BURGLARY IN A FOG.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12818, 18 March 1905, Page 2 (Supplement)

BURGLARY IN A FOG.

£1000 WORTH OF JEWELLERY . < STOLEN.

That a jeweller's shop, five minutes' walk from a police station, nearly at the corner of a much-frequented road, and almost within the radius of a powerful electric light, should have been successfully broken into and property abstracted to the value of about a thousand pounds, with no clue as to the identity of the thieves/ seems sufficiently remarkable. ' Such is the story which comes from the neighbourhood of Muswell Hill, where ly every thoroughfare is an "avenue" and every row of shops a "parade." The victim is Mr. Arthur Hildyard, who carries on business as a watchmaker and jeweller at 12, Princes Parade. It appears that on the Friday evening Ins establishment was closed in the usual manlier, the iron shutters drawn down, and the small door in the centre locked. A littio later one of the assistants came back with a small bag, containing the roller skates which lie had been using at Alexandra Palace close by. These he left just inside the shop, closing and locking the door after him, and then going home. The small light in the shop continued to burn, but there was a dense fog outside, which must have proved an invaluable ally to the burglars. When Mr. Hildyard, who does not reside on the premises, arrived next morning he found that the front gate of the shop opened very easily, and that the glass of the inner door had been cut out. The unseen thieves had taken away watches and jewellery to the value of something like a thousand pounds, leaving behind a glazier's cutter and a piece of cloth covered with some sticky substance which had evidently been used in removing the glass from the inner door. The bag containing the roller skates had been ripped open, but the safe, in which the more valuable part of the stock had been deposited overnight, seemed to have been too strong for the thieves.