"ARCHIE" M'NEIL TAKEN.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 429, 11 February 1909, Page 8

"ARCHIE" M'NEIL TAKEN.

NEAR WANGANUI.

VIOLENTLY. RESISTS CAPTURE... ■■ After nearly three weeks' wandering at large, Archibald ..John . M'Neil, who .escaped from the Terrace Gaol on January 23, has again fallen into the hands' of , the-.police. Advice was received from Wanganui yesterday that M'Neil had been arrested by Constable Thompson.- It is stated that the prisoner resisted violently.. Ho'will be brought before the Court at Wanganui and remanded to Wellington. ■ _ It. would appear that some of the credit for the: captare of M'Neil is. due to the efforts of "Warders Baxter and ■ Blain; ■ who went in pursuit of the prisoner .until Monday last, when they were recalled from Patea. They set out from Wellington on bicycles, and riding day and night, covered altogether about 170' miles. . Traces ■ of M'Neil were discovered at Foxton,. Feilding, and Tu'rakma, and at the latter place the warders left the road and pushed'down to the mouth of the Wangaehu River, only to discover that their man had crossed on horseback about twenty-four hours ahead of them. After making inquiries between Wanganui and Patea, Warder' Baxter came to the conclusion that M'Neil was still in the. vicinity of Wanganui, possibly waiting to get away by steamer, and. the police authorities were placed on the alert.. . ■

