ROMANCE OF REME.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 89, 16 April 1927, Page 23

ROMANCE OF REME.

KING OF PRISON BREAKERS,

MAX THEY COULDN'T HOLD

When Georges Eeme was sentenced at Lyons to ten years' imprisonment, everyone in the crowded court wondered how long it would be before he is at large again, for there is not one among the many French prisons he has sampled that has "held this modern Jack Sheppard for long. . Heme's claim to be the '""King of Prison Breakers" is well justified, for he has made some most daring escapee—he blasts of 23 of them —on one occasion travelling France for several months in the garb of a chaplain whom he attacked at Dijon. In this disguise he actually officiated for a priest who was ill, performing a marriage ceremony. He then put the finishing touch to his audacity by persuading the i bride to elope with him! Reme's first escape took place 12 years ago, when he •was serving a life sentence at Lyons for robbery. One morning the warders discovered that Georges had tunnelled under his bed in the direction of the outer wall, with a perseverance that would have done credit to Monte Cristo and his fellow, prisoner. It took him five weeks to make the tunnel. After his escape Georges hid for three weeks in a cafe nest doo; to the prison, which the warders frequeatod. He then went to Marseilles, and there got into the hands of the police for a series of frauds on hotel keepers, representing himself to be the "Marquess de Remy." On the way he had stolen a motor car, and his first act on reaching one hotal was to ask tbe police to look after his car-. Posed as a Marquess. The owner of the car arrired on the scene and denounced the '"marquess" to the police as a thief, but the latter coolly produced the license and identity papers he had stolen with the car. and gave the real owner into custody as an imposter. He then fled with a quantity of jewelleiy ha had- ordered to be sent to his hotel. Unluckily, he met a detective officer on the plaform as he was tak'ag the train for Paris, and was sentencad to two imprisonment, going to Marseilles Prison to serve the sentence. A month later he was free again. He was surprised in the act of tunnelling under his cell, and he overcame the warder, w*th whom he effected a rapid change of clothing. Heme then liberated the other prisoners, who got away aftir injuring two warders. After the hue and cry had died down he went to Paris, where he lived for three years until his many frauds brought him into contact with the police again, and he was taken back to Marseilles to finish his sentence. He remained in prison for ten weeks before breaking out again. He was put in a special cell in a remote part of the prison, from which escape was supposed to be impossible, but by shamming illness he obtained removal to the infirmary, and on finding that he was the only patient, he overpowered the nurse in charge and made his way to freedom in her uniform. He left when the outer guard was being changed, and stopped and talked to them for some minutes. "Gentleman'* Thief. He had just got clear of tne prison when the alarm was raised, and armed warders opened fire on him as he dashed down the narrow street leading from the prison. He was hit by a bullet and just managed to reach the shelter of a religious house, where he claimed asylum without disclosing the nature of his wound. In the night he performed a rough operation on himself, removing the bullet and dressing the wound. When the excitement was over he got away to Paris once more, where he was soon at his old tricks. ?e boasted that he was a gentleman thief, who did his work in such artistic iashion that it was an honour to be robbed by him. Another boast was that he never robbed young and beautiful ladies. tlis vict s were either men or elderly ladies nc 3d for their lack of good looks. Alter his escapade in clerical clothes described above, he lived with his "wife" tor two years, and during that time kept clear of crime. Another lapse, however, brought him to gaol again, and provided grounds for another daring escape, which was aided by the materials his wife managed to smuggle into the prison after obtaining employment in the infirmary