Through Steel-plated Doors to Liberty.

NZ Truth, Issue 994, 13 December 1924, Page 1

Through Steel-plated Doors to Liberty.

John Lewis '(writes "Truth's" Mclbourne rep.) arrived on board a. yes- *j sei m New Zealand 'as k stowaway, coming from Africa. This was away back in '1903,' 'when he was a young ; ;■■ man- of 22. Born m Dublin, m '1881, hp had found himself cursed with the wandering, footstep ' at an early ; age; and had left his. native land when L only a youngster;. , l , . - From the time ',;.. he landed m New Zealand .until 1915, when he came to Australia;' hexwas: always more or less m trouble. .'He served, various sen- ; tences up to two years for theft, forgery; and false pretences, arid finally m 1913 -was; tim;arded '" three years for breaking;, entering, i and Stealing. MISFIT^ENIUS. , v Gif tecl" with a natural bent towards engineering and mechanics, he invariably -found his way: into the workshops at the different gaols m which he, was incarcerated, and his mechanical skill quite surprised .' the overseers and warders. ; ; ! *:'.■ ■' ' ' . ■' :' ■ '• • He ' could manufacture .any : article m half the 1 time taken by two other craftsmen, and his finished product was along way ahead, of the article I>roduced by the other men. ' In 1913 Lowis took m partnership another prominent Dominion , burglar, Bill 'DonoVan,;. a man with ia record equalled only by Lewis. Donovan Was not the skilled mechanic that Lewis was, but, nevertheless, he was a pretty good artist with the jemmy, and he was the type who would not hesitate to 'use a gun, .or a. gag. He was a typical garrotter of the worst type.'! : ' ' '" v The partnership was a short one, but while it lasted things were 1 merry. Then both- men were taken, and the* various charges of breaking, entering, and stealing, taia against them were proved right up to the hilt. They were each handed three years' imprisonment, and ..both were packed off to the Terrace Gaol, Wellington, the gloomy, im-pregnable-looking structure which, for all its heavy masonry, has failed ,to keep m many notorious gaolbreakers. ■:. ' .; ■■•'.'.•■ .• ''■'-,'-.> ",'■■.-• Lewis was -promptly given a job m the workshops, but Donovan was put on other : work. •«- Nevertheless the., two managed to .communicate with one another m^ the , way' which all prisoners use, and between them they decided to escape. ■■.■ :■•-■!,. --j^ -•■■■'■. ""-■ y [- /' _-'■*.:':'■' Lewis was \the man who planned the getaway,; and it was his ingenuity whicr* was responsible for the success; of the plan. In some way he succeeded m getting a soap impression of the key to his cell door. ■-; ', ';. .',.. ;; ■ '••;• ■•... ■ . :■'■... _ .■■ Probably it was Donovan who secured this for him,:as' Donovan was employed sweeping out the numerous cells for several weeks; and : during that : period this resourceful- rogue, must have ,had ; many opportunities of taking, /.the necessary' impression. Then, by the mysterious underground 1 route which is known only prisoners, it travelled .to Lewis, ,•.. -|i'--, ' ...'.'': ■ ■.:■' - ;■■.-■. . ■.•'■ A WORK OF GENIUS. . / For a genius of. hi 3 mechanical skill, It was itself for Lewis to manufacture a key from the impreselon He had all the tools he needed m the workshop,', and the .odds .and ends of tin and steel there provided all . the material lie wan ted. v , , Within a fortnight he had manu•factured >thp key, but it was no ordinary key. The usual thumb, grip was absent, and the shank , was abnormally long.. At its end, where the ihumb-gnp is usually to be found, transverse borings were made/ to take its place, and V\ the key proper was reversed. Tllat key was a work of genius ■ ■ . itself, ■ ■:■■";:;.:> ... .'■... ....,.;.; ;.„ Having manufactured the key, Le^is . next smuggled it into, .his < cell, along with the other instruments which he needed. How he got the ;key, , a small drill; an ordinary nail, und a of cobbler's thread into his. cell is.a-.mys-. :- : ;." tfcry which he "alone can- solve. •;-■■ ■ — Every night fwhon he left the work- •••-. Bhops he was thoroughly. searched, but notwithstanding the eagle eyes of the ex&minirigr. warclers,.;he , : spmehow v , i or; other got his, tools into 1 his cell ana succeeded m secreting them there. .

Ali was how ready, for the escape so carefully and 'cunningly planned. .;., In the Terrace Gaol- a flush sheet of half -inch steels covers the -whole of the inside of, the cell door. ' The lock docs not penetrate through this steel. It was f'p.rV that reason that Lewis had found it necessary to obtain the,

One of the best-known wharf laborers m Melbourne was formerly a prominent crook and ah expert gaol-breaker, 'but now he has gone into his well-earned retirement and is running straight. • •• , . He has convictions m South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia to his discredit, and served a fairly lengthy sentence m Pentridge riot so many years back. In New Zealand he was known as John Lewis. His Australian name — the name under which he still goes— was very different; and the^Australian, police have never linked him up with the notorious Dominion crook. As he has been running straight now for many months, "Truth" refrains from publishing his present name. . i

Master Crook and a Master Key Disused Talents of Inventive Genius

Lewis, from the inside of his cell, bored a hole into the keyhole, and inserted a weighted thread, which fell to the ground outside the cell door. He then recovered the thread through the crack under the door, attached the thread to his manufactured key, and pulled the latter up the outside of the door into the key-hole. Thus he turned the lock from the inside, arid escaped.

