BAFFLING MYSTERY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 21020, 3 November 1931, Page 10

BAFFLING MYSTERY.

MURDER OF MR. BLOMFIELD. POLICE INVESTIGATIONS. QUEST FOR ASSAILANT. STILL NO TRACE OF WEAPON. The police are making every effort to pierce Ilia mystery which surrounds the murder of Mr. Arthur James Blomfield, the chemist who was brutally attacked in his shop in Wellesley Street on Friday. However, wide investigations which were mado yesterday failed to advance the solution of the crime. No arrest was mado up to an early hour this morning. The case is bristling with major problems and it will tax the resources of the police to the utmost. Every scrap of information is being thoroughly sifted and even tho most remote possibility is not overlooked. Several leads were followed by detectives yesterday and others which have come into their hands have yet to be explored. Perhaps a great deal will depend on relevant facts which can be given to tho police by the public. Already various information has been offered and it is probable that other facts will como to light which will help to reconstruct the crime. The description given by tho customer in tho shop of tho man who passed him after coming from tho inner room where tho crime was committed still forms tho basis of much police inquiry. Yesterday afternoon a man wearing a blue suit and with his right hand bandaged was accosted by a constable in Queen Street. Tho man was taken to tho police station for questioning, but ho was allowod to go free after giving a satisfactory account of himself. Tho description has been circulated widely and all members of the police force are on the look-out for such a man. The difficulty is that tho description would fit many men in Auckland. Man on a Tramcar. A statement has been given to tho police by a tram conductor. The conductor slates that at 5.6 p.m. on Friday a man boarded his tramcar at tho foot of Wellesley Street. The tramcar was citybound and was just turning the corner into Queen Street when the man hastened across from the southern footpath, Iho conductor's attention was attracted by'the way the man settled in a seat with a glance all round. It is stated that the passenger left the car at Shortland Street, stepping off at the safety-zone before the car had stopped moving. According to the conductor the man was dressed in a dark suit and was of medium height and build. A report that a man had acted rather strangely in two city clothier's shops during Friday was investigated yesterday. He called at one shop near the Town Hall and asked for a pair of dark trousers, subsequently ordering the trousers, a bathing suit and a shirt. These he ordered to be wrapped up and said he would call later. Nothing further was seen of the man. At another shop in Symonds Street a man answering to tho same description went through the same procedure. However, the description does not tally with that given by tho customer and it is believed that little weight is given to the incidents by tho police. Vacant Sections Searched. In the possibility of finding the weapon with which the murder was committed, detectives have nearched vacant sections in the vicinity of Wellesley Street, but without success. A closo inspection of the wounds on Mr. Blomfield's head has been made by Dr. D. N. [VV. Murray. A peculiar marking suggests that a shifting spanner was used and that some blows were made by the gripping side of the head of the spanner. Detectives are at a loss to account for the absence of reports of any man with blood-stained clothing being seen in the vicinity after the crime. It is stated that traces of the struggle must have shown somewhere on the man and that it is almost certain that his clothing would bo stained with blood. Tho customer cannot recall seeing bloodstains on tho clothes of tho man who passed him in tho shop, but this may have been due to the uncertain light. Probably Struck from Behind. Among facts unearthed by the police is tho theft of a glass bowl of soap from the shop on the previous Friday evening at about the same timo as the murder was committed. This would suggest that the man was keeping tho shop under watch in order to become familiar with the general routine. Further thought of the crime has lent weight to tho theory that Mr. Blomfield was struck from behind before he had time to utter a cry. Possibly the murderer came round tho edge of tho counter and found his victim at tho dispensing table. It i,s thought that a further attack was made upon Mr. Blomfield on his recovering from the first blow. A pink rosebud was found lying broken on the floor of the inner room near tho door leading to the shop. It was Mr. Blomfield's invariable practice to wear a buttonhole and the rose must have been dragged from his coat during his struggle with the murderer.