ESCAPING FROM PRISON CAMP.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 274, 12 August 1908, Page 11

ESCAPING FROM PRISON CAMP.

'A LOADED REVOLVER. i ,T'(BY-TBLEGBAFn—PRESS ASSOCIATION.) r ; . Auokland, August il. At.-the- Supreme Court this afternoon Thoißas Leonard Easten, alias William "VVilsori, an athletic-looking young man; was indicted on a charge of breaking from custody at. Waiotapii on May 10 last. Sir. Toio explained that prisoner was serving ii'.sentence of. three years', imprisonment for highway robbery-at the Waiotapii camp. A number of prisoners were permitted t<} walk about' within certain limits. On May 10 prisoher left without per'iiiissioh. Ho was-discovered the following day some miles away dn the Napier-Taupb Road. A loaded revolver : and 30 cartridges were found on prisoner; wlien arrested by the constable". After prisoner • was handcuffed he told tho oonstablo' that had he known he was an officer he Would not have taken him to Taupo that liight; that the constable would havo cartridge at Rotorua. Prisoner also boasted'' that, he intended' to bail the constable up, take away his revolver, tio the constablo to' a' tree, get his horse, 'and get clear away. ; Prisoner. elected to give evidence on his own behalf. The revolver, which ho had stolen; was, he said, loaded when he broke into, the place. * It was' the only thing of value. in tno place, and of course he took it iritending-to turn it'into money on the first opportunity. . Ho had no idea of using it oii-ither constable.. . Cross-examined" by Mr. Tolo the prisoner admitted a! conviction _ for_ theft' in ;1905 at Blenheim, for'robbery in Napier in 1907, and arson at Nelson.

' The Jiuty without retiring returned a yerdiot of guilty, .and'his Honour sentencedprisoner, to two years' hard labour, - the sen-tence'.tb-be cumulative,'on the sentences he was' at present" undergoing, remarking that he intended, as ho had previously intimated, treatirig'escaping from the prison camp as a serious V.ioffence.' Prisoners were sent to HVaibta'pu as a,reward, or an incentive to good yljoliaviour, and it was quite evident tbat.'they had a fairly good time there.