GENERAL ALARM

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 282, 2 December 1935, Page 8

GENERAL ALARM

, MENTAL PATIENT AT LARGE SURRENDER ON CONDITION SYDNEY, Nov. 21. For four days this week, Sydney . was roused to intense interest in it ; man-hunt for an escaped patient from ' the Parramatta Mental Hospital, 15 H miles from Sydney, but after several lexciting incidents, the chase ended ' tamely, when the wanted man telephoned a salvation Army officer and 1 promised to surrender on one condition The excitement was the greater j because tie maniac, Robert James McMahon, gained his liberty from the -a me institution last July, and aftei * several districts had lived in terror for I days, he was found in a sawmill. Me- , Mahon served sentences in several gaols for six offences, and house rob- * j beries before, on his last conviction, 1 he was transit !red to the Parramatta , Mental Hospital. McMahon escaped on Sunday from a two < by p iing mattress»*s and pillows against his cell wall and fur.-ing a grille from the window, then climbing 30 feet down a rope , made of his blankets. He has since 1 ad;; ;ttt d that it took him three nights -to lor-e the grille. With the excep- - tion of his shirt, his clothes had been . put in a locker. but he secured a oundle of clothing from the hospital laundrv and later stole clothing from • nearl y farms. Squads of police beat 1 I through the rough and sparselysettled country, with which McMahon ’ was familiar. They investigate'! more than l-’hj reports that he had been seen 1 as far away as IUO miles, but these j reports were unfounded. Meanwhile, districts near Parramatta were in terror, and women would not leave - their homes or stay alone at home without a male escort. s The first real clue to McMahon’s thereabouts came on Monday from a tanner at Northmead, a few’ miles • j from Parramatta. A man who answered ■(McMahon’s description called at the . house, and asked lor food which was ..given to him. He begged the farmer ito shave his inch-long beard, and - i when that request was refused, I (shouted: •’l’m McMahon,’ and bolted • I into the bush. Next day police found , his skilfully-concealed hiding-place in the bush, and the remains of a fowl iwbi ii had been cooked.

Warder Beaten in Grapple • On Tuesday night, in the same dis- ! t: a waidcr from the mental hospital heard a noise in the backyard "f hs private residence, and saw a Iman who answered when challenged, i The warder recognised McMahon’s ■ voice, and gave chase. The fugitive ' was blocked by a creek, and in i JoubHng back on his tracks, ran into ' the warder. The two men fought •fiercely for some minutes, and after ; the warder’s face and throwing him to the ground, the madman : escaped. According to the warder, McMahon was naked except for a long ; -hiit. i There was an absence of violence in | McMahon’s next and final appearance in the open. He arrived at the dairy- • farm of J. Peel, off the old Windsor • Rond, Kellyville, 12 miles from Parra- ‘ n.atta, at about 1.20 p.m. on Wednesday. George Gregg, aii employee, saw •L’m through a window. McMahon was dressed in an old blue coat, blue shirt, old grey trousers and Wellington boots cut off at the ankles. His beard was more than an inch long. Gregg re•ugnised McMahon and gave him food and drink. Before he began to eat, McMahon asked if he could use the telephone. He telephoned to Brigadier Egan, of ;he Salvation Army. He said that *•* would surrender to the police if Egan promised to use his influence to have him removed from the Parramatta

Mental Hospital to another institution. Over his meal McMahon told Gregg that he had intended to try to reach a relative living not far away, to obtain •lothes and money to get to Queensland or at least Aftjr hewing Gregg to mend a sulky. McMahon sat with him under a tree fo.’ a yarn and a smoke. Meanwhile the police had been actif.ed. As a police eir came *nic «iglt McMahon exclaimed, “Here are *he police,” and ran. He was just clambering over a fence 50 yards away 'Vticii two detectives seized him and pulled him back. For a few moments McMahon resisted but he was no match *or the detectives, who merely by bolding him, soon quietened him. He seemed calm after the capture, but on the way to the police station and when near the asylum, he became upset and eventually broke down. “They will never keep me there,” he said, “1 will starve myself to death. L will go on hunger strike.”