ROBBERY BY A RUSSIAN SAILOR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6269, 20 December 1881, Page 5

ROBBERY BY A RUSSIAN SAILOR.

Yesterday evening, about o o'clock, a party of liberty men, about half a-dozen, belonging to the Russian warship Africa, entered the Greyhound Hotel for the purpose of getting some refreshment. Shortly afterwards Mrs. Darby, the landlady, had occasion to go upstairs to one of the bed-rooms, when she met a .Russian seaman coming out of it with a bundle of things in his hands, which, on seeing her, he threw into another room. She seized hold of him, but he escaped from her grasp, and cleared out of the house. On examining the bed-room out of which he emerged, it was found completely ransacked, and some jewellery, &c, valued at £6, missing. Information 1703 at once sent to the police authorities, who were also fur-Uhed with a. good description of the thief, but when the police reached the Queen-street Wharf in pursuit, it was ascertained that the offender had got into one of the Africa's boats and got on board the ship. Had he been captured on the wharf he would have been dealt with in the ordinary course by the civil authorities, bat the Africa, it is stated, as flying the Russian flag, ia practically an extension of Russian territory, and the offender must be left to be dealt with by the Russian admiral, who no doubt, on an investigation of the matter, will severely punish him. The Africa fails this morning at six o'clock. The above is the only instance of misconduct we have heard of as committed by any of the Russian seamen during their stay at Auckland.