Captain's Revolver Ends Robber's Life

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 364, 26 May 1928, Page 1

Captain's Revolver Ends Robber's Life

ENCOUNTER ON PORT CURTIS MASTER’S DRAMATIC STORY A dramatic shooting occurred in the skipper’s cabin of the Port Curtis, now in port at Auckland, when the vessel was lying at Brooklyn, New York. A Spaniard wfro was ransacking Captain W. J. Enright’s cabin was shot by the master with a revolver. The captain was afterwards arrested for homicide. Awakened at 3 a.m. on April 17, Captain Enwright saw a man’s hat silhouetted against the dim light coming into the cabin. The many robberies committed on ships in New York justified the skipper for keeping a revolver under his pilow. The slight movement made by Mr. Enright warned the burglar, and he crouched down by the side of the bunk. The captain called “Who’s there?” and put his hand out to the electric light switch. The man immediately stood up, and realising the necessity of getting in first, the captain fired at the figure, and switched on the light. WOUNDED MAN RUNS Rushing from the cabin, the man ran down a short passage, and the captain pursued, firing two shots after him. The burglar, fatally wounded, got down the companion-way, and managed to run to the side of No. 2 hatch before he collapsed on the deck. When he was reached he was dead, the first bullet having entered a lung and lodged there. Police and ambulance were called and Captain Enright was placed under arrest, on a charge of homicide. He spent several hours in New York cells,. but the Attorney-General dismissed the case next morning without a trial. The dead man was a Spaniard. He had opened the outside door of the ship’s safe and ransacked the captain’s cabin. Some gold studs and tiepins belonging to Mr. Enright were found in his possession. Just before the shooting two captains of the Swed ish - American Line had been gassed and robbed in their cabins, and on the actual night of the occurrence two other ships lying on the Brooklyn side had been entered. One captain lost £26. The great number of waterfront burglaries in New York seem to point to the workings of a gang. If the Spaniard was a gangster it is probable that an attempt to revenge his death will be made when the Port Curtis puts into New York. Captain Enright will take all precautions. The Port Curtis is due to sail for Napier this afternoon.