PIO PIO SENSATION.
MAN TARRED- AND FLOCKED. The Auckland Herald's Te Kuiti correspondent states that the little township of Piopio, 15 miles from Te Kuiti, is in a state of some excitement as the result of an incident which happened there last Saturday night, when a motor mechanic, well known in the town and district, was rather cruelly set upon by four men, knocked about somewhat badly, and subjected to the entirely ignominious and comparatively painful process of being smeared with tar over a great portion of his body, and then, presumably owing to the scarcity of feathers, being covered with flock, or kapoc, evidently abstracted from a pillow or mattress. The assaulted individual, Cecil Bridgen by name, carries on his occupation as a motor mechanic and has his dwelling in a tent at the rear of his garage, or workshop; It is said that some throe weeks ago Bridgen received a warning from a friend in Te Kuiti to be on tho qui vivc, as "something was likejy to happen to him." According to the story told by Bridgen, this warning was little heeded by him, as he appears to have been totally unprepared when the blow fell. His account of the affair, as told to the police authorities, who are investigating, is that at about eleven o'clock on Saturday night he was in his tent, when voices outside demanded admittance. Going to the door of the tent, Bridgen saw four men, but, owing to the darkness, he was quite unable to identify them. Without a word of warning, he says, the. unwelcome visitors sat upon him, half throttled him; and manhandled him pretty roughly generally. He then partially lost consciousness, and remembered 'no more until some two or three hours later he came to his senses properly and discovered that a torn piece of scrim had been tied across his mouth to serve as a gag, while his hands and feet were Becurely tied, and he had been dragged about a distance of 20 yards to the fence adjoining the Post Office. When in his tent, Bridgen had not been fully undressed, and his. unwelcome visitors had, after securing him, disarranged his clothing and liberally applied the distinctly unpleasant mixture of tar and flock. At 3 a.m. on Sunday, in rather pitiful plight, Bridgen had recovered sufficiently to telephone to Sergeant Matthew, and the latter officer went out to Piopio on Sunday to make some preliminary investigations. In the vicinity of the tent he fbund a tin containing the remains of the tar, and traced the dragging of Bridgen from his tent to the Post Office fence, hut that was all. Bridgen was unable to give even an idea of the identity of his assailants, and so the matter rests at present.
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Taranaki Daily News, 30 October 1919, Page 2
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464PIO PIO SENSATION. Taranaki Daily News, 30 October 1919, Page 2
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