OTAGO.

Press, Volume X, Issue 1189, 29 August 1866, Page 3

OTAGO.

ESCAPE OF TWO PKISONEBS. The "Daily Times," of the 25th inst., gives the following report: — Thomas Eobson, aged nineteen years, and Thomas Langham, eighteen, escaped from the Dunedin gaol yesterday afternoon, in a very daring manner, having commenced their operations by a murderous attack upon one of the warders, named Birt. These young ruffians had before tried hard to make themselves notorious by crime. • About three years ago, they begun by

stealing a horse and a couple of saddles from the stable attached to the house of Mr Brown, Loudon street. They went off to the Duustan, and when they were traced, they talked of the horse having been stolen from them. The saddles were recovered. The youth of tlie prisoners led to their being sentenced lightly. Almost aa soon as they got at liberty, they went into Oamaru or its neighborhood, and there they robbed a small jeweller, adopting a sensational style of proceeding ; but were afterwards cleverly entrapped, by Sergeant O'Brien. For this offence, Robson was sentenced to six years, and Langhatn to four years imprisonment, and they had been in gaol nearly two years. Each of them has been ill during that period. Lan_jham has been declared by the surgeon to be subject to palpitation of the heart, and he has done nothing beyond very light work for some months. Eobson waß being taught to work as a blacksmith, in connection with the operations on Bell hill; but he was removed from this because of the state of his health. He was, however, very handy with tools, and consequently he has been kept in the carpenter's shop, or put to light work about the gaol. The two were thus brought together a good c'ea 1 , in addition to their using the same exercise yard, and their being kept as much as possible from the older prisoners. It is only necessary to add one other preliminary explanation. Ever since the work on Bell hill was commenced, it has been the custom to leave but one warder on duty at or near the gate to tho debtors' side of the prison during such portions of the day as the prisoners were out at work ; for, except tbe cooks and one or two who were excused from work, there were no criminals near that part at such times. The warder at this gate was unarmed. Warder Birt was on duty at the debtors' gate yesterday afternoon. Eobson, who had been in the carpenter's shop during the forenoon, was sent to do some repair to the fire-place in the sergeant's room on that side of the prison ; and Langham was also in the quarters cleaning them out. These quarters are reached by a staircase close inside the gate, and on the left side; and the ground story, adjoining the staircase, is occupied by the guardroom, the door of which is in the passage from the gate, the room having one window looking into the passage and another into the yard. In line with the right side of the passage is the carpenter's shop, and some other workplaces; and on the side of the yard fronting the gateway, there is a row of small sheds, backing against the iron-work of the platform on which (except when the prisoners are at work on the hill) there is always an armed officer patrolling. The platform commands the stockade, as it is called, in which a great deal of stonebreaking was done; and the stockade has one of its faces to the bay, there being a narrow strip of dry ground outside, even at high tide. Eobson and Langham being engaged in the sergeant's room, as we have stated, Rob-son, about three o'clock, went to warder Birt and asked him to come and look at the chimneypiece, to see if it " would do." Birt went up, and Eobson pointed out that the woodwork of the chimney-piece was-loose. While Birt was looking at the thing, Eobson struck him on the back of the head with a heavy mallet such as carpenters use; and Birt being stunned, but still able to seize his assailant, more blows were given, until Birt dropped. He was helpless, and all but senseless ; but he remembers that his keys were taken from him, aud that a cloth was held over his mouth by one of the young ruffians. The other must have hurried down stairs into the gateway and unlocked the guard room. There he found one of Colt's patent revolver carbines, each of the five chambers loaded, and capped, together with two five-shooter pistols, similarly prepared; and possessing himself of these, he must have returned to the staircase, and given a a signal to his comrade who was watching over Birt. The keys would have enabled the desperadoes to have opened the gate and stepped into Stuart street. They must have decided that that course was more risky than, the one which they adopted, and which was certainly the more difficult and daring one. This was, to cross the yard, to get on to the sloping top of the coal shed 3, climb thence on to the platform, traverse the platform to the corner near the bellturret, and there drop down on the beach side. The villains calculated rightly on the effect which a cocked revolver-carbine and pistol would have upon any of the debtors, or upon those prisoners who were acting as servants. When the one who had been watching over Birt came down stairs, George Henry, a black man, who is acting as cook, came into the gateway, and seei ing what was being done, he caught hold of Eobson, who shook him off, and, presenting the carbine, threatened to shoot him if he stirred another step. Joseph Williams, a sailor, also attempted to stop one of the fellows, but was similarly dealt with. __ debtor who was in a shed adjoining the carpenter's shop, came out on hearing the scuffle upstairs; but he confesses that he . so much disliked the prospect of being shot, that he went as quickly as possible into the debtors' quarters and hurried upstairs. Several other debtors came into the yard ; but each who showed himself was " covered," and was sent back with an oath, and a threat of " a ball through him." Eobson and Langham then scrambled on to the roof of the coal-shed, by the aid of an open door. The one who was first on the steeplysloping roof helped the other up, and a pistol being dropped, one of them jumped back to the yard aud fetched 'it. Being on the roof, the climb to the platform, the run round it, and the dropping over on to the beach, were quickly managed, and the two young desperadoes were on the run down Cumberland street before an alarm was given within the gaol. As soon as this was done, Mr Stoddart sent a messenger to the Commis-

