A BRUTAL MURDER.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 1275, 23 July 1914, Page 4

A BRUTAL MURDER.

THIEF’S FATAL BLOW. A brutal murder was perpetrated iu broad daylight at Hull on h reo-'tu tVmrday morning, I’ . victim E-<. ■:>- David Ombler, aged 72, who had a greengrocer’s shop in West Parade. Ombler, whose

wife died two years ago, visited the early soft fruit market and returned about seven o’clock,

ije spoke to a neighbour and took down the shutters. About tree-quarters of an hour later, Mr- Garrison, who lives near, and •*.,1 cleans for him, entered tire oc-ip and discovered Mr Ombler lying on the floor of the kitchen behind the shop with his head battered in. lie still breathed, but died soon after his admission to lire infirmary. It was reputed that Mr Ombler, who is the brother of a city councillor, was a wealthy man, and it was known that he carried a bag of gold about with him ; everything, in fact, points to robbery as the motive of the crime. The only clue seems to be the statements of several neighbours, who have reported to the police that they have seen a man with a speckled muffler prowling about. A boy, Thomas Finder, says that he saw the man three times on the previous day. Once he peered through the shop window and then passed up the street. Mrs Feetham, a neighbour, states that she saw a white-faced young man reave the shop hurriedly at 7.30 on Saturday morning, and immediately he ran down the street, someone said, “Old Ombler has been murdered.'’ A young woman, Ethel Dibnah, also saw the man, whom she says was about 30 years of age, and wore a speckled muffler. T. Foster, a coalheaver, states that he saw a man come into the snug of a public house near about 7.30, who seemed agitated, and was of a similar description. All Saturday the whole, of the detectives jof the port were searching for the man described, The room where the murder was committed showed signs of a struggle having taken place, and apparently the old man made a plucky but futile resistance. It is surmised that whilst he was put the perpetrator entered the premises, and was caught by the old man on his return, and that in order to escape the thief dealt the fatal blows.