DETECTIVE ASSAULTED.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 312, 9 January 1908, Page 2

DETECTIVE ASSAULTED.

SENSATIONAL STRUGGLE WITH \N INTRUDER. SINGLE-HANDED CONFLICT GETTING EVEN WITH I'JiE POI ]•„£. AN EXCITING EA.PURLK.WE. ASSAILANT IN THE I.OCK Ul\ What sensation would hare followed ed the publication of the following paragraph yesterday morning we '/in only guess. As it was, the "par" was crowded out. It bears a deep significance to-day. llere it is:—

He was a young man, prosperous-look-ing. H« was, no he said, about to be married in about six weeks' time, and he wanted to lease a house and about three or four acres of ground. The land agent scented a little commission. How would »tl acres do? He hail a nice little*property a few milts out >i town that he could coiilldently recommend, ami, what was moic, he could catch the owner in a coujiie 01 initiate? So the owner was caught, and very Favorable ttrms arranged. Tliep a conveyance was hired, ami agent and pro-l-able lessee drove out to Oniata to see the proper:y. The a'.wut-to-l>e-we<lded young man explained that he wasn't "shook on the place," ho the agent took niin to inspect a place on the Smart road. That wouldn't >'o Then followed a further trip to Omata to sec srother property, and this he said wort'J do. Terms were disclosed, and it was arranged tint the part lew should meet ; t a solicitor's office yesterday to compicle the ransaclioii. They're sli'.l waiting for that purchaser, and it has Pawned upon the agent that the prospectire bridegroom had had the loan of them and their horseflesh. And of such is the life of the land agent. It was not mentioned there that the prospective lessee was a man named Stewart, who had just ''done time" for false pretences, and had only lately lee* released from durance Tile, But l|B the story these p irticulars came out, adding to the "spice" of the in cident. \esterday afternoon the mar rang up the agent, and wanted to know what the latter meant by maligning him to his friend.?. The agent, not un 1 derstanding the purport of the cross questioning, rang off, but

THE SEQUEL OF THE STORY was to come. Peculiarly enough it came in the very place that such a limit might have been expected to avoid. Sergeant lladdrell and Detecijve lioddam were talking in the latter's little sanctum in the police station until about ten o'clock. Then the Sergeant departed for his home, and Mr Boddam set to work in answering some urgent correspondence. The wretchedly inadequate dimensions of the rooiq made It imperative that the door should be left ajar for the admission of fresh air. After some minutes of uninterrupted work, the (Jefecfive Jicarf} A STEP ON THE VER4NpA|S. Then tile door was pushed open. A man entered. At the moment Mr Boddam did not actually identify him, and took but little notice. Tlip straigef broke the silence, "Which 1 of you 's," he asked, "has been putting my pot on with Hickman Russell ?" And without waiting for an answer to bis question, he strode up and took hold of the detective's shoulder, threatening, "You , "I'LL KNIFE YOU." As Mr Boddam afterwards related to our reporter, he thought, "No, you don't kniie me, if 1 can help it. 1 didn't know whether he had a knife, or a revolver, or what. At any rate, V wasn't going to sit' there calmly and let him knife me," So he jumped up, and, being taken by surprise, was for a while at a loss. And then followed a struggle. It was A STRUGGLE FOR LIFE, perhaps; for liberty, certainly. Four rounds were fought, in a little room that was half-tilled with chairs and the table. Four times the Intruder went down. Four times he came back again for more. The pace was terrible. There was no quarter, no thought of it. This man was no novice in the art of attack and self-defence. "It was the hottest five minutes I've h;id since I joined the New Zealand police," said the detective. But science told the tale. The training necessary to the making ot a soldier (Detective Boddam has seen service in the British Army, his father having been a Major-General) and a. member of the detective force stood Mr Boddam in good s tead. Despite the throtfbingl pain of an injijjy tfl hj; thumb in the cpnfiicj;, he bore his man down, seized the handcuffß, and firmly fastened his assailant's hands, thus ending the fight. The flopj- bore traces of the fray. Blood stains were hare and there on the floor, furniture and papers were all In a litter. How to dispose--of ; : j-V THE PRISONER was a query, iltere was 110 one else >n the station. There was no one in the street. Alter about u qu>ri.ei' ol aa hour's waiting two young uicu cuim past, and one of tliese was despatched lor Sergeant Haddrcll. When that old campaigner came he could not repress an exclamation ol surprise on tiuilmg his colleague standing over the form ot a prostrate man, handcuffed, almost foaming at the mouth. Soon the misguided molester was placed in the lockup for the night, and the victor had leisure to examine his own injury. A visit to Dr. Walker revealed the facj that his thumb had hecn wrenched out of joint, and that it would be of pp use to its owner for at least a month. The man, whose name is Stewart, has a long list of previous convictions. He will be brought before the Justices this morning to answer for his conduct.