MORE BOMB OUTRAGES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20116, 29 November 1928, Page 8

MORE BOMB OUTRAGES.

DAMAGE TO TWO HOUSES. early morning explosions. PANIC AMONG OCCUPANTS. SENSATION IN MELBOURNE. Three rooms were wrecked by tho explosion of a bomb at the home of Mr. W. H Swanton, Kcw, Melbourne, early last Wednesday morning. None of the occupants was injured. Mr. Swanton, who is a director of William Crosby and Company, Ltd. shipping agents, left Melbourne for Sydney the previous evening, leaving his wifo and two daughters in the house with two servants.

Tho house, which is a two-storey brick structure, occupies a commanding position.

Miss Gwendoline Swanton, in a statement to the police, said that at 10.30 p.m. she and her mother and sister retired. About two hours later she heard a sound as if tho brakes of a motor-car had been applied suddenly. A few seconds afterwards there was a terriffic crash. Thinking that the car had struck the front fence Miss Swanton did not leave, her bed, but within a short time the room became full of smoke. Rushing from her room she called to the other occupants of the house.

Holes were noticed in the floor of a landing outside the bedrooms, and Miss Swanton and her sister went downstair*. Th» vestibule and dining and drawing rooms were in great disorder. Windows in the dining room had been shattered, and a huge hole tiad been torn in the parquet flooring of the vestibule, the walls of which were peppered with small holes. A section of the plaster in the ceiling had been dislodged, and pictures and ornaments broken. Large pieces of wood had been splintered off a grille in tho vestibule. In the drawing room each of the three windows was broken, and vases and ornaments were piled upon the floor. Discovery of Three Footprint*. Two police motor patrols were sent, to Kew. An inspection of the grounds showed that apparently the person who had thrown the bomb, pieces of which were similar to those lecovered from other houses which have been wrecked by bombs, must have entered the grounds surrounding Mr. Swanton's house by the front gate and crossed the lawn to the dining room windows. In a .garden bed under the window three footprints were discovered.

Returning to her home shortly before 12.30 o'clock a woman, who resides near Mr. Swanton's residence, told the police that she saw a dark-coloured sedan motorcar pass slowly along the street, and as it approached Mr. Swanton's house a spotlight was thrown over the building. Two men of heavy bnild were sitting in the car. Shortly afterwards she heard a loud explosion. No other motive than vengeance or intimidation can be found by the police for the throwing of the bomb. Mr. Swanton ia a leading member of the Overseas Shippers' Repiesentatives' Association, but other shipowners have taken a greater part than he in the strike negotiations. It is thought in some quarters that the bombing might have been inspired by Mr. Swanton's connection with the new stevedores' organisation, which was formed during the strike on the waterfront. Pieces of the bomb found among the wreckage at Mr. Swanton's home show that it is exactly similar to the missiles used on previous occasions. It evidently consisted ot a short length of lead pipe, which contained gelignite, and had been sealed at both ends. The Seventh Outrage. Another bombing outrage occurred,early last Thursday morning, when a house at South Melbourne was greatly damaged. Several rooms on the ground floor were wrecked by the explosion, and James East, a> lodger, suffered severe cuts to his hands and arms. This is. the seventh bomb outrage in Melbourne since the recent waterside strike began.

The building, which was formerly an hotel, is used now as a boardinghouse, und is conducted by Mrs. Hannah Fielding. It is a two-storey brick structure, and contains more than fourteen rooms. Following several threats said to have been made to destroy the building, a close watch was kept upon it by the police until recently.

Mr. East, who lias been employed on the wharves since the waterside dispute, his wife, and two girls, aged nine and 12 years, occupy a room on the corner of the ground floor. Mrs. East said that she saw the reflection of the headlights of a motor-car through the window of the room. The car appeared to stop outside the building for some seconds, and something was thrown through the window. There was immediately a hissing sound in the room. A terrific explosion followed. Mild Panic Among Boarders. For some time Mrs. East could not realise what had occurred, but leaping from their bed, sho and her husband rushed to tho cots in which their children were sleeping. Tho room was in complete confusion. Practically the whole of the plaster had fallen from the ceiling, the furniture was wrecked, and the doorway leading into the room occupied by Mrs. Fielding and her daughter, Sylvia, was torn from its hinges. Curtains on tho windows of Mr. East's bedroom were flung across the footpath.

For somo tinio a mild panic was caused among tho eleven boarders in the house. Windows on the floor were shattered, and the roadway was littered to the far side with broken glass. A large crack appeared iii the face of the building. Mrs. East found that her two children had had remarkablo escapes from serious injury. Beyond suffering from severe shock neither of them was hurt.

Mr. East, it was found, had received deep cuts in one of his hands, and lie was taken for treatment to a hospital. Mrs. Fielding and her daughter, who occupy the room adjoining that of the Easts, were sleeping in a double bed. The force of the explosion wrenched a stout wooden door from its hinges, and it was thrown across tho bed, which collapsed. The two women Struggled out of bed to find that the contents of the room had been wrecked. Pieces o* broken furniture in both rooms were carried across tho corridor into a sitting room. f A reward of £2OOO for information leading to the conviction of tho offenders has been offered by the Victorian Government.