TWO PRISONERS ESCAPE

Southland Times, Issue 18697, 15 October 1919, Page 5

TWO PRISONERS ESCAPE

BOLT FROM OTATARA GANG. NOT YET CAPTURED. While working in a sand-pit with the prison gang at Otatara yesterday morning, at about 10.30 o’clock, two prisoners, named Lawrence Egmont Windsor and Oswald Harris, bolted into the bush and have not been seen since. The two men evidently broke away when the warder’s attention was attracted elsewhere and had been gone several minutes before they were missed. The warder had to march the remaining members of the gang back to the gaol before a search could be instituted, but by 11 o’clock the aid of the local police had been secured and p party had set out in pursuit of the escapees. The bush into which the men disappeared was searched without avail. The bush is very dense and a close search was impossible. It is thought probable that the two men may have kept in hiding in the bush during the day-time in order to make an attempt to reach the open country when darkness fell. Policemen and members of the prison staff have been stationed at various points where it is considered that the prisoners will have to come out should they leave the bush, and the police authorities in the surrounding districts have been notified to keen a close lookout for the missing men. Both the escaped prisoners are 16 years of age, and Windsor is described as small, with a fair complexion, fair hair, and an old scar on the forehead. Harris is of medium height, with brown hair, fresh complexion, and two fingers missing off the right hand. When they escaped they were dressed in prison clothes, a blue coat and white trousers.