A BID FOR LIBERTY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18168, 14 August 1922, Page 10

A BID FOR LIBERTY.

LIFE SENTENCE PRISONER. I3TORY OF THE 35SCAPE. TWO MONTHS' PREPARATION. The escape «ttd recapture of Edward Gustavo SteinOT, who waa serving a life sentence in Maitland gaol, Newcastle, for the morder of two Chinese in 1916, is an " exciting story. The prisoner escaped in the early hours of Friday, July 28. On Saturday morning- it *>as established that he had not succeeded in getting far from Newcastle. As he waa Known as a notrious trainjumper, orders were given for evßry train ' cn the Northern line to be diligently marched. This move oo the pari of the police bore fruit, for, when a goods train which arrived at Gosford station at 10 minutes to eleven o'clock on Saturday night thus searched by Sergeant Toohill and Constable Chisholm, a nian was set-n crouching in a tarpaulin-covered truck. Constable Chisholm, with a revolver in one hand and an electric torch in the other, was making the search. With the hand carrying the torch he pushed up the tarpaulin and saw the heela of a pair of tan boots and shout a foot of a striped tweed trousers leg. The rest of the man's body could not be seen, " Come out of that, or I'll shoot," commanded Constable Chishoim; buil, quick as a flash, the in'-n assumed an upright position, and ducking under the far eoge of the tarpaulin, he leaped from t!?ie truck and made his escape. The hunt continued nert day over the bush-clad hills along the Hawkeshury River, and after Steiner had been sighted a number of times, he was secured at 1 a.m. on Sunday at Wov Woy when crossing a railway bridge by Constable Jenkins. A large number of police engaged in the search. Stelner's Stoi3'. After his capture, Steiner related a remarkable story of the methods by which he effected his escape. A slightly-built man, he at once gives the impression of mental alertness and keenness, and the ingenuity with which he carried out his plans proved that he is a man whose brain never sleeps. He waa apparently unaffected by the prospect of an immediate return to prison, and laughed and joked with the bodyguard of detectives and plain-clothes policemen. His story was told to them in the Gosford Courthouse in the cold grey hours before dawn, after he had been brought j in close custody from Woy Woy. j Steiner said that he had prepared his . escape for two months. Prior to that time bs had promised Mr. Seery, the former governor of the gaol, that he would not attempt to escape, and for two years he had been an exemplary prisoner, being in charge of the prison library. In this position he had many opportunities for reading, and gained much knowledge. But, in his own words, all the reading only provided him with a theoretical knowledge. He was always to the fore when 1 there was organising "for a prison concert . to be earned out, and altogether was a j moving spirit in those movements for the j lightening of th© burden of his fellow- j prisoners. j Two months ago Mr. Seey retired, and j was succeeded by the present governor, ( Mr. Clarke. Steiner at once determined j that bis period of "parole" was at an ] end, and from that day plotted bis escape, j He asked to be relieved of his duties as , prison librarian, giving as Ms reason the j fact thai in that position he was unable to «tarn prisoner's bonus, amounting to Is 6d a week. This excuse enabled him to retari to the workshops, where he gradually was able to pilfci? material which -nould aid his plans. Breach In the Wall. With a rough-edged tool which he made in the shop, Steiner said thai he was able to saw through the two lower horizontal bars on the small window higlli up on the wall of his cell. This waa an exacting task. He oould work lwtween tho visits of warder, which he Gould always judge, because, to a prisoner in the. cell, the slightest sounds rof movement outside became magnified, w tho cells seemed to reverberate noise like the skin of a drum. The dissection the bars completed, Steiner set to nnstk to mnove the stone immediately laoneaiih the window. This he accomplished! with % irat-ohet-Kke instrument, lilie refuse from the boring operations he found opportunity to cany into the yard. This stone-re-sreoving process was only possible when there waa a high wind or rain to deaden Vthi) noise; and sometimes he stood on the chair placed On top ai the cell table for J3 hours on end, while he performed only one boar's acted wart The removal of stone he disguised wslh plaster of Paris. Three days before the actual escape Steiner tried the opening, but was jammed when half-way through. vrae Sustered ior ; » whi!e," he said, "but .J seen cooled down, and drawing in my breath, I dropped back into the cell. I enlarged the ho?e. and about h?3f-psst one on Friday morning I tore my blankets iato skips, and looped them round the remaining bars. I squeezed through the opening, and slid to lihe groirndl There were no warders outside, so ][ knew I was comparatively cafe. I buret the lock on th-5 door of the prison store, and there obtained the length of tweed, some twine, % pasr of boots, a knife, leather, and other things. My next job was to get over the enter wall with its spikes. I hfcd four books with me, and managed! to get one hooked on to one of the spifcaa and attached to the rope blanket." Scaling Outer Wall. When Steiner escaped from his ceil he was clothed only in a flannel singlet, a thin pair of drill trousers, and iiodks. The attempt to scale the outer wall! occupied him four hours, and the weather being bitterly cold, he suffered greatly. The first two hooks he managed to attach to the spikes broke wider his weight. Then his blanket rope tore under tho strain, and he had to improvise a rope from the twine he had stolen from the prison store. At about' half-past five, he was on the outer side of the wall, and immediately made for the railway line- He boarded a southward bound goods train, and left it at Waratah, In a pateh of scrub nome distance from the line, Steiner said that he hid, and for a day and a haJf worked on the tailoring of a rough suit. Ho sewed with the thick twine, and at the end of that time he waa able to clothe himself in a suit which would not, excite * us P lcl f®» and a creditably-made twoed **£; there Steiner shaved himself witn the cobblers knife. «vt?S\ 0n ® atnrd ty afternoon Steiner <&*k „ He croß3ed nightfall waa near the EE* raecourae. He continued his jourmey, and between Fasaifern and Tar & SW H 8 hSR^ H ° n 4 good? iSd 'ww e dls f° vwed in this a.t Gos. ford, bufc managed to elude two police"a t ™* steS 8 tr ten? ».'X r aloL-ftfce ssk - ."SSL'aas'a •?«- criminal, and one likelv T des P era - l e ; extreme measures ii S picked up a reran of » He this description of him. ?. W T spaper with i d«p=r»t« u,»' hrsukia™"* ;l » would not shoot on sight. It wan =11 pagan to catch me. But I had a f°F my liberty, and I Sely took £phfcaaiy at W ABd he sraUed Philo-