BOMB EXPLOSIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15521, 31 January 1914, Page 2 (Supplement)

BOMB EXPLOSIONS.

SCARE AT HOLLOW AY GAOL.

SUFFRAGETTES SUSPECTED.

Consternation prevailed in the immediate neighbourhood of Holloway Gaol recently when two loud reports of explosions were heard, quickly following one another, and the news spread that an attempt had been made to blow up the prison. The noise of the explosions reached the Kent isli Town and Caledonian Road police stations. About 60 police officers at once turned out, and passage of the streets in the vicinity of the gaol was barred while an exhaustive search was being made. People ran pell-mell out of their houses into the street in a state of alarm.

It then transpired that bombs had been placed near the south-cast wall of the prison, and in exploding had caused some damage to the wall. The actual prison buildings, however, escaped unharmed owing to the fact that they were separated by a wide space of open ground used as a prison yard. Windows of the houses near at hand were shattered, and those of braidings at a considerable distance were shaken. At one house no fewer than 20 panes of glass were broken. The perpetrators of this outrage, which is attributed to suffragettes, got clear away. Fortunately no person was injured. The explosions took place about halfpast nine o'clock. Less than a minute's interval prevailed between the first and the second. The spot chosen for firing the explosive was at the prison wall running by the rear of the gardens in Dalmeny Avenue, a'quiet residential thoroughfare immediately at the back of Holloway Gaol. Between the prison wall and that of the gardens is an open strip of land, which at one time was used as a garden plot by the warders. One of the buildings there, known as Rochester House, is a large semi-detached residence which has been untenanted for three or four months, and was in charge of a caretaker, who is said to be a ponce officer. Adjoining it is No. 12, Dalmeny Avenue, a house which for the past two or three years has been the suffragette headquarters for the district, and in it the suffragettes, when on guard outside the prison, had rested when " off duty." These guards, singularly enough, had been withdrawn the previous day.

Accounts given of the damage done to the prison wall were most conflicting. According to one version, the wall was badly shattered over a considerable length, and there were holes made in it which were large enough to have allowed the escape of any prisoner who might have happened at the time to have been in the prison yard. It was said that it will need to be rebuilt over part of its length. This is, however, entirely imaginerj-. The actual damage done consisted of two holes being made in the brickwork of the prison »wall, each being about 6m in depth and Ift in length. Fired by a Fuse.

The method employed by the perpetrators of the outrage appears to have been as Unobserved by anyone, two small holes were made in the wall, in which was placed a quantity of powder. Leading to this was trailed a fuse, on the squib principle, some 15yds in length, the fuse leading to the rear of a house in Dalmeny Avenue. This fuse was fired by some person at present unknown, with the results indicated. As .already stated, the force of the explosion was spent on the wall, the interior of the gaol not having suffered in any way. A detective officer said:—"The work was purely thai of amateurs." The amount of explosives employed, he added, could not have caused a'great amount of damage, and, in bis view, "the whole thing was intended as a scare, arranged to make a big noise." , Rumours, gained currency soon.after the explosion that tunnelling operations nad been carried out by those responsible for the outrage, to enable them to proceed with their operations. The police made a prompt investigation, and soon satisfied themselves that these rumours were without substance in fact. • .„. : .../ ~ Search of the Home. At a late hour the police' took .possession of No. 12, and made a search for documents or other evidence of the authorship of the outrage. After some time they left Whether or not they had a definita clue on which to work they would not disclose. One poJice officer remarked: —" we can say is that we have found a fuse by the prison wall, and'thfct is proof against no on© at present."

The portion of the prison at the back of Nos. 10 and 12, Dalmeny Avanue, is allocated to the wardresses' quarters, and it is suggested that it was. the intention of the perpetrators to alarm the wardresses. At the top of the prison wall there is some trelliswork.

Mr. N. Parley, an advertising manager, who lives at No. 12, with his wife, two children, and a servant, in an interview said :—" When I came home at ten o'clock I found the house full of policemen, and the rooms being searched. I was told of the explosions, and found that they had greatly alarmed my wife and children. Although I knew absolutely nothing abo'*'' tho explosions, I made no protest against ! the police Examining the house, as I felt any protest would be futile in view of the fact that my wife and I are well known locally as supporters of the suffragette movement. All the rooms were searched, and some of my correspondence was ex amined. As I was away at the time of the explosions, I know little as to the circumstances, but I learn that a fuse was picked up anions the debris." All that had been found, he said, was the fuse.