A CRIB WELL CRACKED.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 180, 29 July 1916, Page 6

A CRIB WELL CRACKED.

BURGLARY AT NEWTON.

THIEVES GET £120.

FROM BLOWN-UP SAFE.

A remarkably daring and successful burglary was carried out last night at the Newton branch shop of the Homo and Colonial Stores, the thief or tb-eves securing a haul of £120 cash, mainly bank notes, by dynamiting a safe. | The premises are situated on the nortli | side of Karangahape Road, next door toj the Tabernacle Buildings, which stand j on the corner of Ivarangabape Road and j Upper Queen Street. They are occu-1 pied by two separate businesses —a ' rather unusual arrangement—the Home i and Colonial Stores having the back ' portion of the shop, end the Great ■ Household Stores, Ltd. (furniture and fancy goods dealers) the front. Underneath the back part of the building is a large basement used by both firms, and having a cart entrance opening upon a driveway leading to Upper Queen Street. This morning the basement door, which is fastened merely by a bolt loop and a wooden peg inside, was found to be standing open, and on the basement floor was the small safe, which was empty, and bore evident signs of having been opened with the gentle assistance of a charge of high explosive. Upstairs , two of the three cas-h registers proved' to have been forcibly and clumsily | opened with an axe, and rifled of their . contents. FLOUR BAGS ON STAIRS. j From tbe way in which the " crib" was " cracked," it is apparent that the i person or persons responsible had a : thorough knowledge of the burglar's art, 'as well as some acquaintance with the internal arrangements of the store. This I morning there were no signs whatever of j forcible entrance into the building, and !it is presumed that the burglars (the i 1 police incline to the theory that there I | were two) entered by the basement door j I some time before 0 p.m., when it was j j closed, and hid amongst the goods in the | I cellar—an easy matter As the premises' | were open for business till nine o'clock, ! they must have had a long wait j IMPROVISED LANTERNS. Apparently some time after midnight I they commenced operations, bursting ' through a partition door in the basement, and making their way upstairs to j the shop. Their first move there appears Ito have been to empty a couple of tins lof biscuits, and make from these a. couple, of very serviceable dark lanterns by placing in each a half-candle stuck in a pound of butter. These tins, laid on their sides, allowed the light, to pass in | one direction only. The thieves then laid about two dozen 121b. and 251b. bags jof flour upon the steps of the stairway, and rolled the small safe, which was only I about two feet in length, down to the | basement. There it was placed in the 1 centre of the floor, and plugged with > i the explosive charge, which they tamped down with butter taken from the stock. | The flour-bags aforementioned were then .' packed round' it, and the charge touched j off,' with quite satisfactory results. The thieves then rifled it of tbe notes, gold, and silver it contained, leaving the cop- ! pers scattered over the floor, and decamped, apparently by the short route ; through the basement door. It is understood that the police have ; discovered some fairly legible finger 2 ! prints upon the butter smears, and from :, barefoot prints in the flour upon the . j floorboards, it is inferred that there ■iwere two men concerned, though the . method of negotiating stairs would seem ! rather to indicate a one-man job. Curi- : ously enough, no attempt was made . upon the safe of the Household Stores. ; Ltd., which is situated alongside the :! crlass front door of the shop, and con- :! tamed nearly £50 in cash. The firm's ;' cash registers weTe also left untouched. 1. The haul consisted of the day's takings -1 of the Home and Colonial Stores, the .thief having clear] v Friday be- ■ cause of the extra large amount of busi- ; I ness done on that day—nearly triple I tbe average daily total.

Three members of the local detective force investigated the burglary this morn in?, but at latest advices no arrest has been made.