REEL THRILLS IN REAL LIFE

NZ Truth, Issue 1105, 3 February 1927, Page 7

REEL THRILLS IN REAL LIFE

TWO GEORGES II GO Ii GALLIVANTING II IN . I! KING COUNTRY | li

HEIR prospects of starring on the screen m a hairraising thriller seem rather remote at the moment, however, for they have a lengthy sojourn , behind the "blue-stone walls ahead of them. But they still have

1? / m" if . ii i •■» plenty of time The first George is only 21, and his pal a year his junior. • George Colcord, who also calls himself Curtis, when the occasion suits, was working at Glen Eden about the middle of last month, when the other George decided to take a run up from Hamilton m a car .to see him. It so happened that Colcord's boss, Alexander Brodie, had left his coat, with £33 10s. in^the- pockety hanging up m the coal shed. It might be mentioned at this stage that neither of the two Georges is particularly famous for his honesty, and so — as might have been expected — the temptation was too much for them, and when Brodie came to collect his coat, the cash had disappeared — and so had the two Georges. ' The next we hear' of them is m Hamilton, when the serge-sleeved arm of the law reached out, grabbed them by their respective collars and lodged them m the local lock-up, where £28 10s. of their ill-gotten wealth was extracted from their pockets. - And now, hang on to the arms "of your chair, 1 for this is where the real thrills begin! Enter the -watch-house keeper next morning. Instead of the two Georges, he finds an empty cell with two of the floor boards prised up and a hole big enough for a man to pass through scooped out underneath .the wall. INTO THE NIGHT . Through that hole, some time m the dim light preceding dawn, the two Georges had dragged^ themselves. Stealthily they sidled along the wall, > ■

(From "N.Z. Truth's" Special Auckland Rep.) TP by any chance George Colcord and George Huia Brewer ever find their way to Hollywood, they will be snapped up on a million dollar contract by the first producer who sights them through his horn-rims — that is, of course, if the producer has read this story of the adventurers of the two Georges.

peered round the corner to make certain that they were still undiscovered, and made a break for a certain garage where they knew that a two-seater racing car was kept. If any of the sleeping residents of Hamilton heard the engine start up and the car roar away into the dawn, they took no more notice than to grunt with annoyance at the noise, heave a sleepy sigh and turn over to continue their interrupted slumber. . There were no broken' bridges or yawning .chasms m the road to leap, neither were' there any land- . slides to thunder down thousands of tons of rock a fraction of a second after the car had passed.. Nor were there any trains to dash m front of. But the two Georges were having quite a thrilling time .without these little details I—which1 — which would assuredly be part of the first picture they made at Hollywood — so they didn't really mind. * - \ - Besides the "cameraman hadn't been notified of their thrilling escape from, justice, so that any such stunts would'] have been wasted. That night they slept m. the bush near Titirangi, and next day continued their journey, still heading northwards. Nightfall came and found the racing car roaring along at about' 40 m.p.h. on its way to Henderson. Near the town it passed another car, without the two noticing that Constable Smith was aboard it. ; LAW'S LONG ARM The first intimation they had that they had once again run. up against the long arm of the law was when the constable's car turned and speeded, after them m hot pursuit. The two Georges apparently had not much faith m petrol, for they decided to take to the bush and trust to the darkness to cloak them from the pursuing »P.C. The racer slowed down and out leapt one of them — it was too dark for the constable to see which one. ■ Gradually he overhauled the racing car. As he drew alongside the driver pulled up, and — jumping out — also disappeared into an adjoining paddock, where darkness put further pursuit' out of the question. But P.C. Smith, of Henderson; knew a thing or two. He nosed round quietly and eventually appeared suddenly at a certain house m the town. True to his. expectations, Colcord was there, and next day the constable ran Brewer to earth m the scrub. Last week the two Georges faced .. Magistrate Hunt on charges of escaping' from custody, stealing the money from Alexander Brodie and also of stealing a camera from the car which brought them up from Hamilton after their escape. George Brewer had an additional charge against him — that of fleecing. Hilda Mtiry Dixon of £5 3s. Bd. by spinning her a tale which might have convinced many a less credulous person. ■ . Hilda's husband told the Court his version of the ingenious fraud. His

FILM STUNTS , IN RAGING CAR ON LONELY ROAD

son, Sydney, having tried to burn th©;! house down a conple of yeara ago, had, ; been committd to the tender care of the Borstal for two years. One day towards the end of last:; November a young man called at their house m Vincent Street, Auckland, and ■- said he had come to see about th©-*re-lease of the erring Sydney from the institution. ; He was from Invercargill, he said, <• and was representing a firm of solici- ,' tors there. . , 1 "He asked me if I was willing to ;' have Sydney released," said Dixon. ■ "I said I was, and that I was will- . ing to look after' him. X'-:T-"He told me to keep It quiet, as he did not want jthe public to know that he was trying" to get his release. He said he'l like to talk to Mrs. Dixon m private." TALES HE TOLD What he said m that private conversation with Sydney's mother was related by that lady herself. He asked her for a fiver v - to procure the release and to arrange a period of probation after Sydney? s freedom -had been obtained. „.■"' ■■■•" The crisp and crackling note was duly handed over and also 3/8 for a wire to Invercargill. In return, Hilda Mary Dixon received a receipt for the full : amount, stamped and signed 'Towel,, solicitors, Irivercargill."- --' Both the Dixons^had no hesitation m saying that . .George Brewer was the plausible young man. They had both picked him out from a row of other men at the Auckland police station the same morning. . Then Senior Detective Hammond produced their lists, from which it was gathered that the two Georges had quite a chequered career. ' - Both of them had spent^ three years ' m the Borstal — which no doubt gave , " Brewer the idea for his little scheme „ for extracting' the fiver from Sydney - Dixon's mother — and Brewer had also . been placed on probation for two years at Feiiding m 1923 for theft. :.% FOR TWO YEARS : In 1924 he was ordered to make , : restitution on a false pretences charge, -' and given another two years' probation ."* for breach of the. terms of his first :i period. "" Then m 1925 an Auckland S.M. de-. v cided that George was an idle and dis- > orderly person and sent him off to the - Borstal for three years. I The pair pleaded guilty- to the oharges of theft, but Brewer maintain-."; ed his innocence regarding the false pretences charge. ■ - "I've owned up to the others," he said, "but I've not bwned^up to this because I didn't do it." But S.M. Hunt decided that whether ■ or not his statement was true, both ; Georges had doneT enough to warrant ;~ him, handing out six months', hard to each 6'Tthem,' to; -be followed by a couple of years' reformative detention. '•>' They were remanded to appear at ~. Hamilton on February 3 on the charges ; of escaping from custody. ■ ; ; It will be some time m 1929 before:; the two Georges will be abje to enter- ; tain the idea of accepting that million- . [dollar contract m Hollywood. ■-■/■ :-