MYSTERY BURGLAR

Hokitika Guardian, 8 September 1931, Page 2

MYSTERY BURGLAR

AUCKLAND DETECTIVES PUZZLED.

COLLEGE BOY DISGUISE.

AUCKLAND, September 3

A new move to prevent detection and capture has been made by a. myserious burglar who for two years is believed to have been stealing money from houses in the city and suburbs.' The thief’s latest step is the adoption disguises. Last week he entered a house wearing the clothes of a college , boy. The incident, a s for as it is known to the police, is that the occupier of the house in one of the suburbs says he awoke one night to find a schoolboy in his room. He was busy going through the pockets of the householder’s trousers which had been left lying over a chair. The informant states he sat up in bed and called out: “What are you doing with those trousers?” It is reported that the intruder was out of the room and away from the house like a shot, leaving what money there was behind. Tt is believed the intruder was none other than the mysterious thief. Confirmation in part has come through the report of a maid in another house, who declares she saw a boy in the grounds on a recent night. This mysterious burglar has had an unprecedented run of luck in a succession of thefts from private houses. As he takes only money from houses he has proved a source of some trouble to the police. On entering a house he ‘generally leaves his shoes outside, and three pairs of canvas shoes dropped in hurried flights have been found by the police,