A SPECTACULAR CROOK.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 309, 31 December 1931, Page 8

A SPECTACULAR CROOK.

"THE TARANTULA."

PORT ELIZABETH'S HANDFUL,

SARDONIC HUMOUR.

(Special Correspondence.)

PORT ELIZABETH (S.A.),Nov. 26.

Port Elizabeth's spectacular crook, "The Tarantula," is proving; a decided handful for the police authorities; With a sense of the dramatic wholly reminis•cent of Edgar Wallace, it is his. habit, when a coup has been pulled off, to.leave a note thanking the victims, for their involuntary contributions, signed, "The Tarantula."

After emptying a firm's safe of £45, he used their office typewriter to indite his note of thanks. Another time, after a haul of about £27, he used an electric kettle for purpose of brewing tea,

and on a third occasion, after an extensive haul, he cam© upon a bedroom display in one of the windows which suggested humorous possibilities. He carried one female and two male lay figures and laid them in a form very suggestive of a domestic drama.

At a private home, in the daytime, he left two theatre tickets on the diningroom table. When the husband and wife got home they thought the tickets must be a gift from some friend, and made use of them. On returning home after the performance they found their home in disorder, many things missing, and a note on the dining-room ; table which read: "I hope you enjoyed yourselves. I have."

There are other indications which indicate that "The Tarantula" is not only very active but also very elusive.