A SMART CAPTURE.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 March 1920, Page 5

A SMART CAPTURE.

•;* TROOPSHIP THEFTS. PILFERING ON ATHENIC. With the arrival of a troopship there are usually to be heard numerous complaints In regard to petty thefts during liie voyage Glancing cursorily thv.tgh the contents of a seccn.i-hand dealer's shop in Auckland in pursuit of nothing in particular. Detective Gotirkv, of the waterside polie.;, espied a particularly line pair of German binoculars, which immediately arrested, his attention on account of their rarity and value. Inquiries of the dealer showed that they had been sold by a man who stated that he was off the troopship Athcnic. A call at the ship elicited the information that nothing had been mfesed during the voyage, and that the crew was in every way an exemplary one_ Nevertheless, the detective deemed it expedient to make the personal acquaintance of the crew, and from the description given by the second-hand dealer recognised one, James Alfred Enpinell. a greaser, as tallying with the seller of the glasses. An interview resulted in the man confessing that.he had helped himself to the kit of Sergeant Doyle when the boat arrived at Wellington, and that, after taking its contents, had thrown the bag overboard. A search showed other property concealed in the man's bunk, and in another rnrt of the ship, and he was accordingly arrasted on a charge of theft.