FIGHT WITH BRIGANDS.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXV, Issue LXV, 2 August 1913, Page 12

FIGHT WITH BRIGANDS.

BRITISH CONSUL'S ADVENTURE

A special correspondent of Reuters Agency has interviewed Mr John Pavoni, British Vice-Consul in TransCaucasia, who gave a thrilling account ot an attack recently made on his house by a numerous band of armed brigands. Mr Pavoni and his brother fought desperately against overwhelming odds, and alter both had been wounded, sueI ceeded in driving off the assailants. Five or six of the latter were wounded, and jat least one of them, Mikaberidze the I leader of the band, subsequently' sucj eunibed to his injuries, his dead body being found within 200 yards of the house. Mr. John Pavoni narrated the story ot the attack as follows:— "At half-past nine on the evening in question £ was sitting m the dining-room with my eldest brother Henry, taking tea, when suddenly I heard the key in the lock of the outside back door being turned. .This was followed by a slight creaking ot the door as it was opened. There is a closed verandah leading from the din-ing-room to the outside back door, and I got up to go to the dining-room door Ito find out what was happening. However, my little daughter Helen, who had been pouring out tea for us, was before | me. She ran to the door and opened it, but w^h great presence of mind, slam[ined it immediately, and shouting "Brigands," crouched down in a corner of the diningroom. My brother was armed with a revolver, and I had a Weblev automatic pistol. Henry rushed towards the door but before he had touched the handle the door opened from the outside, and the brigands were facing us. CLUBBED. "Without hesitation, my brother fired point blank at the first one, giving him two bullets in the chest. As the wounded man staggered back a seoond brigand took his place and pointed his rifle at me. I got in my shot first, and with effect, for he turned on his heels and made off. At the same moment three more of the brigands dashed into the diningroom. In the meantime their accomplices were firm"" at us from the verandah, and our e£ cape from death can only be described as miraculous. I hit the leader of the band, and he fell on his back, but he was up again in an instant, and hurled himself towards me. I fired a second time, and once more he dropped to the floor. I thought he was dead, and turned to help my brother, who was holding his own against the others. I had only time to get one shot in, when I received la stunning blow on the head from behind, and fell like a stone, losing consciousness for a few seconds. "On recovering myself and opening my eyes I saw the brigand chief, Mikaberidze, over me with his rifle clubbed My pistol was still in my hand, but I managed to totter towards tho doorway. 1 reeled up, and caught him by the coat, and shot him for the third J time. Then ho vanished, and with his disappearance the rest of the brigands seemed to lose courage. My brother and I fired incessantly at them, and finally drove them away from tho house after pursuing them to the top of the back door steps. FORTY SHOTS EXCHANGED. ' 'The brigands were undoubtedly well organised, and all were armed with quick-firing rifles, revolvers, and long knives. As far as I could judge, they numbered about ten or twelve men and the fight in the diningroom lasted be- l tween five and ten minutes, during which time some forty shots were ex- i changed. The police arrived on the scene a quarter of an hour after the fight, and found Mikaberidze's dead body in a neighboring street. He had received four wounds. In the same place were two heavy native overcoats, a good number of cartridges, and a portion of a rifle. Mikaberidze was one of the most notorious brigands in Gouria, and since his escape from Siberia 12 years ago had terrorised the district. It has licon proved that one of my native servant girls let the gang into the house. She has made a confessioh, and is now \u der arrest." Mr John Pavoni's wound in the head is not dangerous, and a ricocheting bullet which struck his brother near the temple only cut the skin.PROBABLE INFORMERS "REMOVED. Since the receipt of the above interview with the British Consul news has reached St. Petersburg that a Caucasian named Nadiradse and his two children have been murdered in the vicinity of Ponti. One of the children, a little girl aged six, who was sleeping with her father, rolled from the bed towards the open hearth after being stabbed. Her clothing caught fire, and she was burned to death. Her brother, twelve years of age, was killed on the threshold of the cottage. It would appear that Nadiiadse had become aware of the complicity of three of his fellowvillagers in the attack on the Vice-Con-sius house. Consequently he and his children were murdered lest they should give information to the authorities.