CAUGHT IN THE ACT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14376, 23 May 1910, Page 5

CAUGHT IN THE ACT.

I Wsj!' EEMUERA SENSATION. Ijpi REMUERA SENSATION. I KSMED BURGLAR ARRESTED. I IIP?'-- ■ I ®|g|g , II A' DESPERATE struggle. I «V ft>ff • — | ; RESIDENT'S PLUCKY CAPTURE. # ■■ si s? i •<&. ' "" i - • —— . S. - -j' - I%' '' Tis some considerable time now since 1 • Kemuera has been visited by burglars, but a | % particularly daring attempt by an armed § i : ' robber broke the spell of quietude in that |Sb suburb oh Saturday night. Shortly before |W> e ight o'clock Mr. and Mrs. William J. lE.' , Mains were seated in. their drawingroom at I t : * Dunoon." Remuera Road, about a couple | of hundred yards past the Renfuera tram''i r : . way terminus, when they heard what |1> seemed to bo a shuffling noise in their bedSi t'>' room overhead., Mr. Mains first went outJ iH side to see if there was any light upstairs, ? t- £,; but seeing no indications immediately reI turned indoors and proceeded upstairs. I V • When he reached a bend in the staircase lie " -M • saw a man shuffle across the landing on the | first floor and proceed in the direction of a 1 |fe window leading on to a small balcony in I 'ft. front of the house. Instead of following f c«h'tho burglar Mr. Mains, with great presence I ||r of mind, retraced his steps and went out j? pf. of the front door, knowing that the only ?. s'UJ available means of escape from upstairs *. .would be over the balcony. On reaching I lit'the" front of the house Mr. Mains saw a | ' figure of a man sliding down the verandah £ P'post. As the intruder reached the veran--1 §|§ftfah railing he made a jt.rnp on to a sloping ! i;': lawn at the side of the house and slipped, jr -just as the burglar was regaining his Ifoot--1 fjE r, ing Mr. Mains pounced on him and threw I if j'him to the ground. Both fell together. As 1l ! they fell the man dropped eomething from j his right hand, which proved to be a loaded | .revolver. | fgpiil The burglar struggled desperately to get | fe: free, ; but he met in Mr. Mains a man of | superior strength and skill, and was eventu- | tefally overpowered. At this point Mrs. | p Mains hearing the struggle on the lawn ran I : out and, taking in the situation immedi- ! ffi ately, raised the alarm. It was, however, \ y}: some time. before assistance could be - obfi . taincd. Several persons passing stopped | sad -vers* even curious enough to go into Ipi Mr. Mains' garden, but for some unesl £ plained reason failed to render assistance J r,J-until after 15 or 20 minutes, during which I Sgftime Mr.' Mains had completely over- ? -powered the burglar. jjf i®-?|'Mr. George Pilkington, ' who resides ia 1 81 the neighbourhood, arrived on the scene and f jig assisted Mr. Mains in searching the culprit. ! HfeTho' firs.t article found was a formidableI - - looking weapon in the form of a revolver, f ggj?fully loaded in five chambers, which had | tep dropped from the burglar's hand when he | p was first tackled by Mr. Mains. On con- | tinuing the search the man was found to i H have a complete burglar's equipment, con- | sisting of an electric lamp, long chisel, pair 1 I- of gloves (presumably to prevent his being 1 -■ traced by finger-prints), an old black felt v ij- . hat with two apertures cut iu it to enable | - the man to see when the hat was pulled I i&f down over the face, a piece of black veil \_' ■and an - old handkerchief. In an inside ' ~ •pocket were discovered hie booty, consisting ; • • 'of a lady's gold watch, muff chain, gold - •ring and gold bangle, all the property of ; . Mrs. Mains, which had been left in her ! t-. r room upstairs. The value of the. jewellery s fj; was estimated at £28. ! ||?"- The Newmarket police were informed by ( ?f' telephone of the occurrence and a constable ' gi was immediately despatched to take charge |p of the unwelcome visitor. When the conJ | stable arrived he quietly submitted to being \ b4' handcuffed and was then conveyed -to the central police station. In this connection ' Iv'-.it may be mentioned that although a con- | pf- stable was on the scene within 10 minutes ■ i;"'of the information being received at Newj »■/ ' market, and back again at the station with j y,-.\ his prisoner within half an hour, that , *, Remuera appears to be in urgent need of a f fjfpolice station, because had the constable 1 not been able to immediately catch a tram s ft; from Newmarket Mr. Mains may have been [ .for a considerable time compelled to watch p over his guard. | The greatest credit is due to Mr. Mains | for*the very plucky capture he made, bel of' cause it is quite evident the burglar was a I f desperate man and had evidently drawn I Sfphisr revolver on seeing Mr. Mains on the | stairs. There is small room for doubt that a had Mr, Mains proceeded upstairs in purs' ?r>uit of the intruder shots would have been | . fired, and likewise had Mr. Mains not over- | |f. powered his man directly he landed on the I V lawn the incident may have had a tragic J .'-ending. __ x - . When the man was at last finally overI | powered and his captor got him. securely A pinned " down, the burglar became quite | communicative and told Mr. Mains that he S. •Was a lucky man in not having got "a bit vfj lead." He also regretted the fact that | ~ he was neither a Sandow or Hackenschmidt, i feorjh'e would have given Mr. Mains a "bad | |v run," |i W.; ' The intrudf r, who gave his name as I Frederick Kearney, is a man of about 43 - years of : age," standing sft 6in in height, I slightly built and of fair complexion with 11' '^ rown hair, turning gray, and blue eyes. % sj£,~? arne y has been in Auckland for some I pi considerable time, but no information can -| l\ present be given of his antecedents. He i fi* appear at the Police Court this morn- ' ing, but a remand will be asked for by the (j .police to enable further investigations to be ? f. made. 1 _____________ .j .—