DARING THIEF

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1028, 19 July 1930, Page 10

DARING THIEF

SURPRISED BY MAID CHASE AND ESCAPE Hearing a suspicious noise in a room in a house at Remuera, a maid stepped throuqh the doorway of an adjoining room and surprised a man bending over an open drawer in a bureau. She screamed and the man bolted. So far the man, and another man believed to be an accomplice, have not been found. The maid, Miss Pascoe, heard a noise in her bedroom, and on investigating found a man searching a drawer in the bureau. He was wearing a faded blue suit and as he was bareheaded she saw that he had bright red hair. When she screamed the man bolted through a doorway opposite, into the hall. This daring attempt took place at the home of Mr. Duncan Clark, 30 Bassett Road, Remuera, yesterday afternoon. Mr. Clark, who was in the garden at the back of the house, did not see the man, but some telegraph linesmen working outside heard the scream and saw a red headed man walk out of the gate and up the street, later breaking into a run. He was carrying a small object in his hand.

While discussing the incident two of the linesmen were approached by another man whom they had noticed in the vicinity previously. “Keep your mouth shut or I’ll fix you,” said the stranger, but a heavy spanner which one of the linesman was carrying must have scared him, for he turned and hurried away. The police were notified and traced the red-headed man to an hotel in Newmarket, together with a man who answered to the description of the man who threatened the linesman. When the police entered one door of the bar the two men rushed out at another and escaped in a taxi which was waiting outside. Miss Pascoe’s only loss was 6s sd, which had been in a corner of a drawer.