HOUSEBREAKERS AT PARNELL.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVII, Issue 197, 18 August 1906, Page 4

HOUSEBREAKERS AT PARNELL.

GROCERY STORE E_-7TZ_R___>. £25 WORTH OF TOBACCO STOLEK. For some time past Pantell has been comparatively free from the attentions of gentlemen of the jemmy and dark lantern, but somewhere between the hours of -closing on Thursday evening mid opening time on Friday morning a success ful visit of burglarious intent was paid to the grocery premises of Mr. G. Foster, Mannkan-road. Parncll, the thief ot thieves securing between £20 and £25 worth of tobacco as the result. Apparently the sole object of the visit was to steal tobacco, as nothing else in the store was disturbed, while as far as money was concerned the shop was empty, Mr. Foster making it a practice to leave his safe door -unfastened when nothing is in it, thus avoiding the possibility of having it damaged by exploring thieves.

The visitors evidently found little difficulty in "cracking the crib," for, after entering the neighbouring premise:*, they made use of an outhouse to reach one oi the back windows on the first fioor. This window they opened by the simple expedient of breaking the glass, which in falling on the iron roof of the outhouse must have raised a lively clatter; but it is theoried that the work was effected before the tram cars ceased running, the friendly racket of a passing car being taken advantage of to drown the noise of falling glass. The rest was comparatively easy, for a staircase led from tbe window to the door of the store at the back of the shop, and this, after evident but ineffectual attempts to force it, was opened by the key from the inside, after a hole had been made- through a panel. The tobacco, part of which was taken from beneath the counter, and part from the store shelf, included varieties to suit all tastes, both plug and packet, besides j cigarettes, to the number of several boxes, and the lot must have amounted to between 50 and 601b in weight. A hack was used for the purpose of removing the booty, which was taken out unhesitatingly by way of the back door, the visitors considerately taking the key with them.

So one slept on the premises, but neighbours are close all round, and the noise made try the thieves must have been considerable. One of the nest door neighbours was awakened in the night, but beyond this no suspicion of illegal callers seems to have been occasioned. Attention was first drawn to the entry by a neighbour at the back noticing the broken window in the morning, when a hasty search revealed the rest. One circumstance that points to the entrance having been planned well beforehand was the poisoning of a particularly sharp fox termer belonging to the neighbour whose outhouse was used. This dog was found lying dead in the yard the day before, strychnine having apparently been the modus operandi in connection with getting this" awkward problem out of the way. Although the police are pursuing active investigations in respect to the affair, nothing has so far transpired that might lead to an arrest.