HISTORY OF M'NEIL'S CAREER. A LIGHT-HEARTED CRIMINAL. ..Tho.ubiquitousArchibald John M'Neil, the 'light-hearted habitual criminal whose wanderings at large are invariably the forerunner of work, for .the police;-:is "proud of his record, each fresh victim: of his plausibility being- a .scalp which the misguided Archibald prizes as a businessman looks back'on a clever deal.; . M'Neil. is-an old friend of the-police, and hails individual members of .the.force with the' utmost cordiality on his periodical appearances at Lambton Quay; He was , bom at Scotland about 1870, and" arrived in Dunedin .when four years of age,: and first came prominently before; the. public ."in . 1893, since which date ho has'managed to keep himself .more.or less in the.public eye. . One of his'favourite pastimes was to go into. the. bar. of, an.hotel, and make friends ,with the barmaid, to.whom he would introduce' himself, as ah engineer .of a. Homo steamer which had just arrived in port. Ho : would then tell the barmaid he had some fine ostrich feathers on, board, and if she would some, of course, she could have them. The ladies of the bar generally liked, and they ife™ also willing to accept some of the beautiful silk he alleged was lying m his cabin on the ship. Having obtained a good hearing S?i m « P res i d «n* of the'bar; the irrepressible M'Neil would ask for a loan of her ring, which he would praise and place on his finger.With.visions.of'.the ostrich feathers and the isilk looming up, the barmaid, even"'if her suspicions were slightly aroused, did not wish to show them, and in due course Archibald • a ?- r* " D S would leave ,the hotel for: the ship, for the .purpose of up . the feathers and silk.,"This would be,the last the barmaid- would see of her ring ; or of 1 M'Neil untd she saw. the latter in the Police Court after she had identified the ring produced b? a policeman. -. . '. M'Neil 'came to Wellington'about 1902, and worked the above trick on several barmaids in;the city, hotels, and followed up his-suc-cessful Wellington operations with a", visit to A.uckland,_ where he arrived about the time some of the contingents were arriving back from South Africa. At,the northern'city, the contmgenters were being : received with open arms,. and he,- made himself known ■ as. W. Hardham, V.C., and. the. public ; . took charge ot him and treated him as<a hero for a space of one week; after which the cruel hand of the law stepped in and. brought the farco 'to an abrupt close. , M'Neil: received a testimonial from the Government in the Bhapo of a term of imprisonment. The next heard of him was .when a shopkeeper in Wellington complained to the police that a man', had como into his shop and introduced-himself as the captain of a Union Co. steamer trading to Calcutta, aridhad obtained several'silkblouse's, promising to:pay for them after he had been down to the', company's office and had 'got the money, to, pay,.the crew. .The bogus captain : had a rovolver'iin-his .possession, and on the .shopkeeper remarking on this fact, M'Neil.stated that ho'had to carry it, as-he..had', n. rough" niggers on board,.which crew. took a lot of looking :after. The shopman became.suspicious at length, and went to the police'station,.where he;-unfolded his tale.. The photograph of-Archibald- was produced, and the shopkeeper recognised it as a. likeness of the alleged. captain .of the Union' Co.'s Calcutta trader.-..A warrant was issued for the arrest of M'Neil, who was next heard of as enjoying a bed, in the-name of Captain r —- at one of the. principal hotels. Later-in the evening he. was found "in.' one - of the hotels, when lie was in the. act-of making a,: present of a silk blouse to'."the,- barmaid: Arch io and the blduse.were. removed, by a bard-hearted: police -officer, who; found a revolver and 50 rounds,: of. .ammunition on M'Neil..'. 'After, having been declared anhabK tual criminal, and serving a term ofimprisonmenfc.in New: Plymouth Gaol,,' M'Neil was aUowcdout on probation,land set to work oil a farm. Farm work.became monotonous.to the restless, genius, who ■ soon executed a flank movement, and disappeared from' the farm.- He turned .up - in--Wellington in due course, and was located through : indulging in his favourite whims. : A shopkeeper waited ■ upon the police, and told a tale'of how a man, who.said he was. the captain of the Tyser liner, Star of England, came into his shop, and claimed -him as. a. relative. The story seemed familiar, and again. Archibald's photograph was produced and' recognised. Another shopkeeper followed-with a story of a roan who had'represented himself as the.captain of the steamer Matatua,'and again the hand of McNeil was discernible!' The -bogus captain said ho had'met a brother of tlie onopkeeper in Capetown, and the brother had given him some 'ostrich feathers to bring out, also some silk, blouses. .-A hearty welcome was given: the self-created captain, and ah : adjournment was'made for" refreshments, after which M'Neil departed to go down; to . his ship and get the blouses and present-them to the new-found acquaintance's wife. Instead hf going to the boat, the-alleged captain of the Matatua went to another shop,' and -through the agency of a plausible tongue obtained several silk blouses; which articles he l promptly .took round and presented to the .wife of the South African's'brother. Pleased with the hearty seafaring man, more refresh.ments were- sought,; and subsequently the allegedman of thesea remarked casually that, ho wasa'bit short of ready money, and didn't want to be bothered going on board for any. Could the shopkeeper lend him some. Would £5 do? Yes,, that would do nicely in the meantime, and would save him a trip to.the boat. The next meeting of the shopkeeper and the sham captain was at'the"'Police Court. The same day as the above; happenings,' Archibald was a busy man, arid called at'another shop, passing himself off as a marine engineer and giving_ the shopkeeper the name of'a wellknown citizen, who, he,alleged, had .given-' him the address. Another ingenious story of being related to the shopkeeper, and of hav- ! ing come out with two, other relations, who had gone south, but w'ould be calling in a' few days, throw the shopman off. his guard, and the open-hearted new arrival offered his kinsman a free passage to England and back", arid a parrot ho'had on the ship. After having established himself firmly, M'Neil fitted himself out with a new-suit at the .shop, and then left to get the money to square up,' but never returned. Some time-after he was'arrcstod in Invercargill, arid was brought back to Wellington, and sentenced to the "term of imprisonment he was serving when he escaped on Saturday. , ■ ■ .- • ' . H? was a merry soul in the dock, and no ono in the Court appeared to get half as much enjoyment" out of the proceedings as the prisoner. AVlien leaving the Court, recently, ho expressed his intention of clearing out of gaol at the first opportunity, and how well-ho remembered his threat has been ■proved.