PRISOINER'S DASH FOR LIBERTY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2924, 30 March 1910, Page 15

PRISOINER'S DASH FOR LIBERTY.

A SECOND ESCAPE. ' WELLINGTON, March 23. This morning, about 9 o'clock, Joseph Powelka, a prisoner who awaits trial on (several charges of burglary and theft at Palmerston, escaped from the Lambton Quay Police Station. This is the second occasion on which Powelka. has made a dash for liberty since he was arrested—the first time being in Palmerston, when he escaped from gaol, and gave the police some trouble to recapture him. Accused was brought down from the Terrace Gaol this morning to appear at the Magistrates' Court, when his remand to Palmerston was to be asked' for. While in the cell he received' a temporary companion in the shape of a man who arrived from the suburbs to-day in charge of a constable. Shortly after the prisoner was sent for to be examined in the watchhouse, and the arresting constable, it is said, took the key, brought his charge' out, and locked the door, as he thought, behind him. The lock was a Yale lock of peculiar combination. When, the cell was next visited, very soon after, the door was shut, but Powelka was missing. Apparently he had tried the door, found it not locked, came out, taking the precaution to shut the door behind him, and scaled the adjoininig wall. At the time of writing, though a thorough and immediate .search was carried out, the escapee's whereabouts had not been ascertained. It is thought that he must have had at least five minutes' start of his custodians. Powelka is a dark man, 6ft in height, slimly built, of sallow complexion and hollow-cheeked. He is said to be ■wearing a grey coat and vest, trousers of a green shade, a collarless soft shirt, and Bluchei." boots. He is (or was) without a hat, and has not been shaved for a month. It is believed that he has little knowledge of the city's by-ways.