Darcy Ezekiel Dugan
was born on 29 August 1920 in Sydney. As per Ancestry he died in Glebe on 22
August 1991 at the age of almost 71 and is buried in Rookwood Cemetery.
Darcy
committed numerous armed holdups, bank robbery and even robbing the hospital. He
became famous for his daring escapes than for his initial crimes. Darcy gave
evidence to an enquiry about the dreadful brutality regularly perpetrated
against prisoners in Grafton Jail. In his evidence, he
mentioned about daily brutal beatings and torture, and even
throwing boiling water on prisoners. This prompted Bob Campbell to write a song
about Darcy based on the evidence he gave.
Song can now be heard
on You Tube
Dugan escaped from ‘escape-proof’ circumstances six times.
He once went through a ceiling, the roof and sneaked over the outer wall at
Sydney’s Long Bay Jail in daylight. He was located 30 metres away from an armed
guard and this was the second incident in the same day 25 minutes after being
imprisoned.
Darcy Dugan escaped from a prison tram on 4 March 1946, which
was transporting him between Darlinghurst Courthouse and Long Bay jail. He used
the kitchen knife to rip a hole and escaped as the tram passed the Sydney
Cricket Ground. The tram is still kept at the Sydney Tramway Museum.
Darcy
spent 43 years in jail and when he was out for a short time in the 1970s he
became a social worker and began exposing police corruption involving crooked
cops and gangsters. The crooked cops then framed him and put him back inside
for a crime he did not commit.
Dugan worked as a rehabilitation officer during his final
years of freedom until his health declined. In 1980, Darcy married Jan
Simmonds, who he had met in prison while she was researching a book about her
brother Kevin Simmonds, famous for being an escapee and fugitive in the late
1950s. Although they separated not long after their marriage but they remained
friends and Jan looked after Darcy during his last days.
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darcy_Dugan
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