FOUR CRIMINAL

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 81, 2 October 1940, Page 11

FOUR CRIMINAL

MURDERER AMONG THEM

[WARDERS ATTACKED

ONE SERIOUSLY HURT

(By Telegraph.—Press Association.)

AUCKLAND, October 1.

Four prisoners, one of them a murderer, escaped from Auckland prison shortly after 6 o'clock tonight after desperate struggles with the warders, one of whom is in a critical condition in the Auckland Hospital. Two other warders suffered only superficial injuries^ but were kept at hospital for observation during the night. The last seen of the four criminals was when .they clambered into a stationary car in Seccombes Road, Epsom, and coasted down the incline to Crowhurst Street, Newmarket, about a quarter of a mile away. There was ample benzine in the tank, but the owner had removed the ignition key from the switch. Squads of police in fast cars are combing Auckland Province. The warders injured a"re:— ; Joseph Graydon Crawford, aged 26, married, of Epsom, who suffered a fractured skull and concussion. His condition is very serious. Joseph Wenzl Scholium, aged 32, married, of Carlton Gore Road, slight concussion ancj scalp wounds. His condition is not serious. Arthur Burgess, aged 43, married, of Graf ton, who suffered similar injuries to Scholium, and is not in a serious condition. The attack,JHP.OH.the ..warders seemed to have been well planned in advance. From available, information-, it appeared that a little before' 6.15 p.m. the prisoners were about to be locked in their cells, when, without warning, five prisoners made a concerted attack upon three warders. . WARDERS KNOCKED OUT. A hammer and a piece of lead piping wrapped in a sack were found near the spot where Mr. Crawford had a long struggle with his assailants, and, from- the nature of the injuries to his head, one' at. least of those weapons was used upon him. Having silenced Mr. Crawford the men then turned their full attention to the other two warders, and in a short time had left them unconscious on the floor. The men seized all the available keys, and, after unlocking various grills and communicating doors leading from one section of the prison to another, they reached one of the gates. .Meanwhile another warder, Mr. James Carson, came on the scene. He grappled with.one.man and.the other four opened an outer gate and slipped away. The-.fiftb, man was overpowered and returned to the cells. The alarm was given, and shortly afterwards the Newmarket police received message, from Mr. Frank t.eviri,'retired 'civil servant, to say that bis motor-car h ! been stolen from outside the house in which he was a -guest for dinner. Mr. Levin was at r34'Se^cbmbes'Ebad having dinner when a woman came to the door and asked for the owner of the motorcar which had stood outside. She told Mr. Levin that four men, clad in prison clothes, had run down the street, clambered into a car and tried to start it, then coasted down the street. Mr. Levin said that only this afterrioon &c had refilled his petrol tank. NiiMES OF FUGITIVES. The fugitives are:— ' Eandall Reginald David Smith, labourer, aged 27, who was sentenced to death at Timaru on February 4, 1938; for the murder of an aged storekeeper at-Arundel, Canterbury.. The death sentence was commuted to impi-ison-ment for life by the Executive Council arid was announced by the Minister of Justice (the "Hon. H. G. R, Mason) on March.B, 1938.. . DayM Fraser Watson, aged 21, seaman and labourer,, who was sentenced to reformative detention for. 18 months for arson. • -.■■• . . " ■/ John Henry Silva, alias Shortclifte, aged 25, labourer arid butcher, serving a term' of two years for breaking, entering, and theft at CbristchurchV ~ Bryan James" Q'Hebir, aged 23, serving 18 months' reformative, detention on nine charges of burglary, ; and recently sentenced at Christchurch to an extra year for escaping from the Christchurch gaol.