BATTLE WITH BOMBS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21100, 6 February 1932, Page 2 (Supplement)

BATTLE WITH BOMBS.

CONVICTS KIDNAP GAOLER. THREE PRISONERS KILLED. AEROPLANES IN PURSUIT. Six American convicts made a daring escapo on December 11 from Leavenworth Prison, Kansas, kidnapping the governor, Mr. T B. White, and carrying him off with them. Four hours later a message dropped by an army aeroplane slated that the men had been captured eight miles from Leavenworth after, a running fight. Mr. White was wounded, and was sent to hospital with one arm riddled with shot. He was found lying on the ground after fighting his captors as they tried to force him into a stolen motor-car. A later message announced that three of the convicts were dead. After barricading themselves in the house of a farmer named Salisbury the convicts sent him out to parley with an armed party which had been sent in pursuit of them. This was refused, and tear-gas bombs and bullets were rained on the house. When the pursuers finally broke in they found three of the men dead, and the others were soon caught in a cornfield and taken back to prison. Mr. White was in his office when the six desperadoes appeared before him, armed with revolvers and shotguns and carrying slicks of dynamite. They seized him and locked up other employees before they took to (light. They had gained access to the governor's office with forged

passes permitting them to leave their cells for that purpose. There is no guard at the main gate of the prison, but one of the guards stationed on the wall fired a shot, but hesitated to fire again when Mr. White called out that he was a prisoner. As they emerged from the prison the convicts met a Mrs. Hershey and her daughter. One of them said, " Don't bo afraid. We won't hurt you if you keep still." Mrs. Hershey, who said she thought the incident was a joke, reported that the convicts had commandeered a motor-car containing two negroes. The prison authorities immediately locked up the other prisoners and notified the Army authorities, who sent out aeroplanes to follow the escaped men. An armed party also set off in hot pursuit. Meanwhile a farmor's wife, Mrs. Joseph Gates, reported that her daughter and son had been seized by the six men after they had tried to terrorise the household. Miss Gates escaped when Mr. White was shot. She dropped into a ditch as the convicts fired at her. The men commandeered three motorcars in their efforts to get away, and finally they separated. Three stole horses from a neighbour of the Gates family, and the others went off 011 foot. The

aeroplane message reported that the capture of the men was effected after a gun 1 battle between the convicts and their j 1 pursuers. i Mr. White, who is known as a strict | 1 disciplinarian, twice tried to fight his I < captors, his second attempt causing the J men to wound him. The deputy-governor, ! < Mr. Galvin, who was one of the pursuing party, was wounded in capturing them, as was one of the prison guards. One of the men was serving a sentence < of 15 years for robbery, and two others j wore sentenced to 25 years each for rob- , bery under arms. After the capturo of Mr. White, the , remainder of tne prisoners created an uproar, and troops had to bo summoned from Fort Leavenworth to form a cordon 4 round the grounds.