A CONVICT'S ESCAPE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXX, Issue 2483, 9 June 1888, Page 2 (Supplement)

A CONVICT'S ESCAPE.

Julks Renaux, a French ticket- of-leave man, employed in the office of the prison at Noumea, was recently missed, and, contemporary with his absence, it was discovered that a sum of money, the property of the Government, was also gone. Search was made for him, but he was not on the island, and the ships in the harbour were watched without any clue to his whereabouts being discovered. One outward-bound vessel was supposed to have the prisoner on board, and a warder was ordered to accompany her, He searched several times without success, and it was not until he landed in Sydney that he learned for certain his man had been a fellow passenger. Probably some friends had kept hiin carefully out of sight, and the warder never saw him. He found out too late, however, that when searching one night he came upon the prisoner in conversation with the firemen one of whom promptly placed a candle in his hand, and bade him escort M.le gendarme over the boat. And so they went, policeman and prisoner in company, and a most careful search was instituted by the prisoner for himself. The officer gave up the chase at Sydney, and the escapee is now speediug over the waters to his native land, once again a free man.