BRIEF LIBERTY.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 19986, 22 July 1930, Page 17

BRIEF LIBERTY.

ESCAPEE RECAPTURED. COLD RIDE IN DOG BOX OF TRAIN VAN. (rEESS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.) WELLINGTON, July 21. A sensational end to a brief period of liberty occurred on the arrival of the Limited express at Thorndon Station this morning when James Alexander Scorringe. aged 23, an escapee from the Waikune Prison Camp, National Park, was found by a porter in the dog box of the guard's van. Daring though the attempt had been, Scorringe. was not satisfied and on being escorted to the Police Station he again made a determined bolt for liberty. It appears that Scorringe conceived xlie ingenious idea of "stowing away" on the Limited express when it stopped at National Park at 3.15 this morning, the onlv day of the week that it does so. He opened the dog box with a broken file, an ordinary key not being necessary for opening the door, and then for over six hours lie lay cramped in the little stuffy compartment while the train passed through the cold hill country of the Main Trunk line. In the early hours of the morning, unfortunately for him, he could only board the train on the side opposite the platform at National Park, which at Thorndon corresponded to the platform side. Therefore, on arrival of the express at its destination he had to await a favourable opportunity to slip out and make for cover. /

After the van had been cleared of passengers' luggage, a porter, following the usual procedure, looked to see if there were any dogs in the box, and he received a shock when he beheld a man inside. He immediately went for the assistance of the station foreman, who, in turn, summoned one of the three constables who were waiting on the station, and the escapee was taken into custody. He was being escorted along Thorndon Quay, en route to the Thorndon Police Station, where he would wait for the arrival of a prison van when, on reaching the intersection of Davis street, lie dashed away from the escorting constable and ran in the direction of the wharves. Although Scorringe is of athletic build and the constable ia a middle-aged man, the latter gave stern chase. After running in pursuit for about 200 yards, the escaping man was caught by the constable iust as he was in the act of scaling a wire fence, his trousers being caught in a hnrb. He will be charged in the Macistrpte's Court to-morrow with having broken away from lawful /custody.