DARING ESCAPE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19503, 6 December 1926, Page 12

DARING ESCAPE.

PRISONER AT MOUNT EDEN. DASH THROUGH OPEN GATE. DARKNESS FOILS PURSUERS. . AN UNSUCCESSFUL SEARCH. An habitual criminal, Samuel Arthur Pudney, aged 35, serving a sentence of two years' imprisonment in Mount Eden gaol, made a daring escape at half-past seven last evening. Making an excuse to visit the prison quarry ho seized a favourable opportunity while unobserved by the warders for a moment and made a sudden dash through an open gate. He slammed the gate in the face of the warders who had immediately started in pursuit. Making the best possible use of the slight advantage thus gained the fugitive ran along Boston Road toward Khyber Pass and in the darkness managed to elude his pursuers. Search parties of police, detectives and warders were at once organised. A cloSa watch was kept in the vicinity in case the prisoner had taken refuge under a house or in some other hiding-place, and would later emerge in the hope of escaping to a place of greater safety. A search was also made of all open ground in the locality and in the Domain a watch was set over all places to which it was thought possible the man might attempt to make his way. However, the measures failed to produce the desired result, and at an early hour this morning the prisoner had not been recaptured. Pudney is sft. 6in.' in height. He was wearing a brown coat with dungarees, but had no hat or boots. He has a dark complexion, with dark hair and brown eyes. Pudney was sentenced to imprisonment last January on a charge of false pretences.