RECOVERY OF MOTOR CAR.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 172, 22 July 1922, Page 5

RECOVERY OF MOTOR CAR.

CIVILIANS ff-TAS-. SUSPECT. HALF-CASTE CHARGED WITH THEFT. In connection with the theft of a motor car belonging to Mr. N. H. Hanna, of 5, Arney Road, Remuera, on Thursday night, a young coloured man named Charles Murphy (24) was arrested by a garage proprietor Mr. F. E. Schofield, on Broadway, last night. Mr. Schofield, while in Broadway last evening recognised the stolen car as it stood unoccupied on the street. Shortly afterwards he observed Murphy drive up in a taxicab and alight from it with a tin of benzine. Apparently the suspected man sensed that he was being watched, as he suddenly ran for and boarded a Remuera tramcar. Mr. Schofield also caught the car and asked the conductor to stop at the Newmarket Police Station over the railway bridge. He then handed the man over to the police. Murphy appeared at the Police Court this morning on the charge of having stolen the car and was remanded until Thursday. An effort to remove the motor car of Mr. W. R. McKean, S.M., on Thursday evening is conjectured to be connected with the theft of Mr. Hanna's car. In order to allow the new concrete floor of his garage to set properly, Mr. McKean left his car standing overnight in front of his residence at 18, Seaview Road, Remuera. About 10 p.m. he looked to the lights. The next morning he found the car a few hundred yards down Seaview Road whence it had been pushed, apparently in an effort to start it. The car was left in gear. Mr. McKean advances the theory that after failing to start his car the thief broke into Mr. Hanna's garage in the next road.