DARING ESCAPE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 28, 3 February 1932, Page 8

DARING ESCAPE.

PRISONER IN HOSPITAL. CUDBY. ELUDES WARDER. WIFE'S ARREST FOLLOWS. NO SIGN OF CRIMINAL.

After an unsuccessful attempt to escape from the Auckland Hospital last evening, Roy George Cudby, aged 2S, a prisoner serving a sentence in Mount Eden gaol, whose left eye was removed on Sunday, succeeded in eluding a warder who was on guard in ward 20 and made good his escape at three o'clock this morning. Cudby's escape, in the opinion of the police, had been cart fully planned. His wife, a lialf-caste Maori, was later arrested near the hospital by Detective Wilson, in possession of a, complete outfit, believed to be for liar husband. She appeared at the Police Court this morning on a vagrancy charge, and was remanded in custody for a week. Cudby was transferred from the gaol to the liospital on January 27. His left eye had been defective for some years, and as it was sightless and troubling him, the prison authorities decided that it should be removed, ihe operation was performed on Sunday, and the prisoner since then had been confined to bed in ward 20 of the Wallace wards. During tho whole time he was in hospital three warders weie detailed to take care of him, each warder serving eight hours on duty at the ■prisoner's bedside. Since the operation his eye had been bandaged. lie was recovering, and, bodily, he was iu good health. Attempt Last Night. " Last .night. Cudby left his bed and made a dash for freedom'. For several minutes he could not be found, but he was • eventually located by his warder hiding underneath-a bed in another ward of the-same building. Ho was escorted back- to-bedj and afterwards he appeared to be soundly asleep.

At three o'clock this morning, it is learned, Cudby asked permission to go to the lavatory. He was taken to .the lavatory, the warder meanwhile waiting outside the door. A hospital official stated that it was not known whether the door was locked or not, hut that the warder became suspicious of Cudby and ran outside the ward to watch the window. Cudby then escaped through the door. He was seen to slip into the sluice room adjoining ward 20, and he made his exit by an open window situaated on the first floor of the Wallace ward block, some distance from the asphalt yard below. Pausing for a few moments on the window ledge, Cudby made a rapid survey of the wall, jumped on' to the roof of the dispensary and let himself down easily to the ground. •At. the time he escaped,. Cudby was clothed only in a singlet and pyjamas, all his clothing having been taken away from the ward when he was admitted. The police received information that a man answering to Cudby's description was seen about 4 a.m. walking south along Khyber Pass. The police were notified immediately after the escape, and one party left for the hospital, and also searched the Domain, while another went to a street in Ponsonby Where it was known Mrs. Cudby resided. Wife's Case of Clothes. • Detectives Wilson and Bowman found Mrs. Cudby in the vicinity of the hospital grounds near the Domain, and took her into custody on a charge of being an idle and disorderly person. The .police state that she was found in possession of two overcoats and an attache case containing a complete outfit of women's clothing, a woman's hat, a pair of men's shoes, a razor, mirror, powder and rouge. Amongst the clothing in the case was found a note from Mrs. Cudby to Cudby in which she wished him luck and advised him to be careful of himself. The police state that it seemed evident that the clothing was for Cudby, who would probably masquerade as a woman in order to escape recapture. If these suspicions are correct, it would appear that husband and wife did not find each other. A diary with some notes, also a note believed to have been written by Cudby, in gaol, to his wife, was found by Detective McWhirter when he searched Mrs. Cudby's room this morning. Inquiries show that Mrs. Cudby was in bed at 11 o clock last night. As she was arrested hear the hospital about 4 a.m., she must have left her room in Ponsonby for the hospital at an early hour this morning. Escaped from Wellington Hospital. This is not Cudby's first cscape from a hospital. On January 31, 1929, he was sentenced at Wellington to a period not exceeding three years', reformative detention on a charge of theft. Late the following month Cudby was admitted to the Wellington Hospital, and remained there until April 26, 1929, when he escaped. He was not seen again until November 27, 1931, when Detcctive McWhirter met him in Newmarket. Cudby told-the detective lie' had escaped from Wellington, as lie wanted to make a fresh start, ■ .and that he had walked from" Wellington to Wairoa, where he got employment. Detective McWhirter' arrested Cudby and afterwards searched the house he occupied at Avondale. In Cudby's bedroom he found stolen property, 10 keys and a seven-chambered revolver, loaded in live chambers. A quantity of ammunition was also found.

On December 14 last Cudby appeared at the Supreme Court for sentence on chargcs of escaping from lawful custody; procuring a revolver without lawful right, attempting to steal from a dwellinghouse, breaking and entering a shop and committing theft, and breaking and entering a house at night and committing theft. ' A Bad Record." When he appeared for sentence at tiie Supreme Court the judge, addressing Cudby, said: You were sentenced to imprisonment on January 31, 1929, and escaped on April 20, to" be recaptured a few days ago. Your record, of course, is a .bad "one. You have made a pica to me for leniency and say that you have tried to live honestly, but you were unable to do lhat because of your eye, and were forced to commit these offences. If, after you were married, you proposed to live an honest life, you should not have broken into this burst of crime. There are. five charges against you and they are undoubtedly serious, iou are sentenced to one year's imprisonment for escaping from lawful custody, three months for unlawfully procuring a revolver. two years with hard labour for attempting to steal from a dwellinghouse, three years for breaking and entering a shop at Hastings, and three j years for breaking and entering a dwellinghouse at Otahuliu. All these sentences are to be concurrent, and will be cumulative on tlie sentence you are at present serving. Since he escaped this morning, a large force of defectives and uniformed men have been searching for Cudby, but so far not a trace lias been seen oi the daring escapee.