ATTACK ON GROCER

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 208, 31 May 1935, Page 13

ATTACK ON GROCER

Burglars Disturbed at Miramar MAN INJURED IN STRUGGLE Awakened at 3 a.m. yesterday by a burglar alarm between his shop and residence, Mr. J. E. Furness, of the Terminus Store, Darlinghurst Road, Miramar, went with his wife to investigate. Three men came out of the shop and in the struggle which followed Mr. Furness received a wound on his head. In spite of the intervention of neighbours, the men escaped in a nr which was outside the shop.

During the seven years Mr. Furness has occupied the shop, there have been four burglaries and one attempted burglary. The shop is about 50 yards from the house.

Mr. and Mrs. Furness saw the three meu about to depart with two large flour sacks filled with tinned goods, including tobacco and fruit. Mr. Furness tried to close the door of the shop to prevent the burglars escaping, and was charged by the men. In the struggle with one of them Ids arms were pinioned to his side and he received the blow on the head from a weapon, the exact nature of which is uncertain. Two other men, who arrived when Mrs. Furness called for help, were unable to prevent the escape of the burglars. Mr. W. J. Mouat, whose butcher’s shop is near Mr. Furness's store, tried to hinder the escape of the men by aiming a blow at the windscreen of the ear with a baton. It is understood that an abandoned car was found later in Miramar Avenue, bloodstained and with a battered windscreen. Because the front door was entirely covered on the inside by steel plates, the intruders went to the back of the premises, where they forced open one of the transom windows In the storeroom, in spite of the fact that it was guarded by steel bars, and screws about six inches long had to be torn out of the woodwork. Apparently only one man entered the premises this way, as the opening made was small. Although he heard the sounds of the hammering, Mr. Furness did not attach a great deal of importance to it. The front door was forced open by the men after they had filled the two flour sacks with tobacco and other tinned goods. Great strength must have been used to do this, as the door is constructed in such a way that it cannot be opened by means of the lock from the inside. Blood, on the fl opr and on one of the sacks which the men had tilled gave evidence of the struggle yesterday morning. Mr. Furness was confined to his bed as a result of his injury.