JUMP FROM A TRAIN.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIII, Issue 142, 14 June 1909, Page 2

JUMP FROM A TRAIN.

REMARKABLE ESCAPE OF A CONVICT IN IRONS. A convict who escaped from a moving train in Rhodesia and made his way to England by walking through Rhodesia and the Congo Free State and then taking a steamer to (Antwerp, appeared before the Bow Street (London) magistrate on 17th April, on the charge of being an escaped convict. He is John Creswick, aged forty, and a sailor. Detective-Inspector Belcher, of Scotland Yard, stated that on the previous day he saw Creswick in Leman Street, Whitechapel, and said to_ him: "I believe you are John Creswick, and that _you escaped from custody in Rhodesia." The prisoner said: "Oh, no; I am not the man." Witness said: "The man I want has the Prince of Wales feather tattooed on his forearm. Let me look at yours." Creswick then said: "You are right. I am the man. I was doing six years for forgery. They were moving me from Gwelo to Salisbury, and I jumped off the train. Then I made my way through Rhodesia and the Congo States to Leopoldville. I thought-I was safe here." The accused was remanded.

It is stated that Creswick was wearing leg irons when he dropped from the back of. the train in which he was being removed to Salisbury Prison, wrnie his guards were asleep._ According to his account he got rid of the irons by beating them with pieces of stone and hammering them on rocks. It took him about six months to walk to the Congo State, and he ultimately obtained a ship from Bom a to Antwerp, and thence to London. At Boma lie changed his prison dress— which must have been well worn—for a pair of grey trousers, a striped jacket, and a cricket shirt.