DIVORCE COURT PRELUDE.

Shannon News, 13 February 1923, Page 3

DIVORCE COURT PRELUDE.

False alarms are not unknown to members of the police force. In fact (says the Melbourift Age), they are forced to waste quite a lot of valuable time on wild-goose chases. , Word came to the plain-clothes police one recent Thursday afternoon that' thieves were breaking into a bootmaker’s shop in Little Bourke street. Marvelling at the audacity of persons who would attempt a burglary in the city in broad daylight, three constables proceeded by motor-car to the spot. There w r as no doubt about it. The shop had been broken into. A hole had been bored beside the Yale lock on the front door and the lock operated. Moreover, there were persons' moving about inside. / Leaving a man to guard the back door, the other policemen entered at , the front. Inside the shop they came upon quite a little crowd of people, including a woman. These persons did not in the least resemble burglars. In fact they were able to prove that they were not.. The woman was the wife of the proprietor, and the party included a locksmith and a couple of private inquiry agents. The explanation of their presence v T as simple. The wfife was seeking to obtain a divorce, and had received information that documentary evidence of value could be obtained at the shop. Accordingly, waiting till her husband had departed from Melbourne on a week’s holiday, she engaged a locksmith to help her break in. The 1 ‘ divorce detectives ’ ’ went along to . help in the search. They were ransacking the papers in the shop w r hen the police arrived, -but. whether anything of value to them had'been discovered w r as not stated. The police decided that as they w r ere ‘not there with felonious intent they should be allowed to depart. What action the husband will take remains to be seen. •