Daring Outrages in Auckland.

Cromwell Argus, Volume III, Issue 120, 27 February 1872, Page 7

Daring Outrages in Auckland.

; Cyrus Haley, who recently kept the Ex- | change Heading-rooms, Auckland, has been i arrested on a number of serious charges. He i is accused of being the incendiary who do-1 i stroyed the Music Hall in Synionds-street on j | the 10th December last ; with having, on the j i night of the 22nd January, burnt three hay- j | stacks, the property of Mr T. Russell; and : with having, on the night of the 21st Janu- j ; ary, attempted the life of that gentleman, by j i firing into his house several times with aj i pistol. There are strong presumptive circum-, ( stances connecting him with all these crimes ; ; and it also appears that the Exchange Road- j ing-rooms, with which he was connected recently, were destroyed by lire in a very myssorious manner. Haley seems to have che rished a grudge against Mr Russell, and, according to the Neil' Zealand Herald, is very strongly imbued with Communistic ideas. When taken in charge, he made some damaging admissions, and stated that ho was j “captain of a band of fifty.” These expmi sions are attributed by some to insanity. On j bis premises the police found three revolvers. | one air-gun, one breach loader, with 500' I rounds of ammunition. He is a married! ! man, with four children. With the insurance i money he received after the burning of the Exchange Reading-rooms, ho has invested recklessly in shares, but not with much success, having bought Caledonians at £IOO and j sold at £3O. All kinds of stories are of course afloat about the mysterious oil'encos ! with which he is supposed to have been connected ; but if be is only proved to have | committed those with which he is distinctly charged, the case will form one of the strung-1 I cst chapters of crime in the history of this ; Colony. i The following account of the attempt on l

the life of Mr Russell, with which Haley charged, is taken from the Nvw Zealand Herald of the 29th ult.:—On Monday night I last, shortly after twelve o'clock, Mrs Russell, 1 who is residing with her husband and family 1 at the Pa Farm, situated about two miles to i the north of Onehunga, heard a noise upon ; the verandah, as though some person were ] cautiously creeping along it. Mr Russell r was absent at the time, being in Auckland. , f The house itself is fully a quarter of a mile 1' from the public road, and is some hundred c yards from any other dwelling. Mrs Russell, *< on hearing the footsteps, at once called out j to her son (a lad), who was sleeping in the \ t next room, that there was some person about. '. - The son got out of bed and went to the win- v dow. The windows of tlie house are glass, a opening on to the verandah in the French j style. He drew aside the curtain, and put * his face close to the glass to look for the in- : 1 truder. As he did so, he saw the face of a t man peering in. He at once drew back ; and I'almost at the same instant the man outside [ 1 i presented a revolver at him, and tired. The 4 bullet was fortunately aimed high, and nar-; i ! rowly missed Master Russell. Had lie been \ I somewhat taller—as tall, for instance, as his ! ( j father—he must inevitably have been shot 1 [dead. The person outside, without waiting, : 1 i then proceeded to the next bedroom—occu-; t |by Mrs Russell, —and fired two shots in sue- '• I cession through the window, both fortunately : ' j missing that lady. He then went to the | s j sitting-room, and tired two shots through the * | window there, but without doing any harm. 1 5 j These three rooms constitute the front of the j 1 l house ; and there was a cessation of tiring ' for a minute, until he got round to the back, l I when it re-commenced. One shot was fired j' into one of the back bedrooms, which was occupied at the time, and two into the kit-1 J | chen, —thus making, in all, eight shots. Dur- j j ing the whole of this time the occupants Lad remained within doors, for there being noj l j men about the premises, they were afraid to i I venture forth. That so many shots should | have been tired into the house, and yet noji one injured, is indeed a wonder. The as-' 1 sailant having discharged eight shots as above j described, made oil', leaving two barrels to i i spare for self-defence in case of emergencies, j !we presume. It is thought that he had only one revolver, and that he re-loaded it during ! the short cessation in the tiring. The shots! appear to have alarmed a Mrs Parfitte, who, j lives in a house belonging to Mr Russell, and i situated some three or four hundred yards! ! distant. On getting up to see what was the i matter, she observed a man running down I the hill from the direction of Mr Russell's j j house towards the road, and skirting by the i ] shrubbery.