RELEASED FROM GAOL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLV, Issue 10179, 9 August 1924, Page 8

RELEASED FROM GAOL.

EX-BANKER’S TERM ENDS. FARROW’S EXCITING DRIVE. In the perfection of a bright summer morning, a frightened little man walked out through the gates of Parkliurst Prison, Isle of Wight, a few weeks ago, and was almost carried into a powerful motor-car by two men who had come to meet him. The little man was Mr Thomas Farrow, whose term of four years’ imprisonment for conspiracy and fraud in connection with Farrow’s Bank expired officially at seven o’clock that morning. Farrow had made a special request to the prison commissioners that he should be released either the day before or a few days after the time at which he was due to leave Parkliurst. The request was refused, but discipline was so far relaxed as to allow him to get j away before the normal hour of release. The ex-banker dreaded a hostile demonstration. In the Isle of Wight are several men and women who suffered by the crash of the Farrow Bank, and friends of the prisoner feared that angry crowds might be waiting for him at the doors of Parkhurst. Plans of campaign which suggested the most thrilling detective fiction were, made by these friends not only to protect FaiTow from hostile crowds, but to save him from reporters and photographers. The two men who went to take him away arrived In a large car hired at Cowes, the driver o-f which had been sworn to secrecy. It was the intention of the party to catch the first boat to leave the island, which was due out from Ryde at 6.45 a.m. Mr Farrow spent the entire term of his imprisonment in hospital, and he looked so miserable that a privileged onlooker wondered if he really enjoyed the series of cinema-like events which followed his departure from the great, grim building which stands in lovely grounds four miles from Cowes. De-psrate Chase by Pursuing Car.

As soon as Farrow left he was fol- ' lowed by a motor-car which raced after s him in a desperate endeavour to reach the fugitive party. It is extraordinary that no accident occurred, for tk,e pursuing car made frantic efforts to broadside Farrow’s car. At least two hours were spent in the pursuit, about 50 miles of island roads being covered. Some of the roads traversed were little more than by-ways. “I have been, all over the island for 40 years, and never been on these roads before,” exclaimed one of the pursuers. Pools were full of water, aud through these the cars splashed. All the time Farrow nev&r gave a backward glance, hut the chauffeur repeatedly had a hasty look to see if he had thrown his pursuer's off. Mr Farrow’s friends at last decided on a clever trick to checkmate the-w pursuers: One of the two men jumped out of the car as if to speak to the occupants of the. car which was following. The second car slowed down, and in'the brief space in which speed was slackened the first car made good its escape, disappearing into the green, twisting lanes, not to he seen again. Meanwhile people who were anxious for one reason or another to meet Farrow divided themselves up, some being stationed at Hyde and some at Cowes, while others were probably at Yarmouth. . , , . Mr Farrow is betieved to have driven* into Cowes about eight o’clock and , to have eaten a hearty breakfast at a popular hotel on the front with a. part} of friends. All inquiries at this hotel, even if made by those who declared that they actually had seen Mr Farrow there brought the reply that the elusive financier was not staying there either under his own or an assumed name. It was also believed that Far* j row’s friends had a small staff of servants in the town.

The two men who took Farrow away arrived in the town the previous night, and nothing was known of them, under the name by which, it is alleged, they made themselves known at one small inn. It is stated that Mr Farrow, with the help _of influential friends, intends to begin business affairs once more. At Parkliurst ho received the greatest care while in hospital. He had 22s due to him as money he had earned when he left. While at Parkhurst he was extremely reserved, only breaking his reticence to tell the prison official that when he left his one object would be to wipe out the memory of his imprisonment. Meanwhile Farrow, says a London paper, exists unofficially, but officially he does not exist, and it seems likely that for a time, at any rate, his friends are determined to save him from publicity.