BANISHED FOR LIFE

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16734, 16 May 1922, Page 5

BANISHED FOR LIFE

ESCAPEES RECAPTURED. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. SYDNEY. May 15. The escape of two French prisoners from the El Kantara while the vessel was coaling at Newcastle is mysterious. They disappeared during the night, though apparently securely confined, with a. guard over them. The steamer left for New Caledonia, and subsequently the two escapees were captured aboard a ship which was scheduled to leave Newcastle for Durban to-day. The two prisoners were tried at the Newcastle Court for vagrancy and remanded till May 22. Both had been banished for life by the French Government. One, named Tulop, was an airman in the same force as Carpentier. He also was a boxer at Paris, having beaten Criqui, who recently visited Australia. He refused to fight against the Bolsheviks on the Serbian front. He went to Spain and was charged with desertion on returning to France. He is an undergraduate and has left a wife and children in France The other prisoner, named Sziber, is a Rumanian. He was banished on a charge of obstructing the French authorities when the occupation of Hungary commenced. After the armistice was declared he was engaged in military police duties at a railway station in Hungary .and refused to hand over railway facilities to the invading army. ft is thought that France probably will commence extradition proceedings, and friends of the prisoners in Newcastle and Sydney are suggesting an appeal for funds to fight the case.