With remarkable accuracy he bored through the; flush plate of steel during the night watches.' The tiny drill made hardly a sound,' but manipulated by clever hands "it quickly cut through the halfinch steel, and when the work was finished the point of the drill slid fairly, and squarely into ;the"key-\ .hole.". .•;•.;.■■■■■. :;;■■,• ':'' ,\::j :^ : :-: {'J;.:.:-'.'-:.-Lewis ; made, no . mistakes^ ■■; ;He',wasaccurate m everything.: } :>- ■'■*;■"■;■"•• " '

Not a sound disturbed the gaol quietness; but Lewis knew that it must be time for the patrol of the night warder on duty, so he waited. Presently footsteps could be heard coming along the corridor without, and Lewis, ' listening intently, heard the warder pass his cell door. The crook could not see, but he knew that the warder was glancing at the indicator or. each .cell door. And they all showed, ■■ "Locked." ' ' INSERTING THE KEY. A. few minutes later the warder again passed Lewis's cell door^ and his

'footsteps gradually died away m the distance. Waiting for ten minutes to make sure that the coast was clear, Lewis tackled , the job of opening trie ccir ..door, again. ; Neatly he tied the nail to the length of stout thread, and quietly pushed it! through the hole which he had bored and, the keyhole. The- weight of the mail .carried the thread - down to the i bottom of the door. It struck the floor

with a slight, dull thump, barely audi- I ble to the man m the cell; The well-worn step outside the cell door made this a cpm'paratively easy job. Generations of crooks • had worn the step down, until there was a fairly -wide aperture between it and the bottom of the cell door. ' Lewis now found himself with an endless chain proceeding from ; the keyhole, down the outside of the door, and back into the cell underneath the door. So far everything had gone without a hitch, but the most 'difficult part of

the job lay ahead. The key was tied tc the thread by means of the transverse borings on the end of the shank, and when securely tied Lewis slipped It beneath the door again into the corridor outside. : ' ... ■ Pulling gently on the end of the thread at the keyhole, Lewis drew the key slowly up the outside of the cell door. , Once or twice it scraped against the outside of the door, and to the man within the call that noise was multiplied a hundred times by the eerie stillness of the night. Several , times he paused, half- expecting f the sounds made by the key to bring a warder to the cell door; but his fears were perfectly groundless. At length the key was s level with the Keyhole, and then with a sudden jerk and a tug Lewis endeavored to slip (he key into the keyhole. At first he v/as not successful. Once, twice, thrice, he failed. He was breathing heavily, and beginning to fear that after all his scheme would fail. THE OPEN DOOR. / But Lewis did riot rush matters. He knew too much about engineering to try to • force the key into pte.ee>. and

"Showing:, the bored hole, and the manipulation of the string. atter many slow and gentle tugs at the thread : the key- slid gently into ■ the keyhole with hardly an audible scrape. The long .shank penetrated right through the door now, and by fixing ,the, small drill to it,. Uewjj^was. „ able to improvise a- thumb-: grip. Almost holding his breath, he turned the key slowly. Would it work the lock, or — — ? The .well-oiled lock clicked as the key turned, and Lewis pushed the door cr-en 'inch by inch. There was not a sound to be heard m the, darkened corridor, and, having gathered 'up the various tools with which he ; had effected his escape, Lewis locked the cell door and then quietly tip-toed down the corridor to the cell, in which his pal and partner, Donovan) was locked up. Donovan was awaiting for him. Ho answered the gentle tap on his door with an equally gentle tap. Lewis, quickly got to work. He didn't believe m wasting time, and very quickly' he had the cell door open. In the corridor the , :o men shook hands. Lewis locked up the cell again and then : they quietly stole down the corridor towards the window at the end. ■* . ''':.'■'. '" ' ". .' Near it was a door, long since disused and supposed _to be securely bolted. But Lewis had seen to that part of the job. The door swung open to his touch, and the twti meh found themselves m one of the exercise yards. ; It was a simple matter to clamber up on the roof and then to jump down on to the road outside. The ' blackness of the night securely hid them from any prying eyes within the gaol precincts, and it was very unlikely that at two m the morning the lonely road outside would be frequented even by "stay-outs." It was' luck for Lewis and Donovan that no warder encountered them during their walk down he corridor to freedom. Had they been discovered, it is pretty certain that they would

both have had later face, at least an attempted murder charge— -if not., .a murder one — for Donovan had .made for himself a vicious^looking. gag, ana he would have used it with disastrous results on any warder, who had, tried to stop them. , . ». AWAY, BUT CAUGHT AGAIN. 1 Next morning, when the cell doors were unlocked, the amazed warders found that their charges had fled m the night, and they could not discover how the daring escapades had been perpetrated. There was only a drilled hole m Lewis's cell to tell them, and they were unable to even conjecturo the clever manner m which the escape had been effected. A hue and cry was immediately raised, and within a few days Lewis and Donovan were both recaptured m the scrubby country around Terawhiti They made no resistance when cornered, and surrendered almost with gladness. During the few days of their hard -won freedom . ■ they had learnc.: how difficult it. is { for a hunted man to secure the ne-ossities of life. It was not until some weeks later that Lewis vdisclosed the manner m which he had got out of the prison. Then he was taken out of the gaol under escort to the place where he had planted the tools which had made the ingenious escape possible. To-day the gripless key is one of the most prized ornaments m the office of the Comptroller of New Zealand Prisons. •' "j