BALL PRACTICE IN FREEMAN'S BAY. Houses Peppered with Bullets. (From the "Auckland Star." May 9.

Te Aroha News, Volume I, Issue 50, 17 May 1884, Page 3

BALL PRACTICE IN FREEMAN'S BAY. Houses Peppered with Bullets. (From the "Auckland Star." May 9.

A resident upon the cliff at the foot of College Hill, on the Freeman's Bay side, called' at our office this morning and gave information of a dangerous and reckless use of firearms in that vicinity last night by some person or persons unknown. The occurrence is a most singular one, and the conduct so very properly complained of seems more like the action of an escaped lunatic than the mischievous excesses of larrikins. It is far too hazardous to be regarded as any attempt at practical joking, and it also appears to be wholly without motive. We give the story in the words of our informant, Mr W. Green. He Baid:— "About ten o'clock last night I was sitting in the front room of my house, which is built upon the cliff in Freeman's Bay and fronts the water. ' By hearing 1 the reports either of a rifle or rovolver fired not far off, I went out upon the verandah in order to ascortain what was the matter, but could perceive no one. After I returned indoors the firing continued, and it soon became evident to me from hearing the shots strike, that the marksman was practising upon a new house which i« being put up alongside my own for a Mr Howson. It stands upon piles at the head of a little dry creek running down to the Bay. I went out again upon the verandah, but could see no one, and on re-entering the house I sat down at the back of the front window, the light in the room being kept burning all the time. Immediately afterwards 1 was startled by a tremendous rattl« over my head, and I saw that a ball had struck the front of the iron verandah at an elevation of some five feet above my head. I got up and looked out, but still seeing nothing, I moved my position in the room, so that if any person should aim at me from outside I could not be hit. After this, I heard two bullets strike the shingles of the roof, and about 11.30 the firing ceased altogether. My wife, daughter, and a friend who was staying with us, were greatly alarmed, and I did not go to bed until "two o'clock this morning, lest the person who was firing should return. This morning I went round to look at Hewsons house, and the carpenters at work upon it pointed out the four holes in ono of the windows. The floor inside was covered over with shavings, so that I do not know whether there were any bullets there. Several people besides myself heard the shooting, as, tor instance, Mr McCabe and Mr Shanks, who occupies the corner house. The person who fired 1 should judgo to have been on the beach, at a distance of from 60 to 100 yards. " We understand that Constable Collis, of Ponsonby, has been told off to mako inquiries into this very strange matter.