DARTMOOR MUTINY

Evening Star, Issue 21012, 28 January 1932, Page 9

DARTMOOR MUTINY

POLICE OFFICIAL’S STATEMENT LONDON UNDERWORLD ACTIVE Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright. LONDON, January 27. Although the troops were withdrawn this morning, two companies of the Wiltshire Regiment, including a machine gun section, were stationed at Crown Hill all day in readiness, and army lorries were provided to hurry them to Dartmoor if necessary. The precaution was regarded as essential owing to a heavy fog. The police are patrolling the barricaded approaches to-night and the prison is again flood lighted. Warders are still attending to the livestock and other farm duties. A party has arrived and opened an inquiry. The convicts expect to be permitted to give evidence. A grim picture of the interior of Dartmoor is provided by a police official who has been relieved after forty-eight hours of duty. He says: “ The conditions have been terrible. Apparently every convict in the two five-story buildings lined the cells, either banging on doors or stamping on the floors incessantly. The handful of warders who were anxiously pacing the corridors realised that they had to deal with the scum of the earth. The ringleaders, who were rounded up by the police and placed in the punishment cells, included a dozen of the worst desperadoes I have ever seen. There were .terrible possibilities in the mutiny as it has been proved that weapons, including ten butchers’ knives, pick handles, and fire bars which had been hidden under the flagstones of the buildings, were allotted to prisoners who are classed as dangerous. “ The experience of Sunday, wheii forty police scatt4red 300, shows that the convicts are abject cowards. Nevertheless, there was a tense atmosphere last night when we heard that one hundred lags from London’s underworld had gathered in the neighbourhood and were planning a rescue. We saw the convicts signalling to each other from the windows, and all night we heard uncanny, hoarse whispering and muttering with which the whole , prison was rumbling, but because the convicts were talking so guardedly it was impossible to detect the offenders. Twenty police who were on duty in the prison were given loaded revolvers and assisted in patrolling the cells. The presence of troops has greatly eased the situation and I believe that the worst is over.”

Scotland Yard has begun a search of London’s underworld to discover the extent to which well-known criminals were implicated in the raid at Dartmoor, It has been ascertained that several are missing from their usual haunts. A released convict states that the plot to escape was hatched inside the prison, though men who were waiting outside, with money and motor cars inflamed the convicts. Grappling irons attached to ropes, to assist the convicts to escape, were found in the cells. A prison official says he does not anticipate further trouble inside the prison, but no chances are being taken. ALL QUIET (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, January 26. A Home Office statement says that no further trouble has occurred at Dartmoor. VAN SYN'S RELEASE LOKG SENTENCE REMITTED Under the caption: 1 A Mystery of Dartmoor,’ the ‘ London Daily Telegraph ’ asked on December s: “ Why has Jacobus Peters Van Dyn been released from Dartmoor prison after serving only five months of a seven years’ sentence of penal' servitude? "Van Dyn says he has not been given any reason for his release. “ Nor was any statement issued from the Homo Office in explanation of the action of the authorities in remitting the remainder of the sentence. “ ‘ The Daily Telegraph ’ understands that the decision to set Van Dyn free was reached after official inquiries which were made into the defence he raised at his trial. “ Van Dyn, a native of Johannesburg, is a seaman by occupation. On June 25 he was convicted at the Old Bailey of wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm. The accusation against him was that he had struck a man named Devin on the head in a lonely road at Ruislip. “ Devin, a waiter, gave evidence that he was attacked and robbed late at night. . TWO GIRLS CALLED. “Van Dyn denied that he_ was the man, and that he was in Ruislipon the night. He called two little girls to prove an alibi, but the jury convicted him. “ 1 0.K., chief,’ was the prisoner’s remark on hearing his sentence. “Van Dyn was seen yesterday by a representative of the 1 Daily Telegraph ’ at St. Christopher’s Hostel for Destitute Boys, Upper East Smithfield. “ ‘ I have not been told why I was released,’ ho said. 1 1 wanted to appeal against the sentence, but that was not allowed. I sent a petition to the Home Office, protesting my innocence. They asked me for more details, and later, so I have since found out, further statements wore taken from the two little girls who gave evidence for me. One morning this week the Governor of Dartmoor prison told me that the Homo Office had decided to remit the remainder of my sentence. The following day I left the prison, and came to London.’ “ Van Dyn went straight to St. Christopher’s' Hostel, where ho had previously received assistance, and asked the warden for advice. “ ‘ I was amazed to see him,’ said the warden. ‘ I had quite a shock as, of course, I thought he _ was in prison. However, wo have given him certain advice, and he may probably go back to South Africa.’ ” [Van Dyn was interviewed in .London on the day following the riot. He gave a depressing account of the conditions at Dartmoor. J