MIDNIGHT SENSATION,

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 60, 11 March 1915, Page 6

MIDNIGHT SENSATION,

MRGURS IN DOMINfON ROAD. MANSHOT AND CAPTURED ■t__JT" *" '■ "■ f; faH" EXCITING CHASE. 'SHOPKEEPER'S PETJCKTfT ACTION FURTHER ARREST EXPECTED. J* Dominion Road was last night the of a midnight sensation, in which 'two .burglars were surprised on the preTmists- of 3dr.. Edwin "Farley, grocer, one ■heing shot and captured, while the other ■■escaped. The captured man answers the :name.of Eric Streak, and thongh only IS iyearsof age,, isiall and well built, iwhile-ai the time, of This, arrest he was "■exceedingly well,and fashionably- dressed He was shot through the arm, and •though he endeavoured to make his •escape, he=was chased and caught by Mr. Varley, who tackled the two men single•handed.and succeeded in handing Streat ■over to ."the'police. The identity of the second man is known.and his arrest is only *'matter of hours.

THE BURGLARY EPIDEMIC. For .months past the police have been -Snvee&gatiag numerous cases of burg3ary in the suburbs, and Kingsland and Blount Eoskill are districts which Jiave ibeen systematically -visited by expert t*hie«s. -Within the last fortnight quite VS. number: of burglaries have occurred, Hhe Auckland-ileat-eotnpany, Home and "Colonial Stores, -and other business •places, -being entered. The scene of last ought's excited happenings is at the coraier of Dominion Road and Balmoral 51oad—-Where the car service ends. Mr. SEdwin. Afarley -was sleeping on his shop {premises, .wiici -adjoin those -of Mr. iAshbyy. baker. At about I*2 o'clock he ieard a nois e next door, and his suspicion that ""burglars were at work were .confirmed "when he heard skeleton keys quietly-being manipulated in the lock of iis own front door: -He waited in a corner:ot'his 'shop .-while th&.men entered,,and then called upon them to. surrender. of doing so, one of -Hie pair produced a revolver, alnu levelled it at him. ;Mr.-Valley got in first, and shot, one nian—^Streat—-through the arm. " Handsr -or -I'll shoot again! " .he calledr hut both men immediately bolted. They escape was' "not easy,' lowevfir, \for is.'. weli "built, .and fleet of foot, them •acrosssthi»Stfee't-and-over-a vacant section, linking* -that their- pursuer was gaining Ton'Hhem, -fteTim wounded ,■ man threatened-to-shoot,-and Mr.' I Varley prepared to exchange shots if meed be. Streat, however, had had enough, and ©ailing out, "Don't shoot again!" fleSdichisi-iands: -np.'"!His-".cbin-3>anion turned a corner and disappeared. with-,'the capture of, one.man, Mr. VaTley-tOok Streat to the "Mount JKoskflJ police .station, making him walk "with "ais, hands above 'Ks-neai It wa3 ."-veil, did-so,- for Streat Tvas later- -be,7Jn -possession 'of two revolvers.

A THRILLING STORY. Mr. Varleyrs'-story, is' told to a' "Star" morning, is somewhat thrilling.--"To begin with", his shop has been- twice burgled in . .as many jand'Jie .has. jbeen ..waiting in, ■expectation.of another visit. There are' .no living-premises attached tjj tjje shop, and Mr. Varley resides in another parti «f the cdstrict- After the second noc-' "turnat-Tisit-to his store, however, he . decided that it would be worth while! sleeping, on the premises on the chance' »f catSiing,the.thieves if another visit. should he paid. So he arranged a camp | -bed, unobtrusivay placed on the roof of the office: "Constable Gray- was the firsti to spend .a-jjightror two m this way,| but, as -nothing happened, Mr. Varlev resolved, to sleep there "himself. Lastl *ight i?'went.to.bed about 10.30, and! at JSc o'clock-fwas awakened' by the »onnd-"of «7 Thinking that, it wasl the midnight car leaving the terminus,' -hej prepared-to go to Bleep again. A minute later, the car arrived, .''and he 1 knew that he had been mistaken in liis7 first, impression, and' that the . sound ;oi;tha= bell .most likely betokened rthe opening., of the cash register in -2Ashbyfs_ bakerS • shop,, next -door. Now , -Qioronghlx: : - awake, he sat up and| -listened far Tfnrther ■suspicious sounds, *and a few minutes later heard the. Tattle of skeleton .keys in his own front! 73i00r. " - ■'- ■

WArrrjr&roß a calx. ,Bso happened that Mr. Varley was Keen, on receiving his visitors the next time they made ani^rgialjaactujjial. call, aIH in or&erHJrat be" awake, he had taken some careful pre--cautions. First, he had slipped down -the small safety catch which exists on every Yale L lock, sojthat the.doqr could '3K>t bf opened a lacy" from tfie in«fder thathe.fdioulSf fbe arouSed if' the door was'fbrciDly fbrofceit sniShe,7had.. attached a -string to. S3 kerosene tin on the t: counter, so,that *as the. door-swung open "the "tin would flatter: can to ~the?floor;" Being awake. however, the need for thesp precautions -'did not exist. Mr. Varley .'s not a timid sman—at aiiy -rate, he. does not look it, nor would his actions last_nigbt justify any such-assumption. "He T ha'd slipped into some clothing; and gathered -up an old revolver, which has accompanied him on visits to many-parts of the world. Tip-toeing to the door,-where skeleton keys were being.tried,' he. "nfsTfStts: the string . connecting tithe Ifrao on the counter; "ispd then quietly released the catch, which would .enable a key7to turn the lock: ;-T|gSdomv.he..Stood back in •3 dark; corriner to arwait' developments.

