STREET CHASE

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21176, 27 July 1940, Page 6

STREET CHASE

MAN APPREHENDED ESCAPE OF COMPANION SAFE DISCOVERED BLOWN OVER £l2O REMOVED A thrilling chase after burglars along Hamilton’s deserted streets in the early hours of this morning culminated in the capture of a man allegedly concerned in the blowing open of the safe in the draper’s shop of Messrs Hallenstein Bros. The incident occurred at 2 o’clock this morning. Two men were involved, but the one captured did not have the contents of the safe in his possession. The first indication that something was amiss was discovered by Mr L. Crothers, a night reader employed by the Waikato Times, who was on his way home when he heard an explosion. He was near the railway line in Victoria Street, and immediately ran up to Bryce Street where he had noticed a constable standing. Constable Paton had also heard the explosion and was running toward Ward Street. One Man Captured Considering that the explosion had sounded very near the premises of Messrs A. M. Bisley and Company in Ward Street, the pair immediately ran down to those premises and into an alleyway that leads to the rear of premises in Victoria Street. They were a short distance down the alleyway when they noticed two men running across the Garden Place area. The men were running where the spoil from Garden Place had recently been removed. While Mr Crothers carried on after them Constable Paton dashed back to Ward Street, where he had noticed a bicycle, and pedalled down Ward Street to head them off. The men dodged into the Hamilton Technical College grounds and the constable jumped off the bicycle and gave chase. He caught one of the men, but before he could put handcuffs on his feet to stop him from getting away, and chase after the other man, the confederate had scrambled over the high wire-netting surrounding the basketball courts at the school and made across the railway line and into the timber yards.

In the meantime Mr H. E. Drummond, the nightwatchman, who was on the other side of Victoria Street, had dashed across and examined the rear of the premises facing the alleyway into Ward Street. He found the back door of Messrs Hallenstein Bros, open and. the manager, Mr D. Gracie, was summoned. Entry Through Window When investigations were made in the shop the blowing open of the safe and the removal of over £l2O, mostly in notes and loose cash, was discovered. The burglars had gained entry by breaking a pane in the window of the fitting room at the back of the shop. They had crawled through iron bars over the window, the bottom bar being about a foot above the sill. The fitting room door, which was locked, was forced with a jemmy and it was an easy matter to get into the office from there. Men’s dressing gowns and other stock was used to pack around the safe to deaden the sound of the explosion. All this stock was ruined. The door was blown right off the safe and two cash boxes removed. The man who was not caught was believed to be carrying the money removed from the safe, and the constable and Messrs Gracie and Crothers and others carried on the search for him for over an hour without success. Man Appears in Court As a sequel to the chase Edward Benjamin, aged 38, seaman and por-ter-barman, appeared before Messrs G. K. Sinclair and J. H. Gittos, J’s.P., m the Hamilton Police Court this morning on a charge of having in his possession a jemmy, a hack-saw and a screwdriver with intent to commit a crime. On the application of Senior-Sergeant G. H. Lambert the man was remanded until next Thursday.