ART OF GAOL-BREAKING.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVI, Issue 262, 5 November 1912, Page 6

ART OF GAOL-BREAKING.

RECAPTURED PRISONER GETS

REMINISCENT

SOME PREVIOUS ESCAPADES

AUCKLAND, November 1. Houston, the prisoner who escaped from custody at Whangarei, but is again in the hands of the police under very close supervision, according to the Australian Police Gazette is one of the most cunning and dangerous criminals in the Southern Hemispliere. At the present time he carries a bullet in his back which was fired by a police patrol on one occasion when he escaped from gaol. After his capture yesterday Houston became communicative to an extraordinary degree. He stated that he had effected liis escape from the Whangarei gaol by means of a small penknife, which was eventually found in effective concealment about his person.

In vividly describing the means whereby he brought about his release from durance vile, he said that after cutting through the floor boards he became jammed in a narrow aperture so tightly that he actually contemplated screaming for assistance; in fact his plight was so extreme that for a quarter of an hour he had to saliva his chest before he could slip through the pinched opening. .-The■■correctness of this statement was ,proved vvhen an examination of Houston's stripped' body was made; This showed his ieliest to be, badly lacerated; his cheeks were also severely scratched1. Houston also stated that he had greater- difficulty in burrowing through the. gravel and earthwork banked in the cells than in getting through the planks; the moisture on the floor of the cell, which had puzzled the police, was caused by the sweat of his exertions. He gave expression to unrestrained admiration for the smartness of the police force. Their work in effecting his recapture was as smart as he had experienced in hij long career of crime, extending over twenty-seven years.

Incidentally Houston mentioned, in connection with the burglary at McMahon's hotel and the theft of money, clothing etc, that, after purchasing duplicates of the clothing with the stolen money, he made the original articles into a bundle, tied them with his braces, and ducked them into, the harbor, thus effecting another disguise.

The prisoner acknowledged1 having twelve times broken gaol in various parts of the world, and said that he had only been recaptured three times, two of which were in the Whangarei district. The organisation of the North Auckland police under Sergeant. Moore and Detective Hollis was too much for him.

On two occasions he had been hunted -by bloodhounds—once in America, and again in Western Australia. Once he was caught by this means, but the other time he evaded the sleuth hound by retracing his steps for a mile and then jumped over a precipice. Subsequently he ascertained that the hounds were in this way foiled, having followed the scent up and down for a very long time without'avail.

On the way up in the launch the prisoner gave a practical demonstration of his ability to release his wrists from a pair of police handcuffs by the use of an ordinary pin. He remarked that he would have given £5 at the time he burgled the hotel at Wliangarei to have known in which room Detective Hollis was sleeping, so that he could have relieved him of his belongings.