BESIEGED MADMAN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15563, 21 March 1914, Page 2 (Supplement)

BESIEGED MADMAN.

Thousands of people watched an exciting encounter at Reading recently between the police and a man who had apparently lost his reason, and who, armed with a prong, defied for a long time all attempts to capture him. The man is a well-known local butcher, and his sudden aberration took place in a beerhouse. To the consternation of the people there he began smashing everything he could lay his hands upon. Great damage had been done when two policemen arrived, and then the man darted out of the house and up a ladder to a hayloft, where, taking possession of a prong, he stood at the entrance to the loft and threatened to brain anyone who dared approach him. There being no other entrance to the loft the police were baffled and, although they resorted to several strategic moves to induce the man to come down, their efforts proved fruitless. After a while the man closed the door (which was in the floor of the loft), and was next seen breaking his way through the roof, from which position, it is surmised, he thought he might be attacked. Finding himself unmolested, he returned to the loft, and shortly afterwards it was seen that he had fired the place. The fire brigade were summoned, bat before their arrival the fire was subdued. A quantity of water was, however, directed on the man, and eventually the police and members of the brigade forced an entry. After a struggle they succeeded in securing the besieged man, who had then been in the loft for about four hours. The captured man was conveyed in a cab to the infirmary.