ESCAPE FROM ASYLUM.

New Zealand Herald, Volume L, Issue 15193, 6 January 1913, Page 5

ESCAPE FROM ASYLUM.

PATIENT'S DASH FOR LIBERTY. STILL AT LARGE. • r•. • ■ Vv'.'"' •'' : . ■ . ' ■ ' • % MAN WHO WAS SHOT AT WAIHI. A patient at the Auckland Mental Hospital, Thomas Henry Johnston, escaped from the institution on Saturday forenoon, . and up to a late hour last night ho had not been recaptured. In company with other patients, Johnston was at work in the hospital grounds, and when the attendants' attention was momentarily distracted ho seized the opportunity to make a run for freedom. When it was discovered that a patient was missing a hue and cry was raised immediately, and a search made, but as there is tall, gorse growing in the vicinity it was impossible to see in which direction Johnston had gone. The police were informed, and through- • "out. the whole of Saturday until a late hour, and all day yesterday mounted police and mental hospital attendants were scouring the adjacent country for the missing man, but without success. Johnston had been in the asylum about three weeks. He camo from, Waihi, and at the time of the serious riot there on November 13 last, when Constable Wide was shot, it was he who was shot in the leg outside the Miners' Hall. The missing man is married. His wife who still lives at" Waihi, visited him about • a fortnight ago, and since then he has been much depressed, and it is thought that ho may bo making his way to Waihi. He is about 50 years of age, a. fairly wellbuilt man, and about. sft- 7in high. Ho has blue eyes and' dark brown hair with a slight beard arid whiskers. His teeth arc of bad colour and broken, and he has a noticeably prominent forehead, and a ' very square mouth. He has a slight impediment in his speech, and as a result of the shooting at Waihi ho still walks with a slight, limp. At the time of his escape Johnston was wearing the usual moleskin trousers and hat, and as ho was " working in the field he was wearing no • jacket. He is said to be a quiet- man, and he is not regarded as being dangerous.