INTRUDER OVERPOWERED

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 488, 18 October 1928, Page 1

INTRUDER OVERPOWERED

FRANKLIN was fortunate that more serious consequences did not attend the struggle. This morning he was confined to his bed as a result of his injuries. Heavily bandaged about the head he bore several traces of his struggle, but was able to give a clear account of his unenviable experience. Air. Franklin, who is a young man, 23 years of age, said it was the usual custom on Wednesdays for his wife and him to have tea at his parents’ house, some 150 yards up the road. Last evening they left his father’s house, which is some distance from the road and in the midst of a market garden, soon after eight o'clock. When he arrived home he saw a light flickering on and off inside the house. At first he thought a fire had broken out, but when he entered the back door and turned on the light he saw a man standing in the kitchen.

The stranger, a short, sturdily-built man, immediately bolted down the passage toward the front door, where he smashed the glass pane with a heavy iron bar he was carrying. Mr. Franklin, who is of medium build, closed with the man and after a terrific struggle got him out of the door

A desperate struggle resulted when Mr. Sydney Franklin, a market gardener, of Melrose Road, Mt. Roskill, discovered an unknown man in his home last evening. The intruder was armed with a heavy iron bar which he used freely in his endeavour to escape. Three times Mr. Franklin was struck heavy blows on the head, but he managed to hang on to his man until assistance arrived and his assailant taken in charge.

! and round to the side of the house where a light was shining from the kitchen window. The man asked to be let free, stating that he had taken nothing from the house. In his pockets, however, Air. Franklin found his watch and chain and some silver. The man volunteered to accompany Air. Franklin inside the house, but when they proceeded to the door he broke away and ran toward the gate. He tripped, however, and Air. Franklin again closed with him, and the two men were quickly locked together in another fierce struggle. In the meantime Mrs. Franklin had rushed away for assistance. Hearing her screams. Air. Albert E. Franklin, father of Air. Sydney Franklin, and his four sons, whose ages range from 1C to 21 years, hastened across the gardens' to his son’s house. It was when he heard assistance coming that the man struck fiercely at Air. Franklin’s head with the iron bar. Fortunately Mr. Franklin managed to catch his assailant’s wrist, otherwise the injuries undoubtedly would have been more serious. Despite his injuries, Mr. Franklin held on to the man until his brother, Ernest Franklin, and a young man named James Herd arrived and knocked the man down. By that time the injured man was bleeding profusely and almost unconscious. Air. Franklin, sen., then arrived on the scene and, tying a rope round the intruder’s neck, they led him to the packing house where he was tied up until the Onehunga police arrived shortly after and took him in charge. ,“I tied a slip-knot round his neck,” said Mr. Franklin, sen., “and if he had attempted to get away I would have choked him with it.” When arrested by the police the man gave his name as Alfred James, but to-day he has admitted to the police that it is not his correct name. He appeared at the Onehunga Police Court this morning before Mr. J. E. Cowell, J.P., when the police stated that they could not identify him. He was charged with stealing a watch and money, the property of Sydney Franklin. On the application of the police he was remanded to appear at the Auckland Magistrate’s Court to-morrow. Air. Sydney Franklin was immediately attended to by Dr. Knight and will be confined to his bed for several days.