A NAPIER SENSATION.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 2838, 27 January 1925, Page 3

A NAPIER SENSATION.

ABDUCTING A BOY FROM MOTHER. MAN DIES AT HANDS OF ABDUCTORS. BOY’S UNCLES ARRESTED. Napier, Yesterday. A sensational fracas on the Marine Parade, Napier, at 8 o’clock last evening resulted in the death of William Charles Clark, a timber merchant; aged 57, and in the arrest of John and Maurice Breen, on charges of manslaughter. The charge is based on the part played by the latter pair who are aged 32 and 42 respectively, in an alleged attempt at abduction, wherein the central figure was the Breens’ 14-year-old nephew, Frank Wilson, who until recently, was living on their farm. Last Thursday his mother accompanied by Clark and others, took the boy away and on Saturday went to Wairoa and Morere by car, returning last night, when they were met as soon as the car stopped at Mrs Wilson’s gate, by the Breen ■ brothers, the alleged attempt at kidnapping following. Clark, who was a boarder at Mrs Wilson’s, was the owner of the car. Apparently he attempted to prevent the alleged abduction. He struggled with first Maurice and then Joseph Breen, later staggering into the house, where he collapsed and died almost immediately. The cause of death is nofc defin-

itely stated, hut the body was marked with abrasions and there was a cut on the head. The Breens in the meantime, had driven away with the boy Wilson! They were arrested in Hastings at midnight. Later. The Breens appeared at the Court on a charge of manslaughter and were remanded for a week, bail being refused. Frank Wilson is the 14-year-old son of Mrs Wilson with whom Clark had boarded. The boy’s father died when his son was an infant and subsequently his mother, who was formerly a Miss Breen, sent her child to live with her parents at Mahoa, Hastings. John Breen is a sturdy thick-set man of 32 and is a storeman at Hastings. His brother, Maurice, is slighter in build and is blind in one eye, and his occupation is that of slaughterman. Both the accused men lived on their parents’ property at Mahora. It is there that the hoy Wilson was sent by his mother several years ago. He was there until last Thursday, when he was taken away by his mother and Clark. It was the mother’s intention, she stated, to send him to college. On Thursday when Clark and the mother and others driving past Breen’s property saw the boy at the gate and called to him, he came willingly. It is stated that from the Hastings Post Office Mrs Wilson sent her sister an urgent wire to say the child would not be returning. The boy was then brought to Napier and stayed at his mother’s house that night and the following day.

“Although I had the boy, I had an uneasy feeling that there would be trouble,” said Mrs Wilson, “so on Saturday morning Mr Clark agreed to drive us to Wairoa and Movere.” The party returned to Napier on Sunday evening/ pulling up at 8.5 outside the house on the Parade. A form approached the ear and pulled the boy out from the rear seat. Mrs Wi'lson, according to her own story, screamed: “Oh, they’re taking him!” Mr Clark apparently anxious to intercede, stepped from the car. He immediately came to blows with one of the Breens, who apparntly came across the road from the opposite footpath and the pair went down together, Breen on top. The pair were straggling and Clark gained the supremacy. John Breen, it is alleged, had carried the boy to another car about five yards back along the parade. Mrs Wilson says she noted the number and (hen rushed through the gate to open the house and telephone for the.police. The other Breen here returned lo Clark’s car, ordering his brother back across the road, then he and Clark exchanged blows. Mrs Wilson asserts that she saw him hit, Clark on the shoulder. “I went, to the ’phone,” she said, “and tried to get the police. Then Mr Clark came in. His head was bleeding from'a wound and in his hand lie had a toy revolver —a harmless thing —which had broken , at the wooden stock.” “This is what they had for me!” he said. “I said: 'Oh! You’re hurt,’ and wanted to wash the blood off. but lie said 'no, I want the police to see this.’ He put the toy revolver on the table while I was still at the ’phone and then stumbled forward and crumpled up over the chair.

“I knew lie was done,” went on Mrs Wilson (who was formerly a nurse) “when I heard his breathing and I stopped talking to the police and rang for a doctor.” “Then we gave Mr Clark water, but he was quite unconscious and vomited up. He died before the doctor arrived within eight minutes at most. As for the fighting, it was all over in a flash. One of my brothers was evidently waiting over by the sea, while the other was probably in an alleyway by the house. As soon as they got clear of Clark they drove away with my son.” Clark was quite dead when the doctor arrived. The police later went to Hastings after the Breen brothers, and they returned at 1.30 a.m. with John and Maurice Breen in custody. The boy, Frank Wilson, is also held by the police in custody at present. Mr Clark was one of the principals of Messrs Mason and Clark, timber merchants, at Port Ahuriri. He was a big and powerful man and is said to have been in splendid health. He was a married man, living apart from his wife, but was on good terms with his family and was popular with a large circle of friends. His car, a five-seater of English make, played a fairly prominent part in the proceedings. Nothing has been made public concerning the exact cause of his death, but it is known that the result of the postmortem, conducted immediately after the fatality, impelled the police to take immediate action.