CONVICT'S ESCAPE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12401, 14 October 1903, Page 1 (Supplement)

CONVICT'S ESCAPE.

BURGLARS DARING BID FOR FREEii DOM. ! A : convict named Robert Graham, one of, the most expert burglars known to Scotland) Yard, escaped from Exeter Gaol one nighb' recently, but after one day and night of free--*, clom was recaptured. His escape was as during in its inception j as.it appears to have been simple. Although a, burglar by profession he was ftrr-l merly a carpenter, and was engaged at work connected ■ with. the trade in his cell, the back wall of which abuts on to the governor's house. ' '.-,,„ „ , ~ '■ , The governor was away on his holidays, and the house was almost deserted, a fact of', which Graham had evidently knowledge. . His first step in the direction of freedom was to rnakt. a hole in the wall of his cell lay taking out a number of the bricks. He then ripped off a plank from his carpenter's bench, and nailing a piece of board across it used the improvised cross as a ladder, J Then he got through the hole in the wall,; pulled the plank up after him, and with its aid climbed to the top of the, prison wall. , j From. there he got on to the roof of that governor's house, wrenched open a and descended into the room underneath. 1 Making his way to the governor's dressings*! room, he appropriated a large shootitig-eoab i and deer-stalkmg cap, and with these wa* I able to cover up his prison clothes. •'•■■■, ~ j After picking up some other things, hi» walked through the drawing-room, unlatched.' the shutters, jumped the arid thus: got into the street. • " ' * '" ; He ■ was missed half an hour afterwards,;! and a hue and cry was raised. A man sup-j posed to be Graham was said to have been' seen in the neighbourhood of Stoke Woods,, and here the police searched all night, but, unsuccessfully.- ,:.:.'. 'I

All the next day the search was continued, [ the whole neighbourhood being scoured byj the city and county police, but. it was uotjl . ) until late at- night, that he was recaptured, • ! The recapture took place at Newton AH-' hot, where the fugitive was seen walking ■ ' down the street by a constable. Although .. (Graham was wearing the overcoat and cap he stole from the governor's house he still had his prison garb 011 underneath, and th« policeman, noticing this, promptly c.rrested him. Although only thirty-two yr»ars of age,' Graham has won for himself the title; of the king of jewel thieves'. He first fell into the hands ot the police when sixteen, being sentenced to nine months'- imprisonment for breaking into a jeweller's shop. Since then, he has served several terms of imprisonment and one sentence of five years' penal servi-i ';-i Hide, the offences in nearly all the cases be- i ing burglaries at jewellers' shops in van > parts of the country. . .1 He was released from penal servitudethai * five years' sentence—in December last, and 1 almost immediately after joined a gang of'j burglars, operations being tried- on in J many provincial towns. hi June he wis again arrested, this time for a burglary in, (.Sardiff. and was sentenced on July 11 to ■ seven yea!s' penal servitude. He i.-:, it strange character, dresses smartly,, is very fond of music, and on one occasion.' was arrested while driving in -Ids ovrn car-' riage. .