FUR STORE ROBBERY.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 233, 2 October 1929, Page 9

FUR STORE ROBBERY.

MEN CAUGHT WITH GOODS.

SMART ARRESTS BY POLICE.

GLASS DOOR SMASHED IN

TWO SUSPECTS REMANDED.

A daring robbery was carried out in Upper Queen Street early last evening, when tho premises of the Moose Fur Trading Company, near Todd Motors, were broken into and furs valued at £75 stolen. ' Two men were smartly arrested near the premises by a posse of detectives. About 7.30 p.m. a little girl observed a man standing in the doorway of the fur store. The girl noticed that the glass panel of the door had been smashed. She also saw another man inside the shop,'pass to the man on the outside a bundle of furs. About this time another passer-by saw the two men in the act of robbing the shop. As the men left the premises he heard one say: "Let's duck down the right-of-way." After the two men disappeared down the adjoining lane, he went into a nearby restaurant and telephoned the detective oflice.

Detectives Knight, Moon, Bowman, Davis and Detective-Sergeant Bickerdikc hastened to the shop. They found that the plate glass panel of the door, measuring 5 feet by 3 feet, had been smashed. The lock had also been forced off. The door was left wide open. The detectives could see that the shop had been ransacked and that a quantity of stock had been carried away. Leaving the ehop the detectives noticed a man in the lane next to the shop. They watched and waited and shortly afterwards a taxi arrived in the lane. Two men were seen to leave a house, one- carrying a sugar bag and the other a black leather case, which had been stolen from the shop. As the men were about to enter the taxi they were arrested. The detectives found a sack filled with furs taken from the ehop, while in the leather bag were numbers of furs. These had been tightly packed into both the sack and the bag, and on being heaped up on a table at the detective office later in the evening they were .identified by the manager of the shop, Mr. F. W. Prouting, as his property. Last night near the fur store the detectives found a large poker, with which, it is alleged, the lock of the door was shattered.

Accused in Court.

This morning at the Police Court both men appeared, each being charged with breaking and entering the Moose Fur Trading Co.'s premises and stealing furs valued at £75, the property of Frederick W. Prouting. The suspects arrested were James Dixon (36), labourer, and James McDonald (43), a boilermaker. It was stated that both men were yesterday paid off the s.s. Kaiapoi. On the application of Chief Detective Hammond 'DOtn accused were remanded until October 10.