BIG HAUL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 227, 25 September 1935, Page 7

BIG HAUL.

£500 AND GOLD.

THIEVES IN NEWTON.

RESIDENCE RANSACKED.

BOOR FORCED WITH JEMMY.

While an elderly couple were asleep in the rear of their house in Newton last night, burglars entered and stole over £500 in cash, mostly in notes, and some old gold.

The burglary was not discovered until 5 o'clock this morning. The couple live alone in ail old house. The husband, a man of over 70 years of age, quite deaf, but strongly built, was unaware that burglars had entered and had ransackcd every room except the bedroom where the couple were asleep, until his wife, on rising, found that the back door was wide open. She is also deaf, and was not disturbed during the night.

The back door had been forced open with a jemmy, while two other doors leading to rooms in the front of the house had also been forced. • In the front room a desk had been broken open, while drawers were similarly treated, the contents being strewn over the floors. An old sea chest that had been sccurcly tied up with rope was burst open after the ropes had been cut with a sharp knife. Documents and papers were scattered everywhere and the house presented a scene of confusion.

The old man would not say how much money or gold was stolen, neither would he state where the money had been hidden. "I have lost hundreds, but I found this much," he said, as he withdrew a roll of from his pocket. "There's forty of 'em there." It is believed that the thieves secured a little over £500 in cash.

When the police were called this morning two liats were found in the street near the house. One belonged to the man while the other was his wife's. "I suppose the thieves wore these away from my place so that they would not be recognised," the old man said.