SHOTS EXCHANGED.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 788, 11 April 1910, Page 8

SHOTS EXCHANGED.

Joseph.Powelka has appeared at Ashhurst in a manner that is as sensational as any of his previous exploits (says the "Manawatu Evening Standard"). On Saturday morning he was discovered in his mother-in-law's (Mrs. Wilson's) house, and he disappeared as suddenly and as mysteriously as he came. Mrs.' Wilson's cottage is situated in a lonely, part of Ashhurst, on a terrace overlooking the Pohangina River. In consequence of threats alleged to have ■been mado by Powelka against'his wife,; Mrs. Wilson and- her daughter (Mrs. Powelka)' have made it a practice to* 3lecp at one of the hotels in town. This they did on Friday night, and on returning to their house on Saturday morning at about 9.30 they discovered that the lock of the back door had been' picked. Mrs. Wilson entered the kitchen, and on doing so'- was confronted by her now notorious son-in-law, ■ who exclaimed: '-'Don't bo afraid, mother I',' '.. . . The shock was, too much for Mrs. Wilson, and she rushed out of the house screaming and across to a neighbour's, Mrs. Powelka also going' to the : same plaoe. At the neighbour's house they spoke to a man, and it ie surmised that Powelka heard his voice,, which hastened his departure, for- he immediately bolted out the back way and over a fence. The last that was seen of the.escapee was his disappearing over the terrace down towards the .river, where plenty of. shelter, is obtainable along, the river fla,t.., : '■;.-.' ■• ■' ; Hiding Undor the Bod. Ae examination of the house' revealed the fact that Joseph Powelka had slept in his mother-in-law's bed during her temporary absence, as ihe bed clothes were disturbed. He hadapparently'becn hiding under the bed when slfe came on the scene, and he went out to the kitchen on hearing the back door open. In the bedrooms are muddy footmark's.

Powelka's overcoat was found on a fence at the back of the houee, while his hat was found some little distance away along the road, giving evidence of his hurried departure.

There were 22 cartridges and some detonators in the overcoat pockets. The coat was a heavy fur-lined overcoat. It is thought that the weight of the coat and cartridges would have, been too heavy for him; to have carried walking, and he must have used a horse or bicycle to make his way from Pabiatna toAshhurst; ■ ' : ■ Sergeant Maguire, accompanied by Constables Minogue and Sylvester, arrived by motor car at 12.30 p.m. from Palmerston. Constables Watts and .Thomson, who have been watching Ashhurst, were at Mrs. Wilson'e house within five minutes of Powelka's appearance, but the fugitive; had gone by that time. Constable Watts discredits the statement that Powelka slept in the house. The constable inspected the house just before daybreak to-day, but saw no one there. It has been his theory. all along that Powelka would return to,the house, and he frequently visited it on that account.

A report came to hand at 2 p.m. that Powelka was seen a couple 'of miles further up the Pohangina River. There has been no trace of him near Ash-

hurst, and the whole town is engaged in tho search.. . , • .

Ashhurst is in a state of ferment, the people being greatly alarmed. All.the men who can do so are out scouring the country in search of the fugitive, while a number of constables were sent out from Palmerston North as soon as pos: sible after they had been advised of the state of affairs at Ashhurst.

' THE CHASE.

HOUSE ENTERED THROUGH A ■ WINDOW. A DWELLING BURNED. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.! Palmerston North; April 10. The chase for Powelka has continued with unabated vigour since Saturday, and has been full of incident. After he was discovered by his mother-in-law in the house in which his wife has been living with her recently at Ashhurst about ten o'clock on Saturday morning, and\ disappeared over the terrace to the river-bed on her screaming out, there is no authentic report of his having been seen. There are numerous stories to the effect that he was seen at various places over a range of country extending from Pohangina to Palmerston,' and covering about twenty miles, but none of these are convincing.

The large force of police, nnder Detective Cassells (who arrived to take charge of the search yesterday afternoon) arid Sergeant Maguire, were strategically disposed for the night, but before eleven o'clock Mr. and Mrs. Farland, who reside on the eastern outskirts of Palmerston, returned home to discover that' someone had entered their house through a window. Hβ had walked over a bed, and regaled himself on whatever eatables were in the house, taking what he could not consume. Hβ had also turned over some clothing, and selected additions to his wardrobe and.searched for money which, however, he failed to find.

This incident raised the suspicion that the fugitive, after he disappeared over the rim of the river terrace into the scrub below in the morning, had worked along the Pohangina and Manawatu Bivers, through various belte of scrub, hush, and plantations, back/to Palmerston, entering it on the eastern boundary, and had taken the early opportunity of securing food arid warm clothing, as' he had left his good overcoat and the cartridges in its pocket at his mother-in-law's place in the morning when he made his hurried exit. The night was cold, with a, piercing wind. A Fire. Some little time later the firebell rang out for a fire in the same locality, which proved to be in an empty house owned' by Mrs. Woodard, who was absent in Auckland. It was insured in tho Commercial for £400. A flying squad of the fire brigade, which has been kept in readiness ajl thrqngh the week for emergencies, was on the scene in extremely quick time, > and, though H waa impossible to save

POLICE OFFICER BADLY WOUNDED. FUGITIVE AGAIN ESCAPES. " 1 ■ \ EXCITING INCIDENT AT ASHHURST.

the house, made a wonderfully good save of another wooden honse alongside of it.

