The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1909-10-15
ESCAPE BY 4 RUSE
Convicts n Siamese Border Gain
Temporary Freedom.
Prisoners, After Many PerlIs and
Dangers on Sea and Land, Secure
Food by Pretending to Be
Seeking Elephants.

OndOn.-Ihe three survivors OF the
five convicts who escaped recently
from the Andamans told the following
remarkable story Of their escape and
the adventures which followed It:
Six convicts-Bissan Singh, under
sentence of Is years; a Bengalia
(term of sever years., and four Bur-
mans, Nga Naing, Nga Tun, Nga Pya
and Nga Pc Lu, all 'lifers," under
the charge Of two military policemen
with two rifles and 100 rounds of am
munition were sent In a forest boat
to a small island in the Middle Anda-
mans with seven days rations for
each convict and the policemen.
On reaching the island Rissan
Singh, Nga Naing, Nga Pya and Nga
Tun were set to work, while the two
policemen with Nga Pc Lu and the
Bengali went up hill in search of a
golden" bird that is highly priced in
Port Blair and has a ready sale. The
policemen, before leaving. took or
(the recaptured convicts state) thei
b%andoliers of cartridges and laid
them with the rifles in the bottom OF
the boat, which had been hauled up
on the beach and made fast. Pc Lu.
who was the convict overseer, pro-
fessed to know where birds were to
be found in plenty, and led the police
men and the Bengali into dense un-
derbrush, then gave them the slip.
and made his way quickly back to the
other men.
The men got the boat into the wa
ter and raising the sail started In
the direction of the Burma coast. A
strong wind, almost a gale, was blow
ing when they left the island, but
the boat. which had both sail and
oars, proved s~eaworthy, and after
seven days heavy weather they
reached the Tenasserim coast only to
have the boat dashed to pieces on
the rocks.
They managed to save what rations
were left, however, before the mis-
hap occurred which prevented their
continuing further along the coast as
was intended. Nga Naing, Nga Tun
and Bissan Singh were very ill dur
ing the voyage to the Burma coast.
Pc Lu and Nga Pya. who were well
throughout, assumed command OF the
party and took charge of the guns
and ammunition. The men went
northward until the food supply gave
out and one of the party returned to
We to buy rice, where he explained
{la ~~.rDs~r IF 0nunrnmnnf arms
by saying that they were government
elephant hunters.
The party received every assist
ance, then struck out for the Siamese
border, which they reached after
some weeks hard travel, %privation
and delays through three of the party
being i'll. They crossed the Siamese
border, their food gave out and on
the verge of starvation they re-
crossed the frontier to the little ham,
let of K~yunchoung. Amherst district,
to try and get food. They went to
the house of a c%ultivator on the out
skirts of the town to whom they
said they were government elephant
hunters. After they had been fed at
the teahouse Goung was sent for, to
whom they repeated their statement.
He brought them into town and gave
them shelter for the night.
The headman arranged a deer
shoot with the two convicts who had
guns and next morning shortly after
they had gone shots were heard. but
hol;oy;no THAR c0mDani0ns and fha
Goung were firing at deer the three
%convicts left behind thought nothing
of it until some little time afterward
four Burman policemen entered the
hut. The three convicts then
learned that Pc Lu and Nga Pya had
been shot and were themselves ar
rested. The headman appears to
have been in communication with the
police from the beginning.