PRISONERS ESCAPE

Greymouth Evening Star, 28 September 1929, Page 3

PRISONERS ESCAPE

CONSTABLE ATTACKED

BOURKE (N.S.W.), Sept. 19.

On Friday last Constable Rippon saw three men in a motor car between Yantabulla and Hungerford, and, after questioning the men, decided to arrest them. He placed them in the Yantabulla lock-up. Tea was taken to the men in the cell, and the constable went to collect the dishes. On opening the door of the cell the three prisoners immediately rushed him and threw him to the ground, brutally assaulting him. The constable put up a gallant defence, but the odds were too great, and, after rendering him unconscious, the prisoners escaped into the bush.

Word quickly came through to Bourke, and the Bourke police, under Sergeant Sturgiss, were soon on the scene, the surrounding stations having previously been informed of the escape. The hunt was continued throughout the night with the aid of electric torches, the police searching along the Cuttaburra River and through the thick lignum swamps, then across the sandy ridges on to an out-station of Brindiugabba. The three escaper men were found at 2 o’clock They had removed their boots, but the sergeant and the tracker were able to follow their tracks. The prisoners were later charged at Yantabulla and remanded to Bourke for trial.

Constable Rippon is still confined to bed at Bourke, suffering from severe ■injuries.

From the time of the escape until the recapture of the prisoners, only 19 hours elapsed. The police travelled over 100 miles in the course of their search.