FIGHT WITH BURGLAR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20081, 19 October 1928, Page 14

FIGHT WITH BURGLAR.

YOUNG MAN'S PLUCKY ACT.

HIT ON HEAD WITH JEMMY. PRISONER TIED TO POST. A burglar, who was surprised in a lonely house at Mount Roskill on Wednesday night, was pluckily engaged by the owner. Mr. Sidney Franklin, aged 23. in a single-handed combat that lasted 15 minutes before he was subdued. In his struggle to escape the intruder struck his captor on the head with a jemmy, in dieting injuries that nearly rendered tho young ma- unconscious. The assailant is now in custody and Mr. Franklin is recovering from his wounds in bed. Mr. Franklin probably owes his life to Ins young wife, who ran a quarter of a mile for assistance and brought four young men to the spot just in time to prevent tho jemmy being used again. With the aid of those reinforcements the man was tied up with rope to a post while tho Ouehunga police were hastily summoned. Tho prisoner, who gives tho uamo of Arthur James, will bo charged in tho Auckland Police Court this morning with breaking and entering, theft of a watch and chain and 11§ 3d in money, and also with assault. Burglar's Dash to Escape. Mr. and Mrs. Franklin had been spending the evening with Mr. Franklin, senr., who resides a few hundred yards away in Melrose Road, off Hillsborough Road, Mount Roskill. Both houses aro situated in a mark at garden. On their return homo the attention of the couple was arrested by the light of an electric torch flashing from tho windows.

On going round to the back of the house Mi Franklin found the lock of the back door ttad been forced. Striding into the kitchen ho surprised the burglar, who matte a wild dash for the front French windows, thrusting a table across the hall tc delay the pursuit. The man smashed the glass with his jemmy, but finding ho could not force his way through the sash he bolted For a bedroom. Here, again, his plans were frustrated. He had previously taken the precaution of unlatching orio of the twin casements as a means oi escape in the event of just such an emergency, but, in his confusion, ho rushed to the wrong window and found it closed He was smashing it with the jemmy when Mr. Franklin caught him and dragged him into the room. Meanwhile, Mrs. Franklin ran along the road fo her father-in-law's house, crying for help.

A strugglo ensued, but the man feigned surrender. Mr. Franklin thought it best to get him outside, where he would be within call of neighbours. The prisoner then pleaded for mercy. "Lot mc go," he urged. "I am only a new chum at this game and I have taken nothing. You can search me if you like." A Stolen Watch. Mr. Franklin took him at his word and searched Ins pockets, where he found his own watch and chain and some silver, which the man claimed was his own. "I do not believe you," said Mr. Franklin, "but come into the house and I will see if any money is missing. If not, you can go." The burglar agreed, but asked his captor to release his grip, saying, "Don't hold on to me; I'll go like a mall." Being fairiv exhausted, Mr. Franklin let go, upon which the man turned and ran. He had gone only a few yards when he tripped over an obstacle in the path and fell, his pursuer instantly pouncing on him. The struggle then took on a more deadly aspect. Mrs. Franklin reached the door of the other house in a state of semicollapse, calling out, "He's killing Sid," and it was the voice of one of Mr. Franklin's brothers running across the fields to the rescue that spurred the burglar to desperation. He swung tho jemmv furiously at Mr. Franklin's head, inflicting three deep gashes and dazing his victim. Only the fact that Mr. Franklin stuck to his man and warded off the full force of the blows with his arms saved him from being instantly killed. A Hope Round His Neck. The arrival of tho three brothers and a friend, Mr. James Here!, quickly put an end to the fight. Mr. Franklin, senr., sent for a rope, and with this tied in a slip-knot round tho man's neck tho party repaired to tho parent's residence, the prisonei marching before them. There they tied him to a post in the packing shed whi.lf) ono of tho boys ran to n neighbour *nd telephilned for the police. The jemmy, which was thrown away just before assistance arrived, was found yesterday morning by tho side of the pat n.

Mr. Fimiikliu, who carries on the business of a market gardener, was married only a few months ago. He has been advised by ln« doctor to remain in bed until Saturday.