SINGULAR OUTRAGE.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 381, 3 July 1889, Page 3

SINGULAR OUTRAGE.

On* Saturday afternoon a man named Michael Ryan, about 60 years of ago, was taken into the tender charge of the PonsOnby police on a charge of wilful and, wanton destruction of property .at the Home for the Aged, Shelly Beach Road, Ponsonby, recently established by ,the ladies of , the, Roxnan Catholic order know n as^tho " Little Sisters of the Poor."'* Ryan was ( an ex-inmate of the Home, and for some reason or other re- 1 'visiting the institution he cleared the Sisters out with an open .knife, and committed ' as much injury, and damage to property as' possible, smashing some fifty panfes of glass, besides liis other little pranks. It appears that Ryan, who is well known to the police, was formerly an inmate ot tho Old Men's Refuge, but on March Bth. last he gave that institution "best," and' changed his abode to the Ponsonby Little .- t Sisters .of .the Poor Home. He remained there eating the ,' bread of charity and doing as little- -work 'a& possible in return for it, and about a forfc- »• nightr ago began to get insolent and" dis- • , respectful to, the Sisters, refusing to comply with the .rules, and inciting the other inmates to " ri?e in mutiny" against .the beneficent rule of tha Homo. . . Affairs became so bad that on Friday afternoon last, at the request of the longsuflering Sisters, Ryan, who had become a perfect nuisance in manj 7 respects, was removed from the -Homo by Constable McCori-' nell and Constable Clark. - On Saturday afternoon, after half-pasfc typo, Ryan again put in an appearance at the Home in a very '"beery" condition, and asked to see the Good Mother. He was told that she- wasat her devotions, but would.- see him in a minute. The SSisterr r who ,-opened the door states that Ryan then-/ advanced up the passage to bhe parlour" with a closed knife in his hand, saying he could not wait. He, opened the t . knife and gently t informed the Sister that' • i-'he w.a^ about to show them wjvat; he could do, and the. terrified lady- N < k>{-. t~ mediately, called out to the Sistersto,ruh for their lives, which they prom-'ptly' did, some escaping -through a side door and - the window?. Ryan rushed outside and amused himself by smashirigiri the windows of the outbuildings, the old men's dining - and" sitting-rooms, and all other windows within his reach, breaking some fifty panes of glass. v Tired. of this, .relaxation, he - next turned his f attention to the Sister, who first' gave* the alarm',, who had v" locked herself up' in *thei, chapel "and locked the* iloo*. cßmmunicfftibg witfi "•T'the corridor.- Ryan, who was.wo.ntJ to sup- ■> piemen t his. appeals ior charity fa^y i movirfgo descriptions of his infirm a*nd lielpltess conj.dition, by shefcr physical force -bprstr,th6 * X*K * Heavy door openybroke some vases, on f the ■" -Alsar^and duLother damage,-, but the Sjster ,, J had meanwhile escaped. He n ex t> proceeded » upstairs to the old women's room.Ayhither the Good' Mother had fled for safety, but, on bearing his advance she gat .orit of the top*window on to the roof of a leaii-to, and ■ was -rescued ,\^y_ s . means of a ladder. , . M^anvvh^le f^ouie- neighbours tia'd arrived toiihe rescue and Ryan was secured after H s'ometrpuble in the old women's diningroom.' "Two of fchemj' Messrs Ward ell and Sobersf secured the renalcitrant one, tied / ,him up, and lowqred.hin\down theitaircuse to the ground floor, with the assistance of others, . A Constable Clark was soon on the, scene, '- ' and pi'omptly- had- Ryan in escort on his . . way to the. police station. , _-,The damage inflicted is estimated at f 11, 7 w,hl<jh will fall upon the Sisters and the institution. The' Sisters state that they - ''HaVe-never met 'with 'any parallel to Ryans "" case. • - 1:- .- v : . < . , ' -'

"- - - ' BEFORE 'THE COURT.. Michael- Ryan appeared at the Police Courb this morning before • Meesi s Hammond and Walker, Justices.-. He \\as charged wj.bh , haying on , the 29th of , Jane, at Auckland, unlawfully ' and maliciously " broken one door, one lock, ■ • two Venetian blinds, 44 panes 'of glass, two vases, one candlestick, a piece of zinc, total value £11 15s, in the.building known as the Home for Aged Persons, in Shelly Beach Road, the property of the Little Sisters of the Poor. Elizabeth Walsh deposed that she was a member of the Little Sibters bf the Poor, and resided at the Home, Shelly "Beach Road. The accused, Ryan, was in the Home from the Bth of March until the 25th June. At that date his conduct was so 'bad that he had Ho be ejected by the police on the 28fch. Last Saturday afternoon she saw the prisoner at the' chapel "door. - He asked for the ■ Mother, as he wanted to see her. "Witness asked him to sit down, .but he said he would nob wait, an,d used, bad language. , He had a knife in bis hand, which he opened, and said," I'll show you what I can do." It appeared to be a garden knife. Vv'-itness called for assistance, and told the others to save themselves and send for the police. He was then slightly under the influence of liquor. The Sisters escaped from the 'chapel out "on to the veiandab, and the'accused went into the chapel and did ,-, the'damage. He went round the house and „ . broke all the windows. He used a sstick belonging to ".one of the old men, and knocked the vases off 'the ' t altar, broke open doors, and damaged, the sittingrooms of both the men and women. The, Mother Superior was in the sittingroom with the woman, who had to escape out of the window on to the roof of the building. Some gentlemen ultimately came in and arrested the man, and, tied him with rope until the police arrived. The damage was about £12. The prisoner said that he would have • pleaded sruilty had he been a?ked, to save trouble. , . Mr Haulbain informed him that it was a Supreme Court case. ' John Warc'ell deposed that he heard the glass being smashed at the house ot the Little Sisters of the Poor. Witness and another went over. Witness saw the man walking round the house with a knife in his hand, and smashing the windows with a stick. , • Witness saw the Sisters getting through the window on to the roof of the building., Mr Sobers and witness seized the man, bound him, and handed him over to the police. " . ooh'n 'Sobers was with the last witness and corroborated -Jiis --statement. He did nob notice the knife in prisoner's hand. Constable Clark . Reposed to being called to the Home ol • the 1 Little ' Sisters of the Poor* 'fen Saturday ' afternoon: He found the prisoner in the custody of the last two witnesses, who gave him over to witness. Witness assisted in ejecting Che .accused from the institution the day before for bad conduct. The prisoner said thit he would reserve hifi defence. The Bench committed the prisoner to take his trial at the next sittings of the Supreme Court, to be held next September.