STORY OF OLD PRISON
FACILITIES FOR ESCAPE DISCOVER! BY SUPERVISOR In connention with the proposal to demolish the Mount Cook Barracks, Wellington, formerly a prison, it is recalled that when the building was being erected by prison labour over 40 years ago an ingenious attempt was made to provide facilities for the escape of a prisoner in the condemned cell. Occasionally while the building was proceeding the supervisor would go round and examine the work, here and there tapping the trails with his heavy stick. Striking the wall where the condemned cell wa s to be found it did not “ring" properly, Te made a close examination, and trying the mortar found that only a thin .rust had been put in between the face bricks on either side and that with only just enough lime to hold it together. A nail would have scratched it out in powder. There was not a bit of mortar between he inner rows of bricks, and all that would have been necessary would have been to lift the bricks out. The space in the wall affected was about a square yard, giving a prisoner ample room to climb through. The men who were concerned in the work suffered severe disciplinary action.
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Bibliographic details
Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 72, Issue 197, 20 August 1929, Page 10
Word Count
207STORY OF OLD PRISON Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 72, Issue 197, 20 August 1929, Page 10
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