DELIRIOUS BOY

Greymouth Evening Star, 12 August 1936, Page 3

DELIRIOUS BOY

ALL NIGHT SEARCH

[PEE PBESS ASSOCIATION.]

AUCKLAND, August 11

Delirious with influenza, Milton John Double, the nine-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. G. Double, of Avondale, jumped through a glass window about 11.30 o’clock on Monday night, and in spite of an extensive search by neighbours and the police, he was not found until 6.3.0 this morning, when he was discovered asleep under a hedge. He \yas later admitted to the Auckland Hospital suffering from pneumonia. The boy returned home from school on Monday afternoon suffering from influenza, and was put to bed, but Mrs. Double did not consider his condition serious. He showed no signs of delirium, but at 11.30, Mr and Mrs. Double were aroused by loud noises in the bathroom. . , . . “It sounded like two men lighting, but then I heard a crash of glass and the sound of familiar footsteps which I recognised as those of Milton running round to the front of the house, said Mrs. Double. The boy had evidently left his bed without disturbing his older brother, who was sleeping in the same room, and gone through to the back of the house and had made a noise in the bathroom when climbing on to a ledge by the window. In breaking the window, which is about six feet from the ground, he cut his arm slightly. Neighbours were aroused and soon between 20 and 30 persons were engaged in a search for the missing boy. Because of the difficult uatui e of the country, which has many trees, with dense undergrowth, glasshouses, and’orchards, little progress could be made.' Arrangements were made with the Auckland E’ectric Power Board to have the street lights switched on and, in addition, one of the board’s trucks, fitted with a powerful spotlight, combed the rogds in the district. Several residents used their cars, some covering more than 50 miles in the night, and the night police patrol assisted until about 4.30. Toward dawn, it was” realised that nothing could be done in the dark, and the search was hailed until daylight. At 6.30, the boy was found only a few hundred yards from his home, sleeping under a hedge, where he was covered by long grass. He might have been passed unnoticed many times during the night. When he left home he was wearing only pyjamas, but he apparently entered a shed on a neighbours’ property, climbed on to a bench, and took a pair of old trousers, which he was wearing when found. After examination by a doctor,’ he was taken to hospital in an ambulance. His condition to-night w’ys 'reported io’bn not 'serious.