AN AMAZING LIFE

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 318, 18 February 1910, Page 3

AN AMAZING LIFE

RECORD WALKING FEAT. Here is an amazing atory told by the London Telegraph, it is a transcript life and stranger than fiction, and pathetic too. "News has been received in London, says the Telegraph, "of the death of Joseph Creswick, who, while fleeing from justice, accomplished one of the most remarkable walking feats on record. Creswick was undergoing a sentence for forgery in Rhodesia, 'and was being conveyed from one prison to another by train, when he made his escape from his' guards. As his legs were heavny ironed the tusk was a most difficult one, but the prisoner was a man of infinite daring and Tesource, and" Tisked everything in his effort to obtain freedom. His opportunity came one night when the train in which he was being conveyed was between Buluwayo and Salisbury. ESCAPED IN HIS FETTERS.

"It was proceeding at a fairly last rale when he found that his guards were fast" asleep. Cres'wick without hesitation quietly opened the carriage door and jumped out. Hampered as he was by leg-irons, he seemed to be courting death. On reaching the ground he stumbled and fell, but was by no means badly hurt. "Once he fancied he heard a dog barking about half a mile away from him, and he gave himself up for lost, thinking that the animal must belong to a party sent out in search, but as the days went by and he travelled further and further from the scene of his' escape, his fear of recapture passed away.

■ "It was not until then that he seriously addressed himself to the task of getting rid of his leg-irons. As he had no file or a piece of metal of any description the task was a stupendous 1 one, especially as the found himself growing weaker, wild fruit being his' only remaining means of support. His legs, too. where they had come into contact with the iron, had become chafed, and the slightest movement caused him great pain. Dav after day and nisr'nt after night he rubbed his irons with the sharpest pieces of rock he could find, until at last his efforts were rewarded. ARRIVAL AT THE CONGO. "Just when Creswick was coming to the conclusion that he had Ibeen walking round and round without making much progress he fell in with some natives, who treated him in a very friendly manner. The wanderer made them understand that he was in search of a j river, thinking that if he could f.nd one and follow its' course it would lead him to civilisation. The natives gave him certain directions as to how to find 'a very long water,' which Creswick concluded must mean the River Congo, and for several more weeks he continued his weary tramp. HIS CAPTURE IN WHITECHAPEL. "Eight months after hh escape from the train between Salisbury and Buluwayo he was found by a party of Belgians lying in a weak and feverish condition about two hundred miles' from Leopoldville, in the Congo. They were much impressed by the man's story, and nursed him back to health and strength. [At Bomba. arrayed in a pair of cricket 'flannels and a football jersey, provided by his new friends, the fugitive found a" ship on which )-.e worked his passage to Antwerp. Fr-m there he got a ship to London. Tb'fc, liowever, led to his inidoing, for, v.-irfie -walking in Whitechapel one firi morning, he was recognised by Detective-Ins'pector Belcher, of Scotland Yard, wlio arrested him on the charge of escaping from lawful custody. ' "Ho was taken subsequently to Rhodesia bv Detective Brundell, of the j Rhodesian Police, as a fugitive offender, and for his escapade was sentenced %) aj further term of six months' imprison- 1 merit, and died in gaol." J