ROBERTS’S ESCAPE.

Evening Star, Issue 7634, 9 June 1888, Page 3

ROBERTS’S ESCAPE.

CHRISTCHURCH, June 8. Roberts’s coat, soaked with water, was found fifty yards iqi the hill on the mainland, but up to the present no further trace of him has been obtained. Four constables and two artillerymen are now scouring the hills for him. He is said to know Banks Peninsula well, having at one time lived in Akaroa, _ . The party which wont in pursuit of Roberts have returned, having found no trace of him. A cordon of police has been drawn across the hills so as to cut him oti from reaching the plains. A party of sportsmen who were shooting over the hills in the locality where lie escaped state that they saw nothing of him. the warders and artillerymen were messing in the same building with the prisoners when Roberts escaped. The door was not locked, but a sentry stood at it. Roberts was one of the first to enter, and probably slipped through the hole in the wall which had been previously prepared for him while the others were taking their seats at the table. The hole was seen by the artilleryman, who went round to the dace of the building after finishing dinner. This being deemed suspicious, the prisoners wore counted and Roberts was missed.

The adventures of this determined and daring convict between the time of his escape from Timaru Gaol and his capture near Leeston are thus described by the Christchurch ‘ Press ’: -“ He had been watching his opportunity to cut and run, and the audacity of his flight proves his determination to obtain a little liberty during the five years he had to undergo for horsestealing. On the 28th April he cot his opportunity, and used it. In leaving the gaol he the clothes closet, took a carpet bag in one hand and a suit of clothes in the other, and sped with all possible haste to elude the hands of his recent custodians. He managed thisi; and, finding a convenient spot, he stripped, changed his broad arrow for something more civilian, and continued bis career. That night and several others he slept under haystacks and in sheds, keeping as much to the back country as possible. In the first forty-eight hours he calculated he travelled nearly fifty miles. He heard of a job at MakiMhi, and obtained a situation on a threshing machine. Here he worked for a fortnight, and during that time the paddock in which he was at work was visited by two policemen, but he escaped identification. (Suspecting pursuit, he left for fresh fields, and gradually worked hia way to Temuka, where he slept in a stable for three nights, and then came northwards, tramping by day and by night, and getting hia meals as best he could. At the Ashburton Paver he saw a horseman, the of a mounted constable, and to avoid detection took off his trousers and waded the stream. He passed Rakaia in daylight, and slowly journeyed northwards until he reached Killinchy last Tuesday week. There he offered Ids services to Mrs Crowe, who declined them, as she did not want a man. He asked only 10s a week wages when lie repeated ins offer, which Mrs Crowe finally accepted, and on her farm he worked for nine days, winding up his adventuies by falling into the hands of the Christchurch police. _On one occasion when down South he got into a peculiar situation. Early one morning he called at a door and asked for some hot water with which to make tea. 1 How many are you ?’ said the good lady. 1 There s only one,’ answered the interrogator. 1 1 hen come in and have breakfast,’ replied the good dame. In Roberts went, and sat down to breakfast with the good lady and her two daughters. Of course, conversation was started, and turned on the Roberts escapade. One young lady wouldn’t inform if she knew where lie was; the other would. Roberts felt uneasy, as he was so much spoken of, until the conversation dropped by one young lady observing that they shouldn’t say things about a man because they didn’t know how far he was away. This was too much, Roberts excused himself, quietly retired, and then put some distance between him and that house, the lady of which serves milk to the limaru station, and was one of the earliest to put the police on the scout. Roberta, with all his travelling and knocking about, has succeeded in faring well, judging from the healthy appearance he presents in his latest home.”