sioner of 'Police, and he also caused the prisoners to be fetched in from Bell hill, so that the majority of the warders might be at liberty to join in the chase. Mr Branigan started instantly on the receipt of the message, with every available officer. The men were traced along Cumberland street to Albany street, where they turned down until they readied Forth street. After mounting the rise there, they got into the Towu Belt, and were thus at liberty to choose a hiding-place or to make their way into the scrub adjoining the belt. In Cumberland street, the two passed close to a well-known resident in Dunedin; who, surprised by seeing the prison dress, could only ask, " Hallo! what's up, now ?" when he had a pistol shoved in his face, and was told tq. hold his tongue. Several children and women saw the rascals subsequently; and the track they took was in several places marked with blood, no doubt from hurts got in clambering on to the roof of the shed, or in dropping on the beach. What was possible was done by Mr Branigan and Mr Stoddard to find some clue to the course which the escapees had taken in the bush; but all this was fruitless. As evening came on, foot and mounted patrols were sent out; at a later hour, the whole of the force that could be made available was again engaged, in consequence, we believe of information as to the direction taken by the two rascals; but up to midnight nothing had been heard of a capture. We feel confident, however, that Messrs Eobson and Langham will soon again be within the Dunedin gaol; and then their chance of another attempt at escape should be, for a long time, made very small. Each of the convicts is well known to the police; and to aid possibly in their capture, Iwe subjoin a description of each, gathered from the prison books:— Robson: sft 7in or sft Bin high, slightly made, pale complexion, black hair, brown eyes, hair curly, face slightly freckled, has scars on his neck, and his whole appearance is delicate.—Langham : sft 4in high, stout, sallowish complexion, brown hair, grey eyes, has a scar on his forehead, and speaks with a most noticeable impediment. When they left the gaol, Eobson wore trousers of the prison grey, and those of Langham were of moleskin. Each of them also had on a cap and a smock frock bearing the prison marks; but the smocks and caps would no doubt be left in the bush. We hope it may not happen, but it was last evening regarded as a most probable thing that, during the night, the ruffians might rob some lonely house, for the sake of getting clothes to disguise themselves. Birt was attended to by Dr Hulme, the Provincial Surgeon and medical officer of the gaol; and subsequently Mr Burns, surgeon, who had also been sent for, arrived at the gaol. He soon rallied ; and, although he has four or five very ugly cuts on his head, we are glad to be able to state that not the least fear of fatal or serious consequences is entertained. [The remainder of the narrative was given in a telegram published in our issue of yesterday.]