A PRISONER'S FRANKS

NZ Truth, Issue 935, 27 October 1923, Page 3

A PRISONER'S FRANKS

Sang Froid Of Scott A Coo! Customer m the King Country. [■. /(From ."Truth's" Hampton Rep.) ' Sixteen 'days is .a fair spell of liberty for ah escaped prisoner to enjoy, when every road, track and railway station is watchsd and the country is being scoured m. every direction by the minions of the law, but such was the respite f ronr prison discipline and . toil which a well set-up, athletic young fellow, named Archibald Scott; managed to secure before 'he was recantured at Otorohanga on the 16th ofsthis month, after having broken away from the Waikcria prison camp, which, is situated . on. the border of the .King Country.' . Quite a unique System of reform is adopted at Waikeria. It is ■•' thence that the better type of prisoners are to serve both long sentences and periods of reformative, treatment The men are not confined within four walls, as m the city gaols, but are put on parole within certain limits,- and are allowed to wander about their" work unattended by warders. Sometimes they are 10 be found- five or six miles beyond the prison bounds;. driving farm carts, or about other, business connected ; with the institution, there being ■nothing m their outer appearance to indicate to the outsider that they are convicted criminals, undergoing sentence. Dr. Gribbin, who is m charge, has got discipline down, to a fine artf and when a new .hunato .enters he places him on his honor not to attempt to escape, and, m return, affords 'him a . ,-. ■..■■;.-. , MEASTJRE OF FREEDOM which " is probably not enjoyed by prisoners m any -other part of the world, excepting; perhaps, m certain of the Pacific Isles, where the Native delinquents whp work on* the , poads, unattended by 'warders, all scutter back to the lock-up .when the bell rings at flve o'clock, their greatest iear being that they will be locked out. With races of a higher intelligence, however^ it, is doubtful if anywhere the same latitude, is granted to prisoners as is extended at ■.Waikaria. Dr. Gribbin is a keen student of pyschology and ho finQs the prison camp an excellent place to pursue his study and to put his theories into practice. The result is that the- majority of the inmates sw-sar by him; and the percentage who break their parole irf almost negligible. Archibald Scott was, however, one of this negligible few, and when- on the first day of, this month he made a break of it he took .with him a heavy draught, horse and harness. These ho. abandoned ■ before his second day's liberty and. from the locality m which they were found the authorities gathered that Scott had hot got very far away and wa3 still m the vicinity df the gaol: A strict watch was kept on "all" roads* and a general hue, and cry went up. A day later a farmer not many miles away missed a light horse, saddle and bridle, :jjjhich were debited, m the official mind to the account,of the escapee. Despite a continuous search Scott managed to keep his whoreaboiits obscure by remaining m hiding during tho day and STALKING "OUT AFTER SUNSET in 'search of -food. He established a camp .m a big patch of scrub along tho banks of the "Waipa, and it was from hero that he "worked" the country for. miles around after dark, always successfully •.baffling pursuit. One day, becoming emboldened, ho sallied forth by day, and, approaching a whare outside which a man was working, but the owner of which was away, he remarked that he was. a relative of tho owner and was going In to change his clothes. Ho then leisurely went about a shave and changed, into the owner's clothes, and emerged looking quite spruce and clean, with a second suit belonging to, the other man under, his arm, leaving, m its place an old and much-be-grltned suit of dungarees. In his changed attire he made his way into Otorohanga, where he brazenly put up at the Commercial Private Hotel., for several days, posing as a commercial traveller. In appearance he was quite respectable and m manner quite affable. During his stay m the little . township several stores were broken Into and goods and money stolen, but nobody suspected the genial "commercial" as tho culprit. Last Saturday morning he asked the landlady for the use of tho telephone, which Is situated m the private office. Scott was left alone for a short time, and on coming out he paid his board, remarking- that he .would be returning again m a few days. Shortly afterwards the lady ; discovered that two boxes m the office had been broken open and relieved of £5, while the telephone had been disconnected. She communicated with the police, but by this time the bird had flown, although not very far. Apparently flushed with his success, Scott- now began to get RECKLESSLY BOLD. He put up at a small private boardinghouse, from. where, m the afternoon of the same day, he rang up the Commercial Hotel and asked if Mr. Douglas (the alias under which he had been staying there) was m. The landlady said he was not. and that he had left that morning. She mentioned nothing about the theft, and Scott, apparently cingling for Information as to whether! the theft had been discovered, asked a number of more or less Irrelevant questions, which mado the landlady suspicious as to the identity of the inquirer,, who said ho was a friend of Douglas's. When ho eventually rang off Bhe got into communication with tho exchange and ascertained the number of tho 'phono from which he had rung. She then communicated with the police, who went along to the private boarding-house montioned and there camo upon Scott, who g6t a great surprise, for he doubtless thought to put ths police off his scent by remaining "close" instead of getting well away from the scene of his escapades. Ho submitted quite calmly to being taken, and is to be dealt with by tho Court m duo course.