MANHUNTS

From time to time in the history of Police Force operations in New Zealand, manhunts have played their part, though fortunately such cases have been comparatively rare. Among the earliest was that of the escapee John Joseph Pawelka who in April 1910 brought alarm to the town of Palmerston North. Unquestionably the most tragic case was that of the hunt in the West Coast bush in October 1941 for a crazed Kowhitirangi farmer who had permitted a persecution complex in respect of his neighbours so to unhinge his mind that, before he himself was mortally wounded, he had killed six men and so injured a seventh that he died in hospital 17 months later. The casualties included practically the whole resident police strength of the town of Hokitika, a sergeant and three constables, and two Home Guardsmen. The seventh victim was an agricultural inspector stationed at Hokitika.

The Graham Tragedy

When Eric Stanley Graham, a 40-year-old farmer, allowed his antipathy to his fellow men to take the form of threatening them with firearms, he attracted the attention of the police. A constable visited his farm, but received such a hostile welcome that he returned to headquarters for reinforcements. Three constables under Sergeant Cooper returned to the farmstead with the idea of taking Graham into the station for questioning. Graham reacted calmly enough at first and asked to be allowed to “go to the shed”. The next thing that happened was a rifle shot from a farm outhouse and Sergeant Cooper, the only armed member of the party, discovered he had been shot in the wrist. Graham was then seen to dash for the house, and within a few minutes a fusillade of shots rang out. The police rushed the house, but the man who was credited with being able to shoot a stag between the eyes at 500 paces accounted for all of them. He killed the sergeant and two constables outright and gravely wounded another man. Help arrived in the form of three local volunteers, one of them a 54-year-old agricultural inspector who carried a rifle. Graham turned his attention to this new attack, shot the armed leader, and drove off the other two. He then issued from the house and dispatched the wounded constable with a final shot.

From that moment the hunt was on, and before it was concluded more than 300 police, Army personnel, Home Guardsmen, and civilian volunteers had joined the search for Graham who, an expert woodsman, had taken refuge in the bush. When he left home the fugitive took with him firearms, 1,700 rounds of ammunition, and food. With the local Police Force practically wiped out, the manhunt paused momentarily until search parties could be re-formed. Police were flown in from all parts of New Zealand, troops were dispatched from Burnham Military Camp armed with machine guns and Tommy guns, and armed Home Guardsmen and civilians were also in the hunt. The tiny bush settlement of Kowhitirangi was completely besieged. Although Graham had taken to the bush, he never at any time moved far from his homestead, and in the first few days returned home on several occasions. His house was invested by police and Home Guardsmen, and on each occasion there were sharp shooting engagements, generally in the darkness. One Home Guardsman in the house was shot, and died in hospital the following morning, and another who rushed from the other side of the road to help was shot from ambush and killed instantly. This brought the death roll to six, with another man gravely wounded in hospital at Hokitika. The news of the second batch of killings raised local feeling to fever pitch and a virtual reign of terror began. Women and children were evacuated, and the Air Force flew in further reinforcements as well as a bomber. The order was “Get Graham, dead or alive”.

The searchers were never far behind Graham in his movement through the bush. He left many signs of his presence, including evidence that he had himself been wounded in the shooting exchanges. Finally, on the twelfth day of the hunt, Sergeant Quirke, of Auckland, by means of high-powered binoculars, discovered him a mile away. He stalked the fugitive carefully and then shot him at a range of 25 yards. Graham was not killed outright. He was captured and taken to hospital but died within 12 hours of admission. Thus ended the strangest and most tragic manhunt in New Zealand history.

Escape of Horton

In December 1955 a fugitive from prison in Auckland made history by the circumstances of his escape, and although he enjoyed only two and a half days of freedom, he had the distinction of provoking an official investigation at Cabinet level, and a drastic revision of the precautions in prison discipline designed to keep life-term prisoners under control. He was Edward Raymond Horton, serving a life sentence for a most revolting murder. He was one of a prison party taken out of gaol at Mount Eden for a recreational programme at Mount Albert, Auckland. The occasion was an indoor bowls tournament and, despite the presence of a strong security guard, Horton simply walked out of the hall and disappeared. Public indignation was widespread when the full facts were made known, and when, after 60 hours of search, a force of over 200 police finally rounded up the escaped man and returned him to his cell, there was a general demand for an inquiry. The then Minister of Justice admitted that the position was entirely unsatisfactory and said that the Justice Department must take full blame for what had happened. The most amazing thing about the escape was that, of 17 prisoners who took part in this extra-mural recreation, no fewer than 12 were life-term men. As a result of Horton's escape, the whole system of the treatment of “lifers” was overhauled.

The Trevor Nash Case

In the case of Trevor Edward Nash, central figure in a £20,000 payroll robbery in Auckland in November 1956, who escaped from Mount Eden Prison in February 1961 after serving less than four years of a 10-year sentence, it took the police six months to recapture him, and then only as a result of the astuteness of an Australian detective who recognised him, despite a disguise, in a Melbourne street. The police search in New Zealand extended from Auckland to the Bluff, and at least one innocent man was apprehended for questioning. But all the while Nash was out of the country, and, when arrested in July, he was found to be in possession of a substantial amount of the proceeds of the robbery. How he managed to leave New Zealand has never been determined. When he was finally arrested and locked up in a Melbourne cell, his laconic reaction was, “God, you wouldn't read about it”.

by Ronald Jones, Journalist and Script Writer, New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation, Wellington.

George Wilder, 1962–63

Two of the most famous manhunts of recent times were those organised to search for the elusive George Wilder. On the night of 17 May 1962 Wilder, who was in New Plymouth Gaol serving a term of imprisonment for convictions of burglary, shopbreaking, and theft, scaled a high prison wall and escaped. He was not seen again until 10 July, when he was recognised at Ongarue, near Taumarunui. From then until his capture on 21 July, near Tutukau Mill, Whakamaru, Wilder's amazing evasion of large parties of police caught the public imagination and lent a certain romance to his exploits. At the time of his capture he had been at large for 65 days.

On 29 January 1963 Wilder made his second gaol break, when, in company with three others, he escaped from Mount Eden Gaol. As on the previous occasion, the manhunt attracted widespread public attention. Although police parties sighted him in the Waitakere Ranges on 9 April, they were unable to catch up with him. Wilder was recaptured on 17 July 1963, when he was found in a hut at Rununga Bush, near Rangitaiki, 2 miles off the Napier-Taupo road and 35 miles from Taupo. He had been free for 172 days, during which time he had travelled 1,620 miles and committed 40 crimes.

On 4 February 1964 Wilder escaped from Mount Eden Gaol with two companions. Armed with a sawn-off shotgun, they kidnapped a warder and took refuge in a private home in Horeka Avenue, Mount Eden. After three hours of liberty, during which time they held the householders as hostages, they surrendered in response to a police threat to use tear gas. Wilder's sentence was again increased as a result of this exploit. In July 1965 Wilder took part in the Mount Eden prison riot.