WANGANUI SENSATION

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 84, 3 January 1929, Page 10

WANGANUI SENSATION

ARMED MAN’S ESCAPADE I BARRICADED IN SHOP WITH LOADED GUN POLICE EFFORTS FAIL TO REMOVE HIM Dominion Special Service. Wanganui, January 2. A sensation occurred in St. Hill Street shortly before 7 o’clock to-night when Dora Withey, proprietress of a sweet shop opposite the Opera House, was alleged to have been violently assaulted by George Allen, aged 30. As she went to open the shop, it is stated, she was struck by Allen on the head with a bottle, and taken to hospital suffering from a deep scalp wound. Allen, who was chief witness some time ago in a sheep stealing case against a Maxwoll farmer named Clinton. is stated to have been keeping company with Mrs. Withey, but the engagement was broken off about a year ago. He continued to pay unwanted attentions and frequently molested her. After the assault to-night he locked himself in the shop and refused to come out. He had in his possession a fully-loaded double-barrel gun, to the trigger of which he attached strings, and he then sat at a side window and conversed with detectives and constables, being fully master of the situation. Constable . Roache, _ who knew him well in Feilding, tried to coax him out, but Allen refused and told Roache: “Mick, if you come In here I will shoot you.” Others tried persuasive methods, but of no avail, and when darkness gathered in he was still in possession, and steps were taken by the police to get the crowd to stand back in case Allen might take advantage of the situation and fire. Some girls working in the automatic telephone exchange carried on in a dangerous position, as a passage only separated the sweet shop and the exchange, and Allen could have swept this by fire any time, had he elected. Mrs. Withey’s. condition is not serious.

ALLEN COMMITS SUICIDE POLICE COMMENCE TO USE AMMONIA By Telegraph.—Press Association. Later. Just on midnight, when the police commenced spraying ammonia through the windows, in an attempt to drive Allen out, he shot himself, and was found dead when the door was broken in.