PRISONER’S ESCAPE

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 62, Issue 4402, 14 March 1941, Page 8

PRISONER’S ESCAPE

CUNNING RUSE ADOPTED. HUMPHREYS BEFORE COURT. An account of a daring escape from custody was heard in the Hamilton Police Court on Wednesday, when Richard Humphreys, aged 23 years, a mechanic, of Auckland, pleaded guilty to a charge of escaping lawful custody and also to the stealing of a yacht valued at £250.

Constable L. Shand, of Auckland, said that accused had been sentenced to two years’ reformative detention at the Waikeria Borstal Institute on 30th January, and he escorted the prisoner on -the south-bound limited express the following evening. When the train neared Ohaupo accused asked to leave the carriage, and as the train was travelling at a fast speed witness assented. Accused walked to the rear of the carriage, and witness followed him. Accused then disappeared. Detective-Sergeant J. Thompson, of Hamilton, said that accused had admitted the charges. He said that accused climbed on to the roof of the train at Ohaupo. He then walked along the roof until he reached the guard’s van. When the train slowed down at Te Awamutu accused left the train and made his way back to Auckland, where he recovered some money and clothes he had hidden in Cornwall Park prior to his arrest. He then journeyed to Tauranga, and stole the yacht. The detective-sergeant added that it was the accused’s intention to leave New Zealand, but he was forced to put into Ruatoria, where he was arrested.

Humphreys was committed to the Supreme Court, Auckland, for sentence.

A letter received in the Te Awamutu district from Newcastle, England, illustrates the fact that the bravery with which the civilian population is standing up to Hitler's aerial blitzkrieg is not confined to adults alone. The writer said: “A schoolmaster who lives in our street told me of a party of small boys, the leader eight or nine years old, who were playing in the street when they heard a bomb coming. The leader called to his obedient followers, ‘ Down, boys ! ’ and they ‘downed.’ The bomb fell, making an awful mess, but the boys escaped. On the teacher asking them what they did next, the reply was, ‘Well, mister, we went to look for souvenirs.’”

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