THE LATEST DETAILS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10130, 5 January 1911, Page 5

THE LATEST DETAILS.

DISGUISE OF THE POLICE. HOW THE MISCREANTS WERE TRAPPED. | I (Received Last Night, 10.15 o'clock.) LONDON, January 4. ' The police throughout were convinced that the assassins were hid- i ing in the neighbourhood of Mor- ' ountzeff's lodging-house. Officers, disguised as shoe-blacks, Jewish pedlars, and street hawkers, were watching day and night. Terrible evidence was soon forthcoming. Secret observations made from empty apartments, and also from manufacturing premises, located fact that the darkness of Houndsers at No. 100, Sidney Street. 'The police plans were laid with the utmost secrecy. The other tenants were quietly removed early yesterday, without alarming the suspects. The newspapers comment on the fact that the police refrained from rushing the suspects forthwith. The officers, however,, preferred to await daylight, and probably their superiors' instructions, in view of the fact that the rarkness' of Houndsditch favoured the miscreants. ;.. A HOT FIRE. Two firemen and a doctor, who were assisting to remove Leeson, were subjected to a fret fire. >he main part of the battle waged between the beßieged's windows and those directly opposite. At intervals the sharp cracks of Service... rifles were punctuated with the savage snaps of automatic tols returning the fire, and it was possible to see the dust of. striking • bullets as they chipped the masontry from the windows behind which

j the soldiers and police' were escon- ! ced. WATCHING THE CONFLICT. Every window in the vicinity many in the actual area of the conflict— were filled with onlookers, mostly women and children of Semitic type. It is a miracle that the erratic ricochetting of bullets, many of which were fired at an angle, inflicted such little injury. DUMMY SOLDIERS. | Dummy soldiers in one"~"window, and a soldier's cap hoisted on sticks in other instances, drew the anarchists' fire, the soldiers almost simultaneously responding. At one moment scores of police offered to rush the building, but Mr Winston Churchill forbade them doing so, being unwilling that they should jeapodise their lives. A bullet struck a colour-sergeant's shin while he was kneeling in the street. .He w-as medically treated, ?and limped back to his position in ~the firing-line. THE SOLDIERS' WORK. A section of the Royal Horse Arr' tillery from St. John's Wood was summoned to demolish the house, and a party of Royal Engineers from Chatham was summoned to execute sapping and mining. . . Their- services- were, not required,, the fire solving the difficulty. . HOW THE FIRE OCCURRED. One theory is that the besieged I fugitives started the blaze, realising their case to be desperate, and being determined to destroy evidences of their organisation. BREATHLESS EXCITEMENT. f There was breathless excitement when, at a quarter past one o'clock, jthe 1 fire- engines arrived, and were fooki permitted to act, though the •houses-was burning fiercely. It was evident at 1.30 that it would be- gutted. The approaches to the house were cleared, and soldiers and police-were lined un. Then there was a sudden heavy burst of firing. i.ne Anarchists, unable to stand the heat of the pursuing flames, appeared behind the glass panels ,of the front door. Instantly rifles flashed, and the occupants of the house opposite heard a shriek df agony almost simultaneously. The spectators heard two shots in rapid succession from within. • Apparently the besieged Anarchists at that moment suicided, otherwise, a moment afterwards, they would have perished under the collapsing roof and floors. A SYMPATHETIC CROWD. The crowd showed their sympathies with the police by cheering lustily on witnessing the miscreants' fate. The then began work. The heads, arms and legs of one body are missing. The skull was found separately. AFTER THE BATTLE. Cinematograph pictures' of the battle were exhibited last night. The bullet in Leeson's' body has been attracted, and he is progressing favourably. Two Mauser .pistols, and three -boxes of photographs, were found in tho ruins. ' ■ '