GAOL ESCAPEE STILL FREE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 90, Issue 167, 22 July 1946, Page 4

GAOL ESCAPEE STILL FREE

TWICE SEEN BY POLICE DURING SEARCH GONVILLE HOUSE ROBBED All available police officers from Wanganui city and suburbs and adjacent country stations were engaged again all day yesterday ami last night in the search for a Maori, Paranehi Dardanelles, aged 32, who escaped from the Wanganui Gaol at 1.10 p.m. on Saturday. The escapee twice eluded capture at, the week-end after being sighted by constables.

On the second occasion, at 4.35 a.ni. yesterday morning the wanted man abandoned a cycle on the Dublin Street Bridge and jumped over the railing to the bank holow. During Saturday afternoon a house at Gonvitle was broken into, and clothing and £7 in cash was stolen. The police believe that the escapee was rcapon, sible.

Dardanelles appeared under the name of John Mclntyre before the Wanganui Magistrate’s Court on Friday with another Maori, charged with tlie unlawful conversion of a motorcar at Taihape. They were remanded in custody for a week pending further police inquiries. Dardanelles was in the yard of the gaol in Maria Place extension shortly after 1 p.m., and used a form which was in the yard to scale the fence. He was missed almost immediately, ana was seen crossing the overhead tram bridge near.the gaol oppOMCe Spriggens Park. An alarm was given and a wide search by police and gaol officials was begun.

When he escaped Dardanelles was wearing checked plus fours, a purple nolo necked jersey, light golf stockings and shoes, but apparently managed to get a change of clothing by breaking into the home of Mr H. A. Gaskin, 18 Puriri Street, Gonville. TROUSERS TAKEN.

Entrance was gained through the bathroom window some time between 2 and 4 p.m. A pair of trousers, an overcoat and £7 were taken, and after examining the premises the police were satisfied that the escapee was responsible. By this time Dolice patrols aad been stationed on all bridge and highway exits from the city. While Constable C. Dudley was on his way home to tea about 6.45 p.m. he saw a man answering to the description of Dardanelles crouched by a fence at the rear of the racecourse in Jackson Street. When the constable got close the man bolted and scaled the corrugated iron fence into the racecourse. A police search of the racecourse and Spriggens Park in the darkness failed to locate the escapee. During the night more police were put: on special duty to watch for the missing man, being posted as far out as he Wangaehu River bridge.

At 4.35 o’clock yesterday morning Constable D. A. who was on the Wanganui East end of the Dublin Street Bridge, challenged a cyclist who answered the description of the wanted man. but the suspect abandoned the machine and jumped over the bridge railings, landing apparently unhurt on the bank below.

A police paity was summoned and the river bank area and plantations nearby searched until 9 a.m. without success. The cycle abandoned on the bridge awaits a claimant at the Wanganui police station. ESCAPEE’S DESCRIPTION

The official description of the escapee is: Height, sft. 81 inches, copper coloured complexion, flat nose and wide mouth, scar on right temple and left side of face, dressed in mauve coat with pin stripes; navy blue trousers with pin stripes, tight fitting; fight grey pull over; and tight-fitting dark grey overcoat. A description of the wanted man was broadcast yesterday afternoon, and motorists in the district were warned not to leave their pars unattended and unlocked. However, no cars had been reported missing up to last night, and apparently the intensity of the police search, directed by Inspector L. R. Capp, officer in charge of lhe Wanganui police distinct, compelled Dardanelles to keep clear of roads after his two narrow escapes. Members of the police force from an far away as Marton, went on duty again yesterday prepared for another all-night \igil at the various bridges and along the roads leading front Wangajtui. In addition detectives and plain clothes men made a number of inquiries for the escapee at various country places around Wanganui. (Picture on page 3.)