HIDING FROM POLICE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20638, 19 August 1941, Page 2

HIDING FROM POLICE

ORDEAL IN COLD STREAM MAN TAKEN TO HOSPITAL An elderly man who apparently thought that the police were seeking him was rescued from under the Otepuni Creek bridge, Invercargill, where he had been for an hour and a-hali with water steadily rising to his chin in the early hours of the morning. The man’s plight was brought about through an incident near the railway station about 11.15 p.m. A police cons'able had had occasion to remonstrate with a young man whose street behaviour was not of the best, and as a result the constable led' the young fellow away in the direction of the police station. An elderly man, whe happened along at that stage, is stated to have urged the constable to leave the young man alone. The policeman, apparently deciding that the older man’s behaviour was a greater breach than that of the younger, loosed his grip and ran after the third party, who, after a short sprint, sought cover under tfi’ Otepuni bridge across Leven street, A fair amount of water was in the creek at the time, and the -old man had tc lake a cold bath up to the waist as he hid in the shadows. Efforts to bring the man out, which included a shouted invitation from a railwayman to partake of a bottle of whiskey to relieve the cold, were of no avail, and it was more or less agreed ’ then v that he had somehow made his escape. Later on, however, fears for his safety were entertained as the incoming tide banked up the water under the bridge. A pontoon was secured by several men, and after a pull upstream they found the refugee standing, numbed and almost ex hausted, up to his chin in water. The efindition of the man made it advisable to rush him straight to hospital.