FARMER'S FIGHT WITH INTRUDER

Rotorua Morning Post, Issue 5289, 30 December 1946, Page 4

FARMER'S FIGHT WITH INTRUDER

(Press Assn.-

BRUTAL ASSAULT MAN NOT IDENTIFIED BY VICTIM OR WIFE

—By Telc.graph — Copyrighl.)

PALMERSTON N., last night. A lonely farmhouse on a country back road six miles out of Pahiatua was the scene of a near tragedy in the early hours of yesterday morning. Awakefted from sleep at 1.20 a.m., Mr. Edward Arnold Palmer, "a motor" driver, was o brutally assaulted by a man whose identity is at present unknown. The intruder belayed Mr. • Palmer Avith what is thought to be a' portion of a pick handle, The heda'oom and kitchen were , pi'ofusely bespattered avith blood from his WOWnds on the head and body. That Mr. Palmer is not dead is a rniracle. Mr. Palmer and his wife retired to bed fairly early on Saturday night, and Were awakened from tbeir sleep by the noise Of someone opening the front door of their fodr-roomed cottage. Mr. Palmer states that he ■ealled out and when he saw a toreh flash, he jumped out of bed, only to receive a stUnning blow on the head ' from the weapon the man held in his hand, and whieh was attached to the wrist hy string. He struggled with the inti'uder, and they fell to the floor, where he receive d further blows on the head. They rolled out into the kitchen v/here Mrs. Palmer got a table larnp and thi-ew it at the man. The struggle went on for about 10 minutes, but it was ordy when Mr. Palmer realised that he was putting up a losing fight that the intruder decamped, and the last that was heard of him were footsteps albng the road. With the help of his wife, Mr. Palmer drove his motor truck into Pahiatua, where he had a number of stitches inserted in his head. • Mr. and Mrs. Palmer have only been resident in the eottag'e for about three months. Pi-ior to that they were living in Pahiatua. They were «married early this year. No motive for the assault can be thought of. They caught brief glimpses of the man hy the light of his torch as the struggle went on, and have given the police a description. Their nearest neighbour lives half a mile away.