STRANGE STORY

Hokitika Guardian, 8 November 1932, Page 3

STRANGE STORY

REPORTED CUTRAGE.

MALIGNANT 'PERSECUTION

SYDNEY, October .29,

At Bexlley, in-'the'Kdgarah dfj&’ict, lives an old ladW; 'Miss,L;priise''’H|ri i is,' who ha.s resided! iii tie'satr© liofee for> forty, years.- ’Since fhe death of lier mother eight years ago, she has been; quite alone and she has; been for some. ' time past subjected to a. systematic • psu’Secufcion' which developed last weik •into something cloveiy approaching , a,l dastardly cirimc. 'She'' has deceived lirin- I dreds of tljunateriing fetters, ‘ seme of ,• therit predicting for her an immediate and'Vi'elent di&ath,’seven cats qud three dogs, her household pets, have been : pbisOriod, hoi-ks b'l've heen.'turried irito her garden at nigHi-i, and refute lierpcd” agaaiist her dooir. Fifteen times,her letter box has’hteri’stolen/ shots have : been firied at hete arid’ twice her house has-been set On fire.’’ ■i RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL ' "views.-; ; y l '] 1 ':/;. Her own expl'a-natipn is that The men iri'-thkt Idcaliity 'hatej her bedarise she' “believes in Mr Stevdns,” anti ho doubt her' religious arid political views and her rigorous a/dliereiice' to l her own 'Wfiys' of life ;airid-•Vt-andards of duty -hAV'ty helped" ’to‘ ; ariisagdritye-, her neigh- ' hours. : Bhd‘ has: 1 hud'” coca’ion to lay information” hostility. , V" • As ft Result of tb e Ibo-ntinucid a ‘ ;- tacks made Ttyon home—'Ceaseless callers ' With mysterious.'" 'messages, masked’ mien prowling ‘abound at- t. e , i windows, stones huiEed upon-the roof— ( she has fallen intNthai Wahit 6f going ' to bed; early iirTlie nrid "gete ting up about ten o'clock' Slid then

hriv • witli a p?ia-r h as al-AO •a shot-gun in' tlie feush—keeping iva.tch till dawn? It is .'monstrous indeed that a harmless w.cmaii should be Subjected to such ' abominalile '• treatment in a / icivilked country.^

- HOUSE SHATTERED BY - BOMB. • The 'diriihx came • last: »•-Saturday 'night. At -.30 a-.-iri, a bothb placed 'near the side of her'-house- exploded with- a tremeiiddUS -’rie'Wrt, breaking the windows- of the rieighhoririffg cot--"tages arid, shattering the.: walls -of',-Miss Harris’ 'own home arid -v-lirndirig its ’contents' in all’..directionsib Tlte peer Worn an, rou a&3t f rririi Ten • Bible re’hd ing by the terrific uproar,- ran frantically to the nearest fire qlarm, rind the police were soon 'An the Spot. ,fe ßlit they could do nothing and so do riot seem to have'-riisde gress in their investigatioiis or succeeded viii sheeting -horiis i , 'e?pd*i^ibilify s '-for this viudictiVe eutragfi-.-’The pbhee are -not- inclined' to' regard if ri-S’ a delib'erfiite attempt upon her life, hnt l'fither'as a “larrikin’s.’trick-,” but-they surety-ought to '-take ' a more serious - view of The- responsibilities; than this.

:: UNDAUNTED; OLD .WOMAN. Howevbi’, the malignity pf this ttn- , fortunate woman’s ©neiTpies is not yet ‘sa.tisß.ed, 'Since L.st oShriday, ,an ambulance, a doctor, and the police have been rung on on several occasions, and despatched in hot haste to ,Miss Harris’ hotise, with ,th.e 'assurance that , she.was.seriously injured.oj,dying, and required assistance at ore.e, Criminal lunacy of’this sort with, a,firm hand, and, it is. | to know that'the nofic?, arpi ..of down the offpnc];ei’sv. ? JKufeanwhilV this ' undaunted’ .old''wo-; jupn keeps waTch. sud over her ‘‘shattered home, rifle in Tia^her Bible l y. her side, declaring she has.lived most A her. days aud there. 1 she will, de.. There., are , all tbe elements of heroic Wm:ly here, j.n suiteof humbler. ''drdid surroundings, and it ,is. hoped--that justice, will spf'cdiiy. D/ertahe the iniscreants responsible for aJJ,.her sorrows.: