DARING BURGLARS

Hokitika Guardian, 29 November 1930, Page 3

DARING BURGLARS

SURPRISED BY CONSTABLE. By telegraph —Per Pies« Association •* BLENHEIM, Nov. 28. Two daring thieves were operating at Blenheim in tlie early bourn of yesterday morning when, after making an unsuccessful attempt to enter a shop in. Alfred Street, they were surprised in the act ol getting together a “swag” in premises in Market Street North, occupied by Clifford McKay, merceir, and men’s outfitter. They, stole the sum of £2 in money, but decamped when disturbed, abandoning a bundle of goods which they had apparently Intended to remove. McKay was summoned by the police early in the morning, and arrived at the shop to learn that the front door had been burst open, and the place ransacked. The door, which had been forced, boro the marks of an inch wide jemmy just below tlie lock. The contents of the shop had' been turned topsy-turvy, the floor and counter being littered with stock which the marauders liad sorted over, selecting the best quality articles for removal.

Constable Morrison, on night duty, saw a light burning in tlie rshqp window of McKay’s premises, and proceeded to investigate. With consummate coolness,, the thieves, in order to work in comfort, had switched on a light inside the shop, but, unknown to them, the switch also operated lights in the window, which liad attracted tlie constable’s attention. When the policeman approached, a man .who hail an armful of clothing dropped the swag qiid eluding the constable, belted from the premises. Behind the counter there eras another man in the act of pocketing money that had just been removed from the till. He wore an overcoat, the collar of which was turned well upend he had bis hat pulled down over his eyes. The astonished burglar turned and fled into a back room when he saw tlie constable, and the latter immediately gave chase, expecting to trap the thief. However, the burglars had prepared for a hurried departure hv opening the back door, as well <v-' f,he front door, and the constable’s quarry showed a clean pair of heels in making a get away through the backyard adjoining the premises.

It was discovered la.ter in the morning that an attempt had also been made to force tlie door of F. Thomas’s tobacconist shon in Ah red Street, but fhe lock had resvsWl attack. It in believed that tlie same men were concerned. because the marks on the chair tally with the size (if the jemmy used to effect on entry into McKay's pram-