-V*?HA-tn>S JTBV -Almost, at the same moment the n"-*ht key was turned in the lock, I opened two men-stepped quickly-in. Unfortunately, as the owner of the shop sprang back-into bis corner, he cannoned against l a rpile' of* tinned goods,-which came ekttering to-tbe-fioor; He-pre-sented his revolver before the men could jump outside,-and- quietly called "Hands I up." Streat, fbill^'had",the."keys in : hands, but instead of putting' them"above bis head, as ordered, he is alleged to have dived towards his pocket. At the same time the. other man produced a revolver, and.lESElled it at Mr. Farley. SJBi--was a.-case"''of.'<6te.'6"f~iis~;&infc.sh&t, and: 3ikewis£ a case of who could "fire -juiciest "So I fired first, and winded -Streat, "-was most in the light from I c-affledi-Hands the f4^^ l;^, *^^iSE*-^r^olver "*»""* mm whole Dt->gbt-<mi-. ■JSmW A

hood to be aroused. I chased the men. •across a-vacant section, 'and seemed to he making heavy weather- of it: When I got -within l6ffc-of them uninjured man turned, and told mc if 1 came on an inch hearer he would shoot. He pointed his revolver at mc, but either it wouldn't go off or he wasn't .game to fire. I raised my revolver, and said. "Hands up or I'll shoot." Streat replied, "Don't fire; I'm done." The other fellow then, darted away. I could have fired, or I could have foHowed -him. But I didn't want to use my revolver again, and I knew that Streat was not ibadly wounded, so that if I had Tun past him I might not have caught his companion, and so have lost both. Accordingly 1 made Streat put both hands above his head, and strike out for the police station. I had not the remotest idea where the station was, but reasoned to myself that a thief probably -would, and in this case I was not mistaken, for my man took mc straight along Balmoral Road Ito tbe police quarters, where I made him [knock on the door, -thus summoning Constable Gray, who at once took him lin charge.

! MAN WITH TWO REVOLVERS. I The wisdom of Mr. Yarleys action in (making Streat keep his bands above his head was evidenced by the fact that on .being put through <a rbugh preliminary • search he was found to foe in possession of a six-chambered revolver, and that lateT, when being conveyedto-fche lock-up 'by motor car, he was able to produce a second revolver from somewhere about his person, and place it in the hands o£ the taxi-driver, in the hope, no doubt, that the recipient would, in sympathetic feeling, keep it away from the police. Streat was attended toby Dr.McNab. The bullet bad passed clean through his arm, and except, for loss of blood his injuries were not really serious. A subsequent examination of Mr. Ashbv's shop, which adjoins Mr. VaTley's."proved that the.premises had b «e n burglariously entered during the night, and from the till the sum of 10/ or 11/, aU in small change, had been abstracted.

REMANDED TOR A. 'WEEK. Streat, who is a tall, *lim youth, wellfeatured and cleanly set-up, came before Mr. E. C-. Cutten, S3L, this morning on a Charge that last night he broke and entered the shop of William J. Dominion Road, and stole 4/10; and that he also broke and entered of Edward Varley, Dominion Road, With intent to commit a crime. uT.*" Chief Detective McMahon stated that there would probably be other charges brought against accused, and asked for a week's remand. The remand was granted, and btreat, when asked if he wished to apply for bail, ■ replied' in a low voice that he did not. - --_ ■ A PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE. This is not Mr. Varley""s first experience of dealing with people of queer character. Three or four years ago he, was the .hero of.a.."man 'hunt" in New-1 "market. 7 At that time many Auckland, shopkeepers had been systematically . robbed by expert till thieves. Throughout the city and suburbs two men put, into operation a most successful ruse.j They would mark out small shops, run by a proprietor and one assistant. Choosing lunch hour, or some other period when only one man would be in •his shop, the first of the confederates would enter, and ask for a box; He would prevail upon theshopman to take him into the rear premises, where .empty boxes are usually.stored, and while the shop was empty thief number two would enter and empty the till. This method, of robbery was carried on very successfully and very extensively until the thieves tried it on Mr. Varley, who then had a grocer's shop at Newmarket. He had heard of" the manner irwvhich the i thieves were operating, and -flflien a man entered and asked to be shown a box of a certain size, Mr. Varley first quietly rang up the police, and then endeavI oured to keep his man ■talking until the police came. But it so happened that , the message took some time to reach I the Newmarket police, and the man became .suspicious. Ultimately, when lie I expressed his " intention of "calling again," Mr. Varley insisted that' he should. Temaan a while longer. At tEat | the- man He- happened .to be. fleet of lfoot. So did Mr. Varley. Along Broadway, through .highways and by- 1 j ways, and. across tHe Domain proceeded one of the keenest man hunts.known in Auckland. Dozens of others joined -in ! i the7,chase, but at the end of a mile and a-ialf rim the thief, though almost over-, taken by 'Ms pursuers, managed to gain' the dense native bush of the Domain, and escaped. That was the end of the | tilWbhieving epidemic, however, in^Auck-1 •land. -