FUGITIVE SURRENDERS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21937, 22 October 1934, Page 12

FUGITIVE SURRENDERS

TWICE ROUND THE WORLD NO PEACE OF MIND [from our own correspondent] BRISBANE. Oct. 9 John W. Stalling, aged 25, who with another prisoner escaped on March 15, 1930, from St. Helena Island prison in a boat belonging to the gaol, walked into Boggo Road Gaol the other night and "surrendered. Since his escape he has been twice round the world. In the Police Court Stelling was sentenced to one month's imprisonment for gaol-breaking, and was ordered to servo tho remaining four months of the term which ho was serving when he escaped. Early in 1930, Stolling, with a companion, William Newberry, was sentenced to 10 months' imprisonment on several charges, one of which concerned with the theft from the Brisbane River of a yacht, valued at £2OOO. The yacht was stranded on the bar at the mouth of the river, and tho wouldbe thieves were captured. Tho prisoners were taken to gaol on the island of St. Helena in Moreton Bay. One night Stelling and Newberry escaped in a dinghy and reached the mainland six miles away. On landing the men separated. Walking and getting lifts on passing veh'clos, Stelling, who is an engineer by trade, reached Sydney, where he shipped as an enginehand on a cargo boat for England. Unable to find regular employment there he went to America and thence all over tho world. Ho was continually worried by the fact that lie was a fugitive from justice and although last year ho secured regular work in England ho was unable to obtain peace of mind. Ho decided therefore to return to Brisbane and disclose his identity.