AN ACCOMPLISHED NEW ZEALAND BURGLAR.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2719, 6 December 1881, Page 3

AN ACCOMPLISHED NEW ZEALAND BURGLAR.

—— - The people of Auckland have for some time past been ill at ease on account of the numerous burglaries that have been perpetrated, and of the powerlessness of the police to suppress

them. Some fifteen years ago there were a number ot clever burglaries committed in and about Auckland by a man named Frederick Plummer, who was captured and punished for the crime. He was sentenced to fourteen years hard labor, but after serving ten years he was released on the ground of ill-health. Some of the burglaries committed recently were so like in character and surroundings to Plummer’s former ones that it was determined by the police authorities to ascertain whether he was in the vicinity of Auckland or not. A clue was obtained and Plummer was found residing at Ponsonby, and he was arrested on Nov. 23 on suspicion of being concerned in some of the burglaries. Humors had been current for some months past that Plummer was in Auckland, but they could not be traced to a definite source. When he was released, from gaol at Dunedin he went back to Auckland, and then south again. He again turned up as a navvy in the latter half of 1880, and was employed on railways as a sub-contractor for some time. About Christmas he mysteriously disappeared, and nothing more was heard of him till his arrest on the 23rd under the Vagrancy Act, of having no visible means of support, his arrest, and the fact of his being in the neighbor hood, causing no little surprise, Plummer is a native of Bedfordshire, England and is about 37 years of age. He came out with the Albertland settlers, his relatives and connections both in this colony and the mother country being highly respectable. He early took a criminal career, and committed a series of robberies which,like those at present, baffled the police for months. By the merest accident he was detected, and the crimes were sheeted home to him. He effected his escape from Mount Eden Gaol in an ingenious manner, and remained in seclusion in the city itself, writing a number of facetious letters from “ Safety Villa ” to the Auckland journals, in which he caustically and humorously described the lack of system at the gaol, and the inefficiency of the police who were scouring the suburbs and country districts in search of him. The burglaries were again renewed for a time. Ultimately it became known that he had worked his way back to Albertland, and obtained shelter in the bush between Port Albert and Mangawai. In this locality he was seen by a settler, who fired at him and shot him in the leg, a casualty which led to his recapture. He was tried at Auckland sessions of the Supreme Court, and sentenced to some fourteen years’ imprisonment in all for one offence or other. On being transferred to Dunedin Gaol for safe custody, he speedily fonnd his way out of that establishment, and, had his local knowledge been good, would have succeeded in getting into the Blueskin Banges, where he could have eluded the police successfully. Finding he could not reach the ranges he turned on his tracks, and coolly entered the theatre, where he spent the evening witnessing the play, while the police were scouring the country in all directions. On coming out he adjourned to a restaurant, and was ultimately captured, tried, and re sentenced to a further term of imprison ment.