PIGEON STOPS GAOL BREAK

Stratford Evening Post, Volume II, Issue 356, 13 September 1933, Page 2

PIGEON STOPS GAOL BREAK

Convicts Had Master Keys PARKHURST PLOT A pigeon was responsible for having frustrated a desperate attempt among convicts in one of the blocks of Parkhurst Prison, Isle of Wight, to escape on masse. The convicts had everything ready to open the doors of the GO cells and overpower the warders when tno accidental discovery of a pigeon imprisoned in an air shaft in “B” wing gave away the plot. . It was one of the most daring and ingeniously conceived “gaol breaks” in British prison history, and with a few more hours to complete thenplans, reckless and frenzied convicts might have provoked a mutiny as fierce and disastrous as the one that swept through Dartmoor IS months ago. . , Trapped Birds While the 33 convicts located on the 8.4 landing in “B” wing were at exercise, one of the pigeons which live within the walls of the prison principally on crumbs given to them by the convicts —flew down an air shaft, and became imprisoned in the ventilator of one of the cells on the fourth landing. , , The flutterings of the trapped on.. drew the attention of the warder on, patrol and he summoned the prison engineers to remove the grating, leading to the air shaft and release the pigeon. . When the engineers arrived, they had to penetrate deeply into the shatt to reach the frightened bird. In doing so they were astonished to find a number of pieces of string hanging from the grating clown into the shatt. On pulling these up they were found to be attached to hammers, chisels, iron bars, and roughly made skeleton keys. , . „ ~ The governor and the chief warder were immediately summoned, and t ie prisoners of the “B.” 4 landing brought in from exercise a”- 1 kicked in thmr cells. A posse of warders then began a thorough search of the whole prison. Each cell was systematically turned upside down, bedding was torn up. and the ventilators removed from, the shafts. In a coal shed, hidden beneath a stack of coal, a rope ladder and grappling hooks vmre found (to enable . the plotters to scale the 18tt prison wall) and in the carpenteis shop a quantity of crudely fashioned clubs and other murderous weapons were discovered. A. large quantity ot contraband of other kinds was also unearthed, including tobacco chocolate and illicit reading matter. Seven convicts who were the ringleaders in the plot, are now in specially built punishment cells, where they are being kept, under special guard m solitary confinement, pending an inquiry into the affair. Brought From Dartmoor

One of them is a man serving a life sentence for murder, while three of the others were transferred from Dartmoor after the mutiny in January Inst year to Parkhurst, where, it is stated, they have been a source ot trouble ever since. Smuggled notes were also discovered hidden in the clothing of some ot the convicts, showing that the plot was not conceived solely within the prison. Help in the shape of clothes and money was to have come from outside, and the police arc searching for several men who are believed to have travelled down from London to the Isle of Wight to co-operate with the escapees. The skeleton keys found, although evidently fashioned out of tinware, and obviously manufactured by men working in the tinsmiths’ or engineers’ shops, have been found to be efficient enough to unlock not only the cell doors, but also the mam gates of the halls that lead into the grounds. Widespread Plot

It is thought that the convicts on the “B”4 landing would have released other prisoners after themselves, and that a general gaol break would have been attempted. The convicts it is believed, intended to attack the warders, imprison them in the cells, and then get away from the prison in force.

Escape from the island would, of course, have been difficult, but it is believed that tlpir outside helpers had arranged for a complete getaway to the mainland —probably by the theft of some craft from Newport or Hyde, or possibly some of the yachts now lying at Cowes. The inquiry is to be conducted by the Prison Commissioners, and one of the principal questions to which they will seek an answer is: How was it possible for such elaborate preparations to have escaped the attention of the officials? The skeleton keys found resemble the master keys supplied only to principal warders. This fact will also be investigated.