COULD HAVE SHOT lAN

Hawera Star, Volume LII, 5 September 1932, Page 7

COULD HAVE SHOT lAN

CAPTURE OF BANK INTRUDER WANTED TO TAKE HIM UNHURT MANAGER’S EXPERIENCES. “I could 'probably liave sliofc the man as he was rushing down the stairs in the darkness, but pieferred to take him without injury, Mr. A C Thompson, manager of the ratea branch of th e Bank of New Zealand, when commenting to-day *> the capture of the intruder on *h bank premises on Saturday rngnO. Mr. Thompson addqj that this A\as his third experience with burglars, tne first'occm’ring in a house in London in which' Mr. Thompson was .staying, while on leave from the front, and the second in a boarding house in Auckland In the latter case Mr. Thompson 'was awakened by hearing someone walking in his room and, on getting up and rushnip- out, all he could see was a person quietly walking down the path to the roadway. He was proceeding so slowly that Mr. Thompson thought he was one of the boarders going out and he did not give chase. Though Mr. Thompson did not lose anything, a returned soldier in another room lost £2OO iij cash. _ Mr Thompson saw considerable sei - vice as a second lieutenant in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force _ m the Great War, where he gained the Military •Medal for conspicuous gallantry in the field. , , . * p .y,. Just 'prior to the locking up of the hank premises on Saturday night a man answering to .the description of Jeffery came into Miss Taylor s chemist shop ‘and asked for a torch battery. He was informed that there was none m stock. It is surmised that lie then went straight to the hank, which is next door, entered by tlie back entrance, and immediately, hid himself under tlie bed. Although he must have been under the bed for some time Mrs. Thompson heard no sound until just prior to Mr. Thompson entering the room. It is believed that the man had a fair idea of the' likely movements of the occupants and that the locking up of the 'premises' at 9 o’clock Avas anticipated. It is stated that quite recently several burglaries have taken place in Wano-anui, the intruder first of all hiding in the house until the occupants were asleep and then possessing himself of the owner’s keys and rifling the place at will.