape of the pi'isonevs. It has been since ascertained, however, that the junk is one in the employ of Messrs Russell and Co, at the Rope Works, and it is ex remely probable that the coolies are entirely innocent of any complicity. : While this was going on Pereira appeared j on the deck ot the boat, and Assistant Head Turnkey Charlson called to him from the shore to jump out and swim to land. He wis in the act of doing this when convict No. 30 was seen to jump up and clutch him round the arms. Pereira struggled desperately to get free, but the poor fellow's foot slipped on the side of the junk, and, locked with his adversary, he was precipitated into the water. Immediately, prisoner No. 131 appea-edin the bow.s of the junk armed" with a long bamboo. He leaned over the side, and fetching his weapon down wi;h all his might, brought it with a terrible cra*-l» acruss Pereira's skuU. The unforcunate turrik< y immediately sank, still clutching his opponent, and neither of them has been seen since. The ruffian who committed the dastardly act did not go long unscathed, for, almost before be could withdraw the bamboo into the boat he was shot through the back by a bullet from the shore, and sank down on the deck. Assist mt Bead Turnkey Charlson, on seeing Pereira sink, ran down at once to a small punt lying moored close in shore and, jumping aboard her in company with | Assistant Turnkey Lewis, an Indian, and Assistant Turnkey Beringer, he hastily paddled out with bamboos to the junk. Ai rived within four of five yards of it, after great exertions, for the tide was strong, they were exposed to a continuous \ shower of pieces of wood and coal, which were hurled down upon them mercilessly jby the convicts. Subject to this galling attack they drifted back from the junk and gave up all hope of ever captur- | ing the prisoners. Fortunately Inspector Stanton of the police force happened to be passing in a launch at the time, and he ordered the captain of the launch to put I about and make for the spot. This was I done, and the Inspector, seeing the coal junk coming towards him, immediately guessed th* whole plan, and determined, although he was the only white man on board the launch, to frustrate the designs of the prisoners and prevent their escape. With this object in view he ran up alongside the junk and attempted to grapple on to its sides, but this, owing to the* excitement among the passengers, and the evident unwillingness of the helmsman of the launch, was found to be impracticable. A second attempt was made, and Inspector Stanton, who was standing in a rather exposed position on the side ot the ferry boat, was the recipient of several formidable lumps of coal, some of which caused very painful abrasions on his arms and body. However, many of the passengers returned the coal with interest, and several of the convicts, it was seen, were badly hurt. Of course it was not known then that there had been so serious a shooting afiray. Seeing that no attempt to board the junk without firearms was feasible, the Inspector quickly ran in shore to the bamboo jetty and took aboard three turnkeys and Indian constable No. 538, together with a Chinese constable. These were armed with revolvers. When they had got on board, a start was made in pursuit of the junk, which had drawn farther off and was now about 150 3'ards away. It was de cided to make an attempt to disable her by smashing in her rudder. The first attempt, however, although breaking in a good deal of the stern, had not the effect of crippling Her sailing powers, bub a convict who had been stnn'Jing on the side of the junk was knocked into the water by the shock of the collision." Inspec f or Stanton picked him up and had him immediately secured. All this time the shower of sticks and coal was being continued on Doth sides. A second attempt to smash the junk's rudder, made a minute or two after, was also a failure on account of the bad eteering of the helmsman of the launch, but a very badly-wounded convict was thrown over into the water, and he also was secured. A third time the launch struck the junk, and this disabled it. The convicts then held up their hands in token of suironder, and were made to walk aboard the launch, one at a time, by the Inspector, who stood over the gangway ready to use a formidable belaying pin. All were got aboard and Secured. The junk was then taken in tow and proceeded up the harbour. They arrived in safety at the Victoria wharf two hours after the first shot wa° tired. On arrival of the wounded convicts at the gaol, they were immediately put into hospital, and Dr. Ayres was soon on the spot. It was then found that the man who killed Pereii a had been shot in a slanting manner right across the centre of the back, another had the whole of his jaw bone and part of the throat mangled by a bullet, while a third had received a terrible gash from a bullet right across his abdomen. Two European warders and an Indian are slightly wounded, all on the scalp, but their injuries are nob serious. The three cases mentioned among the convicts are not expected to recover, but the other prisoners are only slightly wounded, and will be out of. hospital in a few days. One of the Indian guards is badly cut about the head and face, and has been sent to the Government Civil Hospital. On the morning of the 20bh of September the police discovered the bodies of Gaol Guard Pereira and convict No. 31 about filty yards out from the small bamboo jetty, from which, on the previous day, the escapees had taken the junk. The water being clear the corpses weie noticed lying on the bottom with arms outstretched and touching each other, and the searchers, obtaining some shrimp nets, brought them to the surface and convey them ashore. Pereira's death was occasioned by his own act of intrepidity in perhaps foolishly attempting to battle with ten men fighting for their liberty. Notwithstanding the fact that he was so surrounded, it is stated that he actually managed to fire fourteen rounds out of his revolver when aboard the junk, before he was attacked.