EXTRAORDINARY CRIME.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5308, 30 March 1878, Page 5 (Supplement)

EXTRAORDINARY CRIME.

A LADY ARRESTED FOR ROBBERY AND ARSON. , The Auckland Herald publishes the followlowing account of the recent singular case of alleged robbery and arson in that city ; The particulars of a moat peculiar case of robbery and attempted arson, in a crowded locality, have been gleaned, and the circumstances are most astonishing, as a woman, a lady in fact, who has been held iu high estimation during her residence in Auckland, and who has been received into respectable society, is under arrest for the robbery, and circumstantial evidence is strong against her for the more serious crime. The climax which led to the discovery of both occurred on Saturday night between 10 and 11 o’clock, the scene being Waterloo Crescent;' at the hoardinghouse kept by Mrs. Haslett, and the circumstances are as follows;—Mrs. Haslett and her son Edward had been out until about 9.30 p.m. On their return Mrs. Haslett retifed to her room with her daughter, and some time after her return she was informed by Mr. Adolph Lourie, a lodger in the house, that a room had been on fire, but that the fire had been extinguished. She went upstairs with her son, and found the smouldering remains of the fire, and some of the lodgers still engaged extinguishing it, and there were indications of the room having been set on fire in several places. It appears that Mr. and Mrs. Lourie, the former a lodger for some time past, and the latter a recent arrival by the ship Chile, had been out during Saturday evening. They had invited another lady lodger, a Mrs. Warren, to accompany them, but on this occasion she declined. On their return with Mr. Luther, one of the officers of the ship Chile, and Mr. Osborne, a fellow-passenger of Mrs. Lourie’s, i they met Mrs. Warren, who went upstairs with them- to Mrs. Lourie’s sitting-room. This, room faces the Quadrant, and there is a balcony running along the side, which connects it with two other rooms, one of which was occupied by a lady who was absent on Saturday night, and the other, the furthest from Mr. Lourie’s, by Mrs. Warren. Soon after entering his room, Mr. Lourie observed a [smell of fire, and Mrs. Warren remarked that it must be some bush fire, saying which she went out on the balcony, and proceeded to her own room. The dangerous smell continuing, Mr. Lourie’s suspicions were further aroused, and he went into the landing on the passage, and proceeded to the door of the unoccupied room. While standing there, Mrs. Warren, who must have come through her own room from the balcony, rushed past him, saying that her room was full of smoke. He went in, and saw that the door of the room leading to the balcony was closed. The room was filled with smoke, hut he saw a fire burning over the mantelpiece and around it, and a quantity of smouldering paper on the hearth. It fortunately happened that there was a bucket of water close to his own bedroom door, and this he soused over the flames, at once checking them. Mr. Luther and Mrs. Osborne at once ransacked the adjoining bedrooms, procured what water was available, and before anything further was known they had quenched all the fire except some smouldering matting and rubbish, besides the mattress and bedding. It was then that Mr. and Mrs. Haslett first became aware of the danger which had existed. Mr. Haslett rendered furtherassistanoe in extinguishing thesmouldering remains of the mattress, which had been thrown into a narrow lane, which divides Mr. Keesing’s allotments from Mrs. Haslett’s. When the danger was over, Mrs. Haslett and the others naturally supposed that Mrs. Warren must have left her candle burning in the room, but she affirmed that she had extinguished it, and Mrs. Haslett proceeded to prepare for her another appartment for the night. As there were signs of the room having been On fire in several places, Mrs. Lourie suggested to Mrs. Warren to search her drawers, and see if anything was missing. She acted on the suggestion, and at once stated that her underlinen and her purse had been taken, at the same time desiring Mrs. Lourie to search and ascertain whether any of her property was missing. Mrs. Lourie, upon investigation, found that one of her trunks had been forced open, and her purse—a peculiar one made of sealskin—containing two sovereigns and some silver, had been taken. Mrs. Warren also pointed out that an opera-glass was missing, and further search disclosed that a leathern portmanteau, containing Mrs. Lourie’s wardrobe, with about £B4, was nowhere to be found. The affair then assumed a very serious aspect, and Mr. Haslett and Mr. Lourie proceeded to the police-station to give information. Detective Grace arrived shortly after, and upon examining the room in which the fire had occurred he found that four attempts had been made to set fire to the wall-paper with a composite candle, but they Had failed. The attempt had been made in various parts of the room, and a large quantity of burnt paper was on the hearth beneath the charred mantelpiece. He at once pronounced it the work of an incendiary, and proceeded to investigate. Mrs. Warren, the occupant of the room, who was interrogated, still persisted in denying having left a candle burning iu her room. Separating her from the others, Detective Grace, who was accempanied by Sergeant Mulville, questioned Mrs. Warren, and ascertained that she had been in moat parts of Hew Zealand. She acknowledged after some time that the portmanteau had been sent by her to the Albert Hotel at about nine o’clock on Saturday; night during Mr. and Mrs. Lourie’s absence, and pointed out where the purse was hidden in Mr. Keesing’s garden. Here Mr. Haslett found it, but the two sovereigns had been taken out of f it, and these Mrs. Warren produced from her own purse. Upon: being informed that she must accompany the police to the station, she at first thought it was a joke, but finding the officers of the law were in sober earnest, she begged leave to see Mrs. Lourie first. This was denied, but Mrs. Lourie just then rushed into the room, accompanied by her friends. They begged hard to got the woman released, but the officers were of course inexorable, and she was lodged in the station on a charge of larceny, and tho more serious one of attempted arson.: The accused appears a highly respectable ladylike woman. She has been for a fortnight residing with Mrs. Haslett, to whom she was introduced and recommended by Mr. Courtayne, of Priuoeastreet, with whom she formerly boarded, and, during her residence in her present lodgings her conduct has been exemplary and ladylike. It is said that her husband who, whenin Auckland three months ago, represented. himself as a traveller for a Sydney firm, had since deserted his wife, and returned to Australia, but whether this is so or not has not yet been clearly ascertained. 1 It is certain that the discovery of the fire by Mr. Lourie was most fortunate and opportune. Had it had time to catch firm hold it would have been extremely difficult to save any portion of that large pile of old wooden buildings extending from the Museum right around the Waterloo Quadrant to Mr. D. Nathan’s large residence.