SENSATIONAL MELBOURNE INCIDENT.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLVI, Issue 2695, 13 July 1923, Page 7

SENSATIONAL MELBOURNE INCIDENT.

MAN AND WIFE FIGHT OFF BURGLARS. A remarkable case of housebreaking,, in which a pair of burglars were put to flight by the occupants of the home Into which they had broken, was reported to the police in Melbourne last month. At 10.20 one evening Mr James Patrick Hickey, a civil servant, living at 80, Vale Street, East Melbourne, was awakened (says the “Age”), by a slight noise, which appeared to come from the passage. Together with his wife, he investigated the cause of the noise, and had not gone far into the passage when he espied two dark forms loom up before him. Mrs Hickey pluckily grappled with one of the intruders, who resisted so violently that Mr Hickey went to his wife’s assistance. No sooner had ho turned his back on the man’s companion than he was struck a particularly violent blow over the left eye. The blow inflicted a deep cut over the eye, which bled profusely. Bleeding- badly, but stung to action, Mr Hickey fought desperately to turn the robbers’ flight. ■ Mrs Hickey was no less courageous than her husband. The four people, fighting desperately, swayed backwards and forwards in the dimly-lighted passage. A punch aimed by Mr Hickey at one of the housebreakers found its mark, and the man dropped like a log. Mrs Hickey, although showing unmistakable signs of the fierce encounter with the Intruders, jumped o_n the man as he lay apparently senseless on the ground, and loudly cried ifor help. Meanwhile the light between the other man and her husband waxed fast and furious, with honours about even. By this time the battle was being waged on the verandah, and, seeing that things were going against him, Mr Hickey’s assailant broke ground before a veritable tornado of blows and jumped down the steps. At once Mr Hickey ran to his wife’s side, intending to make sure of at least one of the desperadoes. The other man, who had been turned to flight, as soon as Mr Hickey turned on his heel bounded up the steps and give him a terrific punch behind the ear. Undeterred, Mr Hickey resumed the attack, and pressed his assailant to such an extent that the fellow whipped out a pocket knife and stabbed Mr Hickey over the left eye. The blow drew blood, and Mr Hickey for the moment was badly dazed. On seeing her husband’s condition, Mrs Hickey jumped up from tho body of the apparently senseless burglar and joined him.’ Instantly the man picked himself up, and together with his companion rushed through the front gate and disappeared in the direction, of Jollmont Park, Exhausted, but triumphant, after their stern battle with the daring intruders, Mr and Mrs Hickey, who had waged the unequal combat in their night attire, retired to the interior of their home. In the passage they picked up relics of the fight In the shape of a black velour hat, a grey felt hat, a bottle of beer, and a table knife. An examination of the house showed that the"burglars had broken into the home by breaking a glass panel in the door and operating the lock. As a result ’of the sensational encounter with the desperate men, Mr Hickey was partially stunned, and received attention at a nearby private hospital.