Fight in the Dark.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7733, 8 February 1905, Page 4

Fight in the Dark.

GRIM STRUGGLE WITH A [ BURGLAR. A grim struggle with a burglar • took place in the darkness of the i morning of December Kith at liur- • ! ton-on-Trent. Mr Frederick Auber, the son of a jeweller, was awakened by a noise in one of the rooms beneath*. He crept downstaJrs, ami, - 'noticing a light in one of the living •'looms, snatched up a clasp-knifo, 1 'nnd pushed the door oi>en. The light : | was extinguished, and as he groped - his way into; the room Mr Auher felt - a man crouching behind the door and the next moment felt a vicious blow from some heavy instrument. | Mr Auher described tit? tig'ht which t followed. " All was ■dark,'' he said f ( "but I could just distinguish the outline of a man crouch'ng down ' when I struck him with my knife 7 ' Oh. you .' he cried out, ant instantly threw himself upon me. Nc further words passed between us, ant ~,a desperate struggle began. My op poncnt was a powerful man, N an; •'fought wflth the desparation of t madman. Backwards and forward: Iwe swayed. The struggle for master; continued fouriosly. I knew I ha< j inflicted some injuries, for I couli feel that he was bleeding severely Locked in each other's embrace, w rolled, over and over on the floor upsetting the furniture in all dircc rions. I myself began to feel weak ened by the great strain, and, sccur img a momentary advantage whoi we hail recovered our feet, the bur glar flung me heavily to the ground and as I foil he slipped from me an( instantly darted into the kitchen am jumped through the window. And s he escaped." Miss Auber's shiieks had by thi: time suuunoned the policy, who warn cd all the outlying districts. At daybreaE a constable stationer at Branstone noticed a trail of blooi leading to the canal. He followed it and overtooE a bloodstained man o: the towing path. With assistance, h arrested him and took him to Button. At the police headquarters he wa identified as Frederick Bayliss, a Wal sail groom, who was sentenced t( penal servitude four years ago for i sensational burglary at Burton, oi which occasion he was also wound* and traced by his bloodstains. Bayliss, whom Mr Aubcr fdentine by hia voice, was remanded by th magi st rates. Bayliss received wounds over th left temple and on the breast, whicl had to be stitched by the doctor.