Tho burning of this house has characteristics similar to other burnings of the week, which have already involved tho insurance companies in over £8000 of loss, and the owners in considerably more, and which began with the High School fire.

There are about forty polico 'now engaged in iHe Bearch, but without dogs it is extremely difficult, as they may at any time have passed within a' .few yards of the fugitive. As a matter of fact, it is .believed that they have done so. . '

The community is very much disturbed by the continued failure of the search, punctuated by incidents suggesting possibilities of great further public loss.

Settkrs who have been in' town were yesterday sent for by their 'wives to return home on the supposition, that Powelka was making for s Pohangina and Kimbolton districts, where he was well known, and where he was also liked. So fax, though Powelka has a revolver, and has threatened with it, and is known to be a crack shot, it is believed that he has not' fired a shot. He did not return fire when fired on by. the police at Pahiatua, and some doubt is popularly expressed whether, he fired, in the incident of the descent on ,the Kendall household. It was said that he had declared bis intention of shooting his wife and mother-in-law and various other people, at Ashhurst, but had.an opportunity on. Saturday, and merely told them not to be afraid. At Ashhurst there ia great sympathy with his wife, but none with him, but in some other parts of the district there is sympathy with him.

AN ASHHURST SENSATION.

"DON'T BE FRIGHTENED, MOTHER,." : A LARGE FORCE OF POLICE. . (By Teleerapb.—Special Correspondent.) Palmerston North, April 10. Further news at Powelka reached town yesterday morning, namely, that he had been seen at Ashhurst, in fact, had passed some hours in the house where his wif,e and mother-in-law live at that. township. -. Mrs. Powelka and her mother have a small cotUage ok the north-eastern boundary of the 'township, but since the scare have been in the habit for greater protection of sleeping at one of the hotels. Yesterday morning they returned from the hotel to their home, in company with Mr. C. Lumley, a storekeeper in the township. Mr. Lumley opened the front door, and Mrs. Wilson . walked; in* : Mrs. Powelka stopping to talk to Mr. Lumley. , '.■.'•' . ;

Mrs. Wilson walked straight through to the kitchen, and the first thing to catch her eye was the startling presence of her son-in-law. He said: "Don't be frightened, mother," but she was very much alarmed, in consequence of the threats which it was said he had made against their lives, and she rushed screaming out of the house.

Powelka then immediately . bolted out of the back door, jumped over the garden fence, and disappeared over the cliff at the back of the honse, arid has not been seen since.

On'the flat between the cliff and the river there is a considerable amount of birch and scrub, and 'cover sufficient to hide scores of men. This cover extends practically all the way down to Palmerston; mostly on the bank of the Manawatu' River, being planted thickly with willows for protection purposes. In this cover it would be quite . easy for a man to get right from Ashhurst to Palmerston without danger of being seen, and could do it in a comparatively short time. Is the Fugitive In Palmerston? s, In the face of the facts that a house was entered at Terrace End last night, and another house burned down, it is surmised that.Powelka, instead of making .up the Pbhangina River, really came towards Palmorston, and is somewhere concealed in the town. . . Constable Watts says he visited the Powelkas , house several times during the night, but did not find any sign of the fugitive. However, there is ample evidence that Powelka slept in the house, and had a good meal there, including a bottle of ale. A very large force of police has been searching all day at Ashhurst. A large number of. Palmersfconians also went out to Ashhurst, but these latter were mostly satisfied with patrolling the streets there.

Up to time of telegraphing no further news.had come to hand. '

At'l o'clock this morning residents of Palmerston were startled by the ringing of the firebell, and when they turned out there was a tremendous reflection in the sky. The brigade were out with great dispatch; and the scene of the conflagration proved to bp Scandia Street, not a great distance from the scene of the fire at Snow's the night before. The fire was in a sevenroomed: unoccupied house belonging to Mrs. 'Wpodard, of Auckland, and it was totally destroyed, the fire having spread all over the building before, the brigade reached it. They turned their attention to saving the next building, which was very close, and by good work they succeeded in this, though it was considerably scorched.

Some time before the alarm was given, Mrs. Fuller, who was in the next house, belonging to Mr. Kingsbeer, had occasion to get up to attend to one of the children, and she saw someone moving about the unoccupied house. Mt. Fuller went out to ascertain who was about, and the first thing he saw was flames issuing from tho windows. Ho immediately gave the alarm, but being quite from the brigade station this took some time. The destroyed house was insured in the Commercial Union office for £400. A Window Tampered With. On Saturday morning I was shown a window at the back of premises in the Squaro which had been tampered with on Tuesday night last, when several fires took" place. It was at the

rear of a clothing store, and the putty had been removed by some pointed instrument, like a knife. About halfpast six on the evening in question, a man was seen alongside this window, but the person who observed him did not think ho was there for any unlawful purpose, and did not take any more notice. But next morning, when the state.of. the window was discovered, and taken in connection with what had happened, a close inspection was made, and it was concluded that an attempt had been made to break" into the premises. j Detective Quartermain, the fingerprint expert from the Commissioner's Office, Wellington, is in Palmerston in connection with the Powelka pursuit, and he has taken over the duties which had to be hastily dropped by Detective Quirke.