FANTASTIC STORY

Evening Star, Issue 19919, 16 July 1928, Page 14

FANTASTIC STORY

PRISONER'S REASON FOB ESCAPE

(Psb Urao Press Association.]

WELLINGTON, July U.

The Controller-General of Prisons (Mr B. L. Dallard), speaking with reference to Buckley’s story regarding his escape from tho Mount Eden Gaol, said; “It is not at all unusual lor escaped prisoners to concoct some such fantastic storyin mitigation of their offence, particularly when they know that tho net of the law is dosing round them. , , , “ Buckley’s story is too thin to bear analysis, and it is hardly wide enough to justify his partner escaping, too. He says that he escaped on the night following the refusal of the prison authorities to allow him to return to hospital, and that he intend*! .to return to prison after his eye had been treated by a specialist. Such a sudden determination to escape does not coincide with the careful planning for some weeks, including the manufacture of skeleton keys to fit the gaol grills, some considerable time before tho alleged accident to the eye happened. 11 The story regarding the eye trouble is a clever fabrication. Buckley complained of eye trouble, ■ and was taken to tho prison dispensary, where a doctor and the dispenser examined the eye and could discover uo foreign substance. Tho dispenser turned for a moment to produce some lotion to remove the inflammation caused through rubbing the eye, when Buckley produced in the palm of his hand three pieces of glass as largo as sugar crystals, which obviously could never have been near his eye. Ho continued to complain of trouble, _ and was sent to hospital for examination by a specialist. “ Buckley’s whole story is merely written for tho purpose of enlisting public sympathy. 1