MARAUDER’S PERILOUS CLIMB

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 691, 17 June 1929, Page 1

MARAUDER’S PERILOUS CLIMB

LATEST EXPLOIT OF "CAT” RAIDER

FREEZING COMPANY’S OFFICES ENTERED

AUCKLAND’S “cat” raider continued liis exploits during the week-end.

This morning the premises of the Auckland Freezing Company, on the third floor of Bndean’s Buildings, Lower Queen Street, were in a state of disorder.

J.V order to enter the offices the

raider must have perched perilously on a narrow' ledge, feeling his ■way along until he came to a window which had not been locked. Three floors below was the bottom of the light well —an area of concrete.

Although the thief had opened every drawer on the premises he did not get one penny in money. In one drawer he had found the key to the main safe which he had opened. This safe contained only business papers. The Farmers’ Freezing Company occupies nearly the whole of the third floor of the building and every office had been searched apparently for money. The safe containing cheques and money was not opened. Drawers had been removed from the desk in Mr. A. Suter’s room, and the desks of the general manager, the accountant, the secretary and the cashier had all been forced open and papers and documents disturbed. Evidently the raider is only an amateur as three broken penknives were

found on the floor this morning. Some of the locks had been clumsily forced with a chisel. The thief had taken his time in searching the various desks and had drawn up chairs on which to sit. For the past fortnight this “cat” raider has been entering blocks of city offices. He has climbed waterpipes and stairs and performed the most astonishing feats in his effort to break into different buildings. MISTAKEN IDENTITY A porter who was engaged in cleaning soot from a chimney on the roof of the Commercial Hotel, High Street, last evening was mistaken for the “cat” raider. Someone rang the police and several constables were sent down to make inquiries, but after a considerable wait, until the man came down, it was found that a mistake had been made. Suspicion was roused by the fact that the porter was seen to climb gingerly over a roof drawing a step ladder behind him.