GAMING RAID

Greymouth Evening Star, 12 February 1938, Page 13

GAMING RAID

SENSATION AT AUCKLAND.

[PEB PBESS ASSOCIATION.]

AUCKLAND. February 11

Risking his life in an effort to evade arrest, a man fled blindly from detectives who raided premises on the second floor of the Arcade in the city to-night. He crashed through a glass cover over an ornamental skyiight that spans the Arcade, and then through the skylight itself, and hung by his hands 35 feet above the horrified crowds. The man then threw himself, backward, and landed safely on a. first-floor balcony, recovered his balance, and disappeared.

The raiding party arrested 26 men on gaming charges, after forcing its way into a large room. The men were later charged before Justices of. the Peace.

Late shopping crowds thronged both entrances to the Arcade, and a large force of uniformed police was needed to keep the public from entering.

The crashing of glass followed immediately by a louder crash as the section of leadlight that forms the ceiling of the Arcade smashed on the concrete paving, startled pedestrians and shopkeepers. Fragments of glass rained down, and people nearby ran for shelter, some taking refuge in shop doorways. “I was at my desk writing when I heard a terrific crash," said Mr P. D. Kenny, outside whose premises a large piece of leadlight fell. “I ran outside and heard another crash. As I went from the doorway I could see the legs and body of a. man projecting through the skylight. As the man came through the skylight, which gave under his weight, he managed to grab two sides of the steel frame, which saved him from falling 30 feet or more to the concrete. He looked round, seeming perfectly cool and then started to swing like a man on a. trapeze.

“Onlookers feared that ho would fall and. be injured, or perhaps killed. I. called out. to him to hang on, and not to attempt to jump. The man looked down, and apparently realised for the first time how far he had to fall. He then started swinging again and when he had gained enough impetus, he hurled himself backward, and over the railing of the first-floor balcony, landing on his feet. The man recovered his balance, and then ran and disappeared. Breaking their way through two firmly secured doors, detectives, found '26 men in the room from ‘which the first man apparently escaped. The glass of a large window opening immediately above the skylight cover was gone from its frame, and it is believed that, the man leaped, straight through when the alarm was. given. There was a gaping hole in the skylight cover, through, which he had fallen, and about two feet below was the skylight, along which lie attempted to crawl.