ARREST OF MR. CYRUS HALEY ON CHARGES OF INCENDIARISM AND ATTEMPTED MURDER.

Auckland Star, Volume III, Issue 639, 29 January 1872, Page 2

ARREST OF MR. CYRUS HALEY ON CHARGES OF INCENDIARISM AND ATTEMPTED MURDER.

Otf Tuesday last, intelligence reached town that a number of shots had on the previous night been discharged into the premises of Thomas Russell, Esq., near Onehunga, known as " The Pah ;" but at the time it was considered inadvisable to make the circumstance public, as it might have hindered the capture of the culprit. Now, however, that the police have captured a person whom they have every reason to think is the would-be assassin, there can be no further reason to withhold the information which then came to hand. It appears then that soon after midnight of the 22nd, Mrs. Russell was disturbed by hearing some one moving on the verandah, and Mr. Russell being in town, she awakened her son, who, on going to the French window saw a man standing close to it endeavouring to see into the room. The intruder instantly discharged a revolver at him, but without effect, as the shot was evidently intended for a taller person. Had it been Mr. Russell instead of his sou, he would undoubtedly have been killed on the spot. The assassin immediately went to the window of the next room, and fired two shots, but luckily without injuring Mrs. Russell who was standing inside. He then ' discharged two more into the sitting room and afterwards proceeded to bombard the rooms at the back of the house. In all he fired eight shots. He seems then to have thought he had done sufficient, and ran off down the hill on which the house is ', situated.

Next day Mr Russell, fearing that another attack might be made, obtained the services of two men to watch every night. On Saturday, information was given that an attempt would be made that night to burn the house. About midnight the watch who were guarding the house saw three large stacks of hay at about 100 yards distance suddenly break into flames. They immediately ran to the spot, but the incendiary contrived to get clear off, favored by the misty character of the night. A messenger was at once sent to Mr Inspector Broham, who instantly took the field with Detective Jeffery, and all the available constables. Mr Broham thought it advisable for each to take_ a separate road in the hope of meeting with the incendiary on his way towards the city. Under this arrangement Mr Broham proceeded along the Mount Eden Road, and when he had reached a distance of about a third of a mile, saw through the mist a man coming towards him. On pulling in his horse, the man who afterwards proved to be Mr. Cyrus Haley, at once jumped over the fence and ran off at full speed. Inspector Broham sprang from his horse, and grasping his loaded whip rushed off in pursuit. An exciting chase took place across some difficult country, but the Inspector, a man of activity was more than a match for the fugitive in point of speed. The latter finding himself on the point of being overtaken, turned round and presented a revolver at Mr. Broham, but in so doing tripped on a stone and came heavily to the ground, dropping the revolver. Mr. Broham at once seized him, and a desperate struggle ensued. The upshot of it was that Mr. Broham was compelled to use the handle of his whip with stunning effect after which he easily effected a capture, and marched his prisoner into town.

Haley subsequently made some statements which are looked upon as tantamount to a confession of his guilt; aud the investigations afterwards made at his house seem to implicate him in the burning of the Music Hal!. The principal circumstances are that a quantity of cloth was found exactly similar to that found under the Hall saturated with kerosene, and that tumblers were discovered of a peculiar pattern, and precisely like that which was picked up on the scene of the fire, and which had to all appearance been used in throwing the kerosene against the woodwork. The bullets found in the w Talls exactly fit the pistol dropped by Haley which was afterwards recovered by the police, and other circumstances appear to connect the prisoner with the series of outrages.

Mr Broham conducted the whole affair in his usual decided, energetic, and fearless manner, and richly deserves the large amount of reward to which he will bo ea-W-* titled if the charges against the prisonerj be proved. Mr Broham's escape from in-abfj stant death appears to have been almost^' miraculous, for it seems that Haley had \ ample time to have used his revolver with ) effect, but providentially in drawingit from ' his pocket the pin which secures the chambers caught, and they fell to the ground, thus leaving him nothing but the empty barrel to present at Mr Broham. When the chambers were picked up, it was found that they wore all loaded. Prisoner will be brought up to-morrow on several charges.