SHOTS AT A STATE DETECTIVE

Hokitika Guardian, 23 February 1929, Page 8

SHOTS AT A STATE DETECTIVE

-MAN WHO SHADOWED POLITICIANS.

VIENNA. Dec. 31

-Many arrests have been made at Zagreb (formerly Agram), the capital of Croatia, one of the provinces of Jugo-Slavia, in connection with an attempt to murder Detective Alfred Grauei* at J- .e principal cafe there, the Caffe O.so, on Tuesday night. The man who fired four shots is believed still to be at liberty. Grauer bad shadowed AT. Stephan R-aditch, the leader of the Croats, in England and elsewhere, supplying the Belgrade Government with documents incriminating M. Raditcli, which his followers alleged were forged. M. Raditcli died in August as a result of wounds received during an attempt to assassinate him in the Jugoslavian Parliament. This was a political crime, for it must he remembered that the races incorporated in Jugoslavia, including the Croats, have complained of oppressive rule by the Serbian element. TELEPHONE RUSE. The detective, wbo was sitting alone on tlie balcony off the cate, was summoned to a telephone by a waiter, and was fired at from behind. His two wounds are serious, but there is a chance of recovery. .

He was the principal political detective in the service <jf the Belgrade police and formerly lived for a long time in Vienna, shadowing persons suspected by his Government. He was only about 30, but bis enemies assert that he has caused lnm dreds of arrests during the last ten years. They believed that bis presence in Zagreb was solely to shadow political leaders. The shooting was obviously a well- prepared plot. HAND BEHIND THE CERTAIN.

Witnesses say that they saw only a hand emerge, holding a revolver, from behind a curtain.

Every available political dctectiie has arrived at Zagreb from Belgrade to assist in the search tor eonspiratois who are believed to be Croatian independence extremists. Police closed all the entrances to the cafe immediately after the shooting and searched everybody present. Grauer, wbo is good-looking and wel 1 dressed, frequently accompanies King Alexander of Jugo-Slavia. on bis jour neys. He speaks many languages and always carries firearms. He is widely bated, and lias been much threatened.