A STOLEN HEARSE,

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 305, 26 December 1930, Page 3

A STOLEN HEARSE,

VANISHES WITH TWO BODIES.

DISTRACTED FATHER'S DEAD CHILDREN.

ALL DAY SEARCH BY POLICE,

'The bodies of three-months-old twin boje, which were in a hearse stolen by motor bandits in London, were - found late at night abandoned in a street at Waltham Abbey after a twenty-four-hour search, in which the forces of Scotland Yard and the police of the home countries were mobilised. When found by workmen, the bodies were in a box, to which was attached the note: —Please take this to the police station at once. The two boys had died in a West End hospital, where the mother was lying seriously ill unaware that her babies were dead. A motor hearse which resembled a saloon motor car was sent to the hospital to take the bodies to an undertaker's premises in the Lower Clapton Road, E. The chauffeur, when near Hackney Downs, left the hearse for a few minutes for some refreshment, and when he returned found to his dismay that it had disappeared, with its grim contents —the little bodies in whiteenamelled coffins. The police were at once notified, and the Flying Squad took up the search. Messages were flashed to every police station in the metropolitan area, and after hours of intensive search revealing no trace of the hearse a wider net was spread in the home counties. Early the next day the distracted father, who had been informed, joined in the search with the undertaker and his staff, who had hunted the streets through "the long hours of darkness. Then late at night the workmen brought the bodies to Waltham Abbey police station, and later the box was collected by Mr. Moss, the undertaker. The hearse was still missing.