ESCAPED AGAIN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9076, 9 June 1888, Page 5

ESCAPED AGAIN.

A COLONIAL JJACK SHEPPARD. [BY TELEGRAPH. —PRESS ASSOCIATION.] Christohurch, Friday. Jonathan Roberts, the convict who it will be remembered escaped sometime ago from Timaru Gaol, and was recently captured near Lake Ellesmere, is again at large, having escaped to-day from Ripa Island. His escape was evidently made by the assistance of his fellow-convicte, a gang of whom were working on Ripa Island. Tney numbered about 40, and were in charge of five warders. There were also several artillerymen on the island. At noon the convicts were locked in the mess-shed, a corrugated iron building, for dinner, the artillery mounting guard outside. On mustering the convicts at one o'clock, after dinner, Roberts was missed. It was found that a sheet of iron in the mess-room had been removed. The island lies about 50 yards from the mainland, and as it was high water at> the time of the escape, Roberts probably swam across the straifc. The remainder of the gang were at once brought off the island, and lodged in Lyttelton Gaol, and the police and artillery were soon in pursuit. Inspector Pender went to Lyttelton at four o'clock. Roberts' coat, soaked with water, was found 50 yards up the hill on the mainland, but up to the present no further trace of him has been obtained. Four constables and two artillerymen are now scouring the hills for him. He is said to know Banks' Peninsula well—having at one time lived at Akaroa. Later. The party which went in pursuit of Roberts has returned, having found no trace of him. A cordon of police has been drawn across the hills so as to cut him off from reaching the plains. A party of sportsmen who were shooting over the hills in the locality where he escaped, state they saw nothing of him. The warders and artillerymen were messing in the same building with the prisoners when he escaped. The aoor was not locked but the sentry stood at it. Roberts was one of the first to enter, and probably slipped through a hole in the wall which had been previously prepared for him, while the others were taking their seats at the table. The holo was seen by the artillerymen, who went round to the back of the building after finishing dinner. This being deemed suspicious, the prisoners were j counted, and Roberts was missing.

It will be remembered that Roberts ran away from the Timaru gaol on the 28th April, and that the immediate efforts to capture him proved unsuccessful. He was heard of from time to time, but the police failed to capture him till the 31st of May, when he was taken near Lake Ellesmere. He had been sentenced to five years' imprisonment for horse-stealing, and there was considerable sympathy for him, as it was considered that his sentence was too heavy. After his arrest he gave an account of his adventures while at liberty, details of which appeared in the Southern papers, from which we take the following : —lt appears that he had been watching his opportunity to escape, and the audacity of his flight proves his determination to obtain a little liberty during the five years he had to undergo for horse-stealing. On the 28th April he got his opportunity, and used it. In leaving the gaol he visited the clothes closet, took a carpet bag in one hand and a suit of clothes in the other, and sped with all possible haste to elude the nands of his recent custodians. He managed this, and, finding a convenient spot, he stripped, changed his broad arrow for something more civilian, and continued his career. Thab night and several others he slept under haystacks and in sheds, keeping as much to the back country as possible. In the first forty-eight hours he calculated he travelled nearly fifty miles. He heard of a job at Makikihi, and obtained a situation on a threshing machine. Here he worked for a fortnight, and during that time the paddock in which he was was visited by two policemen, but he escaped, identification. Suspecting pursuit, he left for fresh fields, and gradually worked his way to Temuka, where he slept in a stable for three nights, and then came northwards, tramping by day and night, and getting his meals as best he could. He passed Kakaia in daylight, and slowly journeyed northwards until he reached Killinchy last Tuesday week. There he offered his services to Mrs. Crowe, who declined them, as she did not want a man. He asked only 10s a week wages when he repeated his offer, which Mrs. Crowe finally accepted, and on her farm he worked for nine days, winding up his adventures by falling into the hands of the Christchurch police. On one occasion when down South he got into a peculiar ■situation. Early one morning he called at a door and asked for some hot water with which to make tea. "How many aro you?" said the good lady. "There's only one," answered the interrogator. " Then come in and have breakfast," replied the good dame. In Roberts went, and sat down to breakfast with the good lady and her two daughters. Of course, conversation was started, and turned on the Roberts' escapade. One young lady wouldn't inform if she knew where he was ; the other would. Roberts felt uneasy, as he was so much spoken of, until the conversation dropped by bne young lady observing that they shouldnjt say things about a man, because they didn't know how far he was away. This was too much. Roberts excused himself, quietly retired, and then put some distance between him and that house, the lady of which serves milk to the Timaru station, and was one of the earliest to put the police on the scent.