ROBBERY AT WAIO RONGOMAI. £100 STOLEN FROM A MINER. NO TRACE OF THE THIEF.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 272, 13 June 1888, Page 2

ROBBERY AT WAIO RONGOMAI. £100 STOLEN FROM A MINER . NO TRACE OF THE THIEF .

O\* Monday nitrht Serjeant Emerson loooivod intimation that a robbery of £10°- had been perpetrated nt WaioronL r <Miiai, the victim bein^ 1 a minor n annul Edwan^llickov.who lived in n^innlllonn to at the ieai of the Premie Hotel. The SiM'iJt\TJlt fit OUCe plnC'U.'(l(ul t() institute eiiijuii io<=, but up to (lie time of ;.oinLr to jhcc; no ni rest has boon made. Sm-picion, hen's orc\, is to iosf on a nvin who 'i.id boon mvu about the promise? prior to the iobboi\, but the facts olicitod aip is yet insufficient to \Muiaut an arrest. I Fickcv i< well-known in the township, and ha- boon foi «omo timo wmkin^ on the County tiannwu . ITulev, on bonier intoi vit-wod by a ropro?p:it.itj\ o of fho Xi'wn, the follow sULT partifiilai - of the oecui ronco :—: — lie '-aid it had been hh custom for y^nrs to Icoop bi> money und'M 1 hw pillow, that bo iniijht have it handy when ho lequned :i. Tie left the hoiKe alout four oVloek yesterday afternoon to \i>it a neiojd'our, and ju^t before leaving he honed up the bodt-lotlie-. In doin* en he saw that the money, which he kept in a '.mall box, wa* l\iu<, r in it=. 'i«ual place. On hi* r< Isirn n few minutes aftoiwnnkho found the b^dclothe^ to^ed, and on fnrt'ier ex.nmninu: tl c bed he discovered that his money had boon stolen. The lo\ contameil £luO in sovereign 5 and nine I*! notes. On being- asked the ieaM>n ;vhy he kept the mone} in the house and not at the bank, he said lie «u(Teied greatly from bis eye", was contemplating an operat ; on, and he kept the money handy <o that he could £0 to town at any time without thetroubl" of di aw iny money from j the bank. lie said ho had not spoken to anyone about this money, although lie had >eveial times been taxed with having I'ipltg sums about, him. Tie stnmulv -n^peers a man with who*n he wa^ -lightly acijuainted. lie met him a<^ain, after an alienee of some \ears, last eveniui, f , and after some conversation he piomis^d to give the man woik if he ol tamed the section on the water-race, for which he had tendered. Ilickey, though usually steady, if is said was lately '* -proeini, I '," and last Friday he had been pretty free with hN money, and had frc'iuently displayed the notes. With reference to this he states that he took £10 from it -3 hiding place, out of which he intended to lend £?> to a person who had a-^ked for it, bat he aftoiwards found the money was not wauled. Much sympathy is felt for Ilickey, who has been a resident in the district almost smce the opening of the goldfield, and has been some ears in saving up this money with the object of navinef an opeiation pei formed on his eyes. 1 10 is an old soldier, having seruul in the Maori war with the 18th Regiment, and possesses two q-ood conduct stripes.