DARING INTRUSION.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 145, 20 June 1923, Page 5

DARING INTRUSION.

"SORRY, LADY." ATTEMPTED BURGLARY. ~ A most daring attempt at burglary was made shortly after six o'clock on Sunday evening, (says the New Zealand Times), when a young man intruded into the open door of a residence on the Terrace while the occupants were having tea. One of the ladies in the building was entertaining visitors, and having occasion to leave the room was surprised to find the electric light switched on in the opposite bedroom and the door pushed to. Passing out on to a small balcony she saw through the window the figure of a young man crouching behind the bed, and she immediately gave the alarm to her companions and ran round to intercept the intruder and delay his departure. Shoving her roughly aside with the apology, "Sorry lady," the burglar made for the stairway with the two male guests in pursuit. The stairs were unlit, and the fugitive, who apparently knew the interior of the house, instead of escaping through the front door to The Terrace, dashed down another flight of stairs into the body of the building, and through a back door into the yard. He then climbed over the back fence and made good his escape. Only one room in the house was entered, and although the contents were ransacked, nothing of any value was found to be missing. The theft was a particularly daring one, in view of the fact that by ascending to the top storey he allowed himself only one means of escape—by the narrow stairway, which might easily t have been blocked by someone from below.