ESCAPE FROM PRISON

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1508, 24 January 1901, Page 59

ESCAPE FROM PRISON

AN AUDACIOUS CONVICT. One of the convicts in Wormwood Scrubbs Prison, England, names James Allright, made his escape on November T. in the morning, in a daring and clever manner. He was undergoing a long term of imprisonment, most of which he had still to serve. Nearly a score of convictions stand against him, but, despite his bad record when at liberty, he appears to have conducted himself while in prison in such a way as to gain not a little confidence from the officials. Amongst the duties delegated to him periodically was helping in the bakehouse and. kitchen. When the bell that calls the prisoners to exercise at 8.45 on the date named. Allright joined the other prisoners in the coui'tvard, and, bn being detailed to his occasional duties in the bakehouse, he was taken there by an official. It being Sunday, the prison staff on duty was much smaller, as a number of the warders were on leave. It does not seem to have been the custom for the door of the bakehouse to be locked after the convicts were inside, as it was the duty of the warder to keep an eye on his charge. The warder of Allright appears to have had other convicts to watch in another part of the prison, and consequently Allright enjoyed a certain freedom of action. Other circumstances were also favourable to his escape. In the first place, the bakehouse buildings are situated but a short distance from the prison wall, and once he was through the door of the bakehouse and round the corner, it was difficulty for anyone within the prison to uetect his subsequent actions. The bakehouse, too, contained the ladders for windowcleaning purposes, and he had to break the chain which bound them together. Little more than ten minutes had elapsed from the assembling bell till the bell was again rung—this time as an alarm. "Prisoner escaped’!’’ was the cry, and a general rush was made for the bakehouse. Allright was gone. Undetected, he had taken the chain that held the ladders, carried one to the prison wall, which was the only wall separating him from freedom, and got clear away, after having kicked the ladder down. He escaped 'from the Scrubbs end of the orison, and was soon in the adjacent large railway siding, with its hundreds of waggons. A number of people who were in the vicinity of the prison caught sight of the running figure with the broad arrow dress, and appreciating the position immediately took up the chase. But Allright had got a good lead, and his youth—he is only 29 years of age—also stood him in good stead. For a time he was lost to sight, but he reappeared to his pursuers—who now included a number of the prison officials, headed by the governor’s son —in a railway shed, busy in the act of changing his prison garb for a tweed suit. but before the shed 1 could be reached, he was again out of sight, leaving the prison clothing behind. That was the last view his pursuers had of him. Circumstances point to Allright having had a confederate, either within or without the prison, from the fact that he knew exactly where to find the tweed clothing. The escaped prisoner is of medium build, with fair complexion and moustache, and is, as has already been noted, 29 years of age. A later message says : The convict James Allright was arrested at 7.30 last evening by a constable -on point duty near the Royal Oak publichouse, Westbourne Grove. It was found he had not actually changed his dress, but with a piece of linen he had made an ingenious imitation of a white shirt, and with the lining of his cap he had made a necktie. The constable had a long chase after Allright, whose appearance had drawn suspicion upon himself. During, the chase Allright tried to Throw himself beneath an omnibus.—“Daily News.”