CONVICT AND “PRINCE.”

Taranaki Daily News, 18 September 1924, Page 11

CONVICT AND “PRINCE.”

MONTE CRISTO IMITATED. ESCAPE IN A DEATH CART. ROBBERY AND HUGH LIFE. (Romance and adventure have been crowded thickly into the life of Gabriel Alphone Mourey, an international thief, who, for robbery under arms, was recently sentenced to death in Paris. Mourey’a escape from the penal settlement in French Guiana after his conviction in 1915 re calls the remarkable exploit of Dumas’ mythical Monte Cristo. A prisoner died, and Mourey learned that the body was to be taken in a cart the same night for burial in a remote corner of the settlement. Here he had his opportunity. Before nightfall he had managed to hide himself in the cait with, the dead body. When the burial ground was readied he had little difficulty in eluding the vigilance of the burial party, and concealing himself in the thick undergrowth. There he lay hidden for two days, when he stole to the shore and stowed -away on board a vessel that •was leaving shortly. In a few hours the alarm had (been given and a search was in progress. The ship was boarded by a search party, but in a rat-infested corner of the hold Mourey lay safely hidden until the' danger was past. ALLIGATORS AND REPTILES.

I For four days Mourey lay concealed, sea-sickness adding to the terror and discomfort of his voyage. Then, unable to endure the torture any longer, he slipped from the ship under cover of darkness. He found himself in a lagoon that swarmed with alligators. (Carried by the current to the shore, well-nigh delirious with thirst and fright, he found that his place of refuge was infested with poisonous reptiles. ’At length a trading vessel put into the lagoon. Mourey had discarded his tell* tale outer clothing, and the captain of the ship, being short of hands, was quite willing to engage the castaway without asking too many questions. In due course Mourey reached Mexico, served the rival revolutionary bands in turn, attracted the interest of the notorious Villa, and was for a little while secretary to that remarkable man. Unfortunately for Mourey, he and his chief became interested in a charming young lady. There was a heated quarrel, knife blows and shots were exchanged, and Mourey thought it wise to strike out for American territory. Hot on his trail Villa’s men followed, and before reaching safety in American territory Mourey had a fierce fight with his pursuers. He gave them the slip, but for a day and a night he had to remain hidden in a swamp while Villa’s men scoured the country for him, and he only escaped certain death by standing for three hours in mud and slimy ooze with rank growth to hide his head. Fever and ague followed, but Mourey came through, and when he finally reached New York, after fitting himself out with the proceeds of a robbery he committed soon after reaching American territory, he presented the appearance of a young man of elegance, witn nothing to suggest the terrible experiences he had undergone. “MODEL SERVANT’S” DARING ROBBERY. Mourey descended on New York in the character of a young man of good family, forced by reverses of fortune to earn his own living. His gentle and refined manners were in perfect accord with the role he had assumed, and on the strength of them he entered the employ of Mr. Shattuck, a well-known banker, as a valet, without his “references” being closely checked. Shortly after the advent of the new servant the house was robbed of jewellery valued at £.30,000, and no one was more helpful with suggestions for detecting the criminals than the paragon of a manservant, who had, in fact, carried out the robbery himself. No suspicion was attracted to Mourey, who shortly after left his employment on the plea that family affairs made it necesaary he should return to Franco. Among the luggage that Mourey took away proweds of the robbery are supposed to have been included, but when the family honoured the model servant by a special banquet, on the eve of his departure, there was not the faintest suspicion that some of the missing jewellery wm actually in his possession as he sat at"the table. * “PRINCE” TN DISGUISE. Reaching France, Mourey took up hie residence in Paris, and for some time lived in the style of a prince on the proceeds of his “industry” in America. He had -suites of rooms in euoceeeion at three of the most famous hotels, and succeeded in creating the impression that he was really a personage of (Royal lineage travelling “incognito.” Ah a prince in disguise Mourey had no difficulty in arousing interest among ladies, and in various ways he wormed himself into French society, where he was received as a very interesting young man, who, for dynastic reasons, had to hide his identity.

But Paris, while rich in love aventures, did not provide the same generous income as New York had done, so the “prince” decided in 1922 to return to New York. There, with three other men, he planned a second raid on the house of Mr. Shattuck.

Masked and armed, the four desperadoes gained admission to the house. They surprised the family at a meal, and at the muzzles of revolvers drove Mr. and Mrs. Shattuck and their eight servants into a strong room in the basement. Then they proceeded to ransack the house. Mr. Shattuck, however, managed to open the door of the strong room and raise an alarm, and the burglars, disturbed at their task, fled. MOUREY RUN TO EARTH. One inan was arrested in the street; another was taken in Philadelphia. Mourey and a third escaped to Mexico, I and thence to Spain. Last December his companion was run to ground at Marseilles and deported. With the two others he is now serving a long sentence in America. Mourey hid himself in a quiet Paris suburb, where he was jkept supplied with food and money by a woman known to the French police as Rose. She was a woman of the underworld, and every night, doffing her gay attire, she would carry supplies to the man, to whom she was devoted At length the police got on Mourey’s track. In Ooiober of la*t voar he

located in a cafe, and three inspectors, disguised as fishermen, with rods afcd line, surrounded him. He fired on them, and in the fight that followed was shot in four places. He was not., however, seriously injured. Mr. Shattuck attended the trial.