Three Days Of Manhunt In Difficult Country

Chronicle (Levin), 4 February 1949, Page 5

Three Days Of Manhunt In Difficult Country

Press Association)

(Per

AUCKLAND, Feb. 3. Three days after Mr. John Kehoe, aged 24, traffic inspector. was shot dead ' near Whakatane and Mr. A. W. Ct. Wiggins, aged 35, contraetor, was wounded by a hui let from the sanie pistol, the motorcyclist who .ti red the shot had not heen traced tonight. With an armed murdever a1 large in the district, some anxiety is felt by residents in remote localities but there is no sign oi panic because of the" presence of 32 police officers who are taking part in the most extensive manhunt the district has known. The absence of reports of stolen" cars, of assaults and of thefts oi food or clpthing, are taken in some quarters to suggest that the murderer slipped away before the cordon was fornied in the effort to confine him to a known area. However, this theory is not accepted as proven by the police. While reports from other areas are all being elosely examined, thp main force is eoncentrated on the extremely difficult task of ckecking an area round Te Teko that offers unlimited' cover, ample opportunity to live off the land and the shelter of nfiles of trees. Police cars converged near Awakeri settlement between Whakatane and Te Teko, shortlv after dark tonight, in response \o a report that an individual had been seen lurking beneath a culvert on the highway. Detectives and members of - the uniform lirnnch. some Oll dlltv at the

Whakatane police station and others on special duty at Te Teko. arrived with all possible speed and and the party entered a nearby house where a nervous Maori womau admitted she had been doing the family washing in the "reek. She had run away when frightened by the lights of a car •arrying two men who. in good faitln had raised the alarm. Oonfirmation of the report .that a man was seen under the Te Teko bridge 18 miles from Whakatane, before dawn yesterday was found by-the police when they discovered bare footprints in the sand. suggesting a man had climhed the bank through the willows and erossed the maiiv.fbad neay the Te Teko Hotel. A woman employed at the hotei yesterday found on the \erandah a man's coat with a damp towel in the outside pocket. A gucst identified it as missing from his bedroom, together with a razor. ,