STRANGE AFFAIR

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 118, 12 February 1926, Page 10

STRANGE AFFAIR

SENSATION AT AWAHURI

aN ASSAILANT WHO DISAPPEARED

“Dominion” Special,

Feilding,' February 11

Strange circumstances are attendant upon a fire which destroyed a house nt Awahuri this morning, as a result ol which tlie police are making inquiries.

Shortly after midnight the dwelling occupied by Mr. and Mrs. R. Drummond and Mrs. Sutherland and her three children was discovered by Drummond to be on fire. Upon rushing to a window he found a number of sacks that had been soaked witli kerosene. While pulling these away he was struck on the head with a hoe and knocked to the gjound. His assailant is alleged to be a half-caste Maori. After a tussle, in which Drummond succeeded in wresting the hoe from the other, his assailant is stated to have run swav.. Drummond then called to his daughter to go with her three children to a shed, and when going back for his wife was struck in the back with a stone. His assailant is aliened to be the same person, whom Drummond says he saw running to the shed. Upon following him to the outhouse, Drummond states that he saw the man stab his daughter in the shoulder. The man then picked up a mattock handle and appeared to be intent on attacking Drummond, but changed his mind and, jumping over a fence, rode awav on a push bicycle.

It was then discovered that Mrs, Drummond had been attacked in the bedroom, and had received severe Injuries to her face. Both women were conveyed to the Pahnetston Hospital. The house was totally destroyed by fire.

It is stated that a petition for separation and maintenance had been filed in the Feilding Court for hearing to-day bv Mrs. Sutherland, against her husband. who is alleged to have visited his wife yesterday and begged that the petition be withdrawn, but this Mrs. Sutherland refused to do.

Constables McCall and Elstone, of the Feilding police, force, appeared on the scene in search of the man responsible for the attack on the party, and who has disappeared. Dr. Phillips, of Feilding, attended tlie injured persons. The hospital report on the. two patients is that their condition is much more serious than was at first thought. Both have been operated on. Mrs. Sutherland is in a low and dangerous condition, while Mrs. Drummond is in a serious state.