DISCHARGE SOON

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 67, 16 September 1936, Page 4

DISCHARGE SOON

"PRISONER IN THE TOWER"

A tall young man is -pacing his cell in Maidstone Prison, preparing himself for an< even: greater ordeal than the .trial which sent him to gaol, writes a special correspondent of .the "Sunday Chronicle," London. Norman BaillieStewart; ex-lieutenant of a famous Scottish regiment, who was sentenced by court-martial to five years' penal servitude for communicating* secrets to a foreign Power, will leave prison early next 35par. . ■What has 'the world to offer a man -whose tragedy is known by: all Britain, to whom the' Services .are for. ever closed? .This, is the question the: goodlooking young man known as Prisoner 186: has been asking himself over and over again during recent weeks. "."

I understand'that in prison Norman Baillie-Stewart has lived in stoical silence. He first worked in the prison printing department. Now he works in the 'carpenters' shop. His health is good, and he has earned maximum good conduct marks.

'A ( . close friend ■of Baillie-Stewart said, to me: "I cannot think' what he is going to do. It is an awful prospect for a young man who. will be barely twenty-seven years of age to face a country that has discharged him from the profession he desired above all others.

"Some people have offered him jobs: One man has written offering him a job as farm manager in Khodesia. Another suggested work in Australia. Since he has been in prison he has been subjected to the strictest-discipline.

"He is allowed to see only his mother; other prisoners, • may have visitors, at specified times. His letters are rigorously censored —and are limited to five pages. But he. will make good if he is only given the chance. His courage has always been magnificent.;"