THE PRISON ESCAPEE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 144, 5 November 1912, Page 5

THE PRISON ESCAPEE.

A SCUFFLE IN COURT. A REMARKABLE CASE. By Telegraph—Press Association. Whangarei, Lost Nfoht. The prisoner Huston was before the Court all day. He was committed tm three charges of burglary and theft, and two of breaking custody. Huston nV> mitted the detective to a satirical examination on the search made when fee had a knife concealed, with which he cut his way out of the cell, finally remarking: "After your search I could take a sawmill into the cells." The prisoner was carefully watched this afternoon, as he stated that he would repeat the morning's performance and release himself from the handcuffs. Solicitor Edmunds, at the close of the first ease, declared himself as counsel for the prisoner, and asked for an interview. The police objected, as counsel was not engaged by Huston. Mr. Edmunds addressed the Bench lengthily. The Bench declined to allow him to interview the prisoner. Mr. Edmunds then handed prisoner a paper, which was quickly snatched by the detective. A scuffle enbetween the police and Mr. Bdmunds, who was finally thrown over a chair. Mr. Edmunds appeared in two later cases against Huston, and then abruptly left the Court without comment. When taking the prisoner from the Court to the cells to-night, a crowd hooted the police and gave cheers for Huston.

BAFFLING THE POLICE. - SLIPPING THE HANDICUFFS. Whangarei, Last Night. Huston with four aliases, was before the Court to-day on two charges of burglary, and two of breaking custody. During the hearing of the case, while .waiting, he freed himself from the patent American spring handcuffs, and then jroared laughing at. the police and the detectives. Another search did not reveal any possible instrument likely to be used- to. assist him to free himself. The detectives and the police are bathed. Huston will not say how he accomplished the feat. HUSTON'S RECORD. A VERY CUNNING CRIMINAL,

Auckland, November 1,

Interesting details have been obtained locally regarding Huston, the escaped prisoner who was recaptured yesterday m the Whangarei district. After he had been taken aboard a launch and while proceeding up the harbor, Huston became communicative to an extraordinary degree. He stated be effected bis escape from the Whangarei gaol by means of a small penknife which was eventually found in effective concealment about his person. In vividly describing the means whereby he brought about hi« release from durance vile, he said that after cutting through the floor boards he became jammed in the narrow aperture so tightly that he actually contemplated screaming for assistance. In -fact his plight was so extreme that for a quarter of an hour he had to saliva his chest before he could slip through the finched'opening. The correctness of this statement was sealed when examination of Huston's body showed it to be badly lacerated. His cheeks were also severely scratched. Huston also stated he had greater difficulty in burrowing through the gravel and earthwork banked in the cells than in getting through the planke., He further explained that the moisture of the floor of the cell which had puzzled the potiM was caused by the sweat of his exertions on two occasions. Huston remarked he had been hunted by blood hounds ooM in America and again in Western Australia. Once he was caught by this means, but the other time he evaded the sleuth hounds by retracing his for a mile and then*jumped over a precipice. Sub-' sequently he ascertained that the hounds were in this way foiled, having followed the scent up and down for a very long time without avail. On the way up in the launch, the prisoner gave a: practical demonstration of his ability to release his wrists from a pair of police handcuffs by the use of an ordinary pin. . He remarked he would have given £5 at the time he burgled the hotel at Whangarei to have known in which room Detective Hollis was sleeping so that he could have relieved him of his belongings. The Australian Police Gazette characterises Huston as one of the most cunning and dangerous criminals in the Southern Hemisphere at the present time. He carries a bullet in his back which was fired by a police patrol on- one of the occasions when he escaped from gaol.