A SENSATIONAL STORY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 2003, 15 July 1919, Page 3

A SENSATIONAL STORY.

ALLEGED HIGHWAY ROBBERY.

ON HIMATANGI ROAD,

• Quite a sensation was caused locally on Saturday evening When it was reported that a highway robbery had been committed on the Himantagi road, between Motuiti and the Chinamen’s gardens. The first information received was from the occupants of a car travelling from Wanganui to Wellington, who informed the local police that on coming along the Himatangi road they saw a car pulled up at an angle a- . cross the road, on its wrong side, and on stopping to see what was wrong, found the occupant of same in a semi-conscious condition, and with his face knocked about, who complained that he had been assaulted and robbed. As their ear was full, and they were also carrying mails, they could not pick the

man up. The local police immediately motjs ored to the scene, and found the man in a somi-holpless condition) and bleeding about the face. • The injured man turned out to ho Mr George 'Watson, of Levin, ranger and dog (ax collector for the Horowhonua County Council, and he gave the following statement of what had happened. He said that he had left Palmerston North at 3.30 p.m. that day oa his return journey home. While still on (he Palmerston side of Eoxton —about Himitangi —his car developed engine trouble, on account of it becoming' overheated. He > pulled up on the road, and was endeavouring to remedy the trouble when two men riding one behind the oilier on a motor cycle rode up from behind. They stopped alongside oP him, and one of them asked: “What is the matter, old man?” Mr Watson explained the nature of his trouble, and they volunteered assistance, which he naturally accepted. They could not succeed in getting

the car to start, and while Mr Watson was heading down over the engine he received a severe blow on the head from some unknown quarter. Ho immediately looked up, and at the same instant one of the two men hit him a severe blow between the eyes, rendering him unconscious.

When lie came to liis ponses ho found himself bleeding profusely nml minus his watr-h und £ls in cash. ITis two assailants were nowhere to he seen. Shortly afterwards he remembered being 1 lifted from the ground and placed on the running-board of his ear, with his head resting on the dashboard, presumably by the occupants of the mail ear previously referred to. When the Foxton police arrived on the scene they found a motor journeying to Palmerston North had pulled up and the two occupants of same were rendering what assistance they could to the injured man. They afterwards motored him to Palmerston North, where he received medical attention, and subsequently took him to his hofne at Levin, where he now is, suffering from a broken nose, a cut on his head, twcs badly bruised eyes and. a slight concussion.

It. is interesting to note that Mr "Watson’s story as to his assailants is verified in,one important particular by the two Palmerston residents referred to. It appears that some little time before they reached the scene of the trouble they were nearly run into by two men on a motor cycle travelling at the rate of about 40 miles an hour, and going in the direction of Levin. They surmise that this was within half an hour of the assault and robbery, which tallies with the account of the affair given by Mr Watson. Incidentally Mr Watson states that while the two men were strangers to him, he is of the opinion that he would recognise one of them if he

saw him again. A local motorist, who returned from Palmerston North to Foxton on Saturday evening, states that ho travelled behind a motor ear for some distance along the Himatangi road, with which there was apparently something' wrong, as it was wobbling from one side of the road to the other. It pulled up at the spot where the robbery is said to have taken place, and the occupant got out. The Foxton motorist dul not stop, as the occupant did not ask for assistance. Another Foxton resident, who motored home a little later, states that he saw a car at this spot which had been pulled up on an angle on the wrong side of the road. There were three men nearby, who appeared to be in conversation. Tie did not notice a motor cycle in the vicinity. He particularly remembered it because there was barely room for him to get past, and he had to take the wrong side of the road to do so. Detective Quirke was in Foxton on Sunday in connection with the matter.