Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-10-18
CHAPTER XVI.
THE coNv1CT's ESCAPE.

~ ECOVERED from the first SHOCK
of reading that headline, Oar.
IL ing Escape of a Convict"
i noted the many subsidiary
headings full Of extraordinary
Circumstances mystery woman, a
subtle plot and other ingredients well
mixed in the dispatch into an exciting
story. In brief, it was thus:
That the escape of a prisoner from
Dartmoor Convict Prison on Saturday
was much more remarkable than it had
appeared at first. The prison officials
and the police were entirely nonplussed
They did not know where the man had
gone, or with whom.
What they had discovered was the
extremely clever way in which his &C.
completes outside had worked without
arouSing the least suspicion.
The chief agent was apparently q
young woman who was seen in a car
that passed through the city of Exeter
25 miles from the prison, early Sunday
morning.
1t was much later when 1t was dis
covered that the prisoner was missing
then, of course, 1t was far too late to
trace the car.
But the policeman who saw it was so
struck by the physiognomy of the man
who leaned forward impatiently and
said Go on, go onl" that when the de-
scription of the fugitive was circulated
he had no doubt whatever this was the
same man.
The escape had been deliberately
studied, and once out OF the cell the
prisoner had been able to get clear by
a microsopical timing of the move
ments of the warders and officers. The
alarm system had been cleverly de-
ranged
He had been provided with the cord
taal e.
wall. He had scaled 1t at the point
nearest plantation which, within three
seconds, gave him perfect cover. The
car waited for him in the road below
the coppice.
The authorities suspected that with
out the assistance of an accomplice In
side as well as outside it would have
failed. A further point was that the &C
complete outside must have been quite
familiar with the routine of the prison.
The prisoner, Of whom o description
was issued, was Eugene Richard, 80,
convicted at Canterbury Of man
slaughter and sentenced to i've years
penal servitude. He declined at the
trial to reveal single fact about HIM
self.
The crime Of which he was convicted
was committed at Dover. He and an
other man, giving the name of Ernest
Philip but also Of uncertain nationality,
seemed to have followed across from
Ostend a clerk in q London business
house, returning from Belgium with q
large sum Of Belgian currency. Instead
of taking the train to London the two
men went to the hotel. Late at night
they informed the police that they had
been molested by gang while walking.
There had been a fight in which one
Of the gang was knocked out
The police accompanied them to the
place and found the clerk unconscious.
He died in hospital. No trace Of q gang
could be found.
Suspicion against the two men was
confirmed when on Richard the police
found considerable sum of money In
francs. Richard declared that 1t was his
own.
Richard admitted that he gave the
blow which knocked out the clerk, and
declared that the blow was in self
defense.
The jury convicted Of manslauehter,
and the judge inflicted the severe SEN
tence Of i've years penal servitude, and
gave Philip, who was found guilty Of
being accessory during the fact, IL
months hard labor.
From the dock Richard had made a
violent protest against the sentence. He
had ever since been a most difficult
prisoner, and this was why he was in
Oartmoor-the isolated fastness among
the clouds OF a mountainous wild re-
served for the worst ccnvictS.
This was the narrative which spread
over two or three columns Of the news