A MURDERER’S ESCAPE

Evening Star, Issue 18052, 21 August 1922, Page 7

A MURDERER’S ESCAPE

MANHUNT IN NEW! SOUTH WALES. BOLD BID FOR LIBERTY. The escape .and recapture of Edward Gustavo Steiner, who was serving a life sentence in Maitland: gaol, Newcastle, for the murder of two ■Chinese in 1916, is an oxciting story. The prisoner escaped in The early hours of Friday, July 28. On Saturday morning it was established' that ho had not succeeded in getting far from Newcastle. As he was known as a notorious trainjumper, orders were given for every train on the Northern line to bo diligently searched. This move on tho part of the police bore fruit, for, when a goods train which arrived at Gosford station at 10 minutes to eleven o’clock on Saturday night was searched by Sergeant Tocfiill and Constable Chisholm, a man was seen crouching in a tarpaulin-covered' truck. Constable Chisholm, with a revolver in one hand and an electric torch jn< the other, was making the search. With tho hand carrying the torch he pushed up the tarpaulin and saw tho heels of a pair of tan boots and about a foot of a striped tweed trousers leg. Tho rest of the man’s body could not bo seen. “Como out of.that, or I’ll shoot,” commanded Constable Chisholm; but, quick as a flash, the man assumed, an upright position, and ducking under the far edge of tho tarpaulin, be leaped from the truck and made his escape. The hunt continued next day . over the bush-dad hills along the Hawkcsbury Rivcr, and after Steiner had been sighted a number of times, he was secured at 1 a.m. on Sunday at Woy Woy when crossing a railway bridge by Constable Jenkins. A larce number of police engaged in the search.

After hla capture. Steiner related a remarkable story of the method® by which be effected his escape.

A slightly-built man, ha at once gives the impression of mental alertness and keenness, and the ingenuity with which he carried out his plans proved that he is a man whoso brain never sleeps. Ho was apparently unaffected by the prospect of an immediate return to prison, and laughed and joked with the bodyguard of detectives and plain-clothes policemen. His story was told to them in the Gosford courthouse in the cold grey hours before dawn, after ho had been brought in close custody from Woy Woy. Steiner said that he had prepared his escape for two months. Prior to that timo ha had* promised Mr Seery, the former governor of the gaol, that ho would not attempt to escape, and for two years he had 1 been an exemplary prisoner, being in charge of the prison library. _ In this position he had many opportunities for reading, and gained much, knowledge. But in his own words, all the reading only . provided him with a theoretical knowledge. He was always to the fore when there was organising for a prison concert, to be carried out, and altogether was a moving spirit in those movements for the lightening of the burden of his fellowprisoners. Two months ago Mr. Seery retired, and ■was succeeded by the present governor, Mr Clark. Steiner at once determined that his period of "parole” was at an end, and from that day plotted' his escape. Ho asked to be relieved of his duties as prison librarian, giving as his. .reason the fact that in that position he was unable to earn prisoner’s bonus, amounting to Is 6d a week. This excuse enabled him to return to the workshops, where he gradually was able to pilfer material which would aid his plans. With a rough-edged l ’tool which he mndoin the shop, Steiner said that he was able to saw through the- two- lower horizonal bars on the small window high up on tho wall of his cell. This was an exacting task. He could only work between the visits of the warder, which he could always judge, because to a prisoner in the celt tho slightest sounds of movement outside became magnified, as- the cells seemed to reverberate noiseoliko tho skin of a drum. • The dissection of tho bars completed, Steiner set to work to remove the stone immediately beneath the window. This he accomplished with a -ratchet-like instrument. Tho refuse from the boring operations he found opportunity to carry into the yard. This stone-removing process was billy possible when there was a high wind or rain to deaden -the noise; and sometimes he stood on the chair placed on top of the coll table for eleven hours on end, while he performed lonly one hour’s actual work. The removal of the stone he disguised with plaster of paris. Three days before the actual _ escape Steiner tried the opening, but was jammed when halfway through. “I was flustered for a while,” he s£d, “ but I soon, cooled down, and, drawing in my breath, I dropped back into tlm cell. I enlarged the hole, and about half-past 1 on Friday morning I tore my blankets into strips and looped them round the remaining bars. I squeezed through the opening and slid to the ground. There were no warders outside, so I know 1 was comparatively safe. I burst tho lock on the door of the prison store, and there obtained the length of tweed, some twine, a pair of boots, a knife, leather, and other things. My next job was_ to ret over r tho outer wall with its spikes. I had four hooks with me, and managed to get one hooked on to one of the spikes and- attached to the rope, blanket.” -When Steiner escaped from his cell be was clothed only in a flannel singlet, a thin pair of drill trousers, and socks. The attempt to scale the outer wall occupied him four hours, and the weather being bitterly cold, he suffered greatly. The first two hooks he managed to attach to the spikes broke under his weight. Then his blanket rope tore under tho strain, and he had to improvise a rope from the twine he had stolon from the prison store. At about half-past 5 ho was on the outer side of the wall, and immediately made for tho railway line. He boarded a south-ward-bound goods train, and left it at Waratah. In a patch: of scrub some distance from the lino Steiner said that he hid, and- for a day and a-half worked', on tho tailoring of a. rough suit. He sewed with the thick twine, -and at the end of that time lie was able to clothe himself iu'a suit which would not excite suspicion, and a crcditably-mado tweed cap. While there Steiner shaved -himself with the cobbler’s knife.

Early on Saturday afternoon Steiner sot out to walk south. He crossed Cocklo Creek, and by nightfall was near the Boolnroo racecourse. He continued his journey, and between Fassifern and Teralba swung himself on to a passing goods train. Ho was discovered! in this at- GOxford, hut managed to elude two policemen by jumping quickly from the truck when they called on him to come out, and running down a narrow lane parallel to the line. Ho was crouching in a ditch when the two policemen ran past him. Doubling on his tracks, he returned to tho railway line and attempted to board' the train in which he had been discovered as it left Gosford station. The train gathered speed quickly, however, and three efforts he made were fruitless. He was nearly under the wheels after the third attempt. Setting out to walk along the line, he was crossing the bridge between Point Glare and Woy Woy when he was accosted and detained by Constable Jenkins. Steiner’s ono complaint was that the newspapers described him as a desperate criminal, and one likely to resort to extreme measures if cornered. He had picked up a scrap of newspaper with this description of him. “I am not a desperate man,” he remarked, “and I would not shoot on sight. It was all propaganda to catch me. But I had a chance tor my liberty, and I merely took it. I failed—that is all.” And l he smiled philosophically.