SEIZED BY BURGLARS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21118, 27 February 1932, Page 2 (Supplement)

SEIZED BY BURGLARS.

ELDERLY WOMAN'S ORDEAL. RAIDING OF THE HOUSE. CUP OF TEA WITH CAPTORS. Two masked burglars at Busliey, Hertfordshire, recently kept an elderly woman prisoner in her own house during an entire night and ransacked the premises before her eyes. The victim of this amazing episode is Miss A. M. West, an artist, who is about 60 years of age. Miss West describes her experience as follows: —"My maidservant was away for the night. Shortly before midnight I heard a noisjo which sounded like a log falling off the fire. 1 got out of bed and went downstairs. Just as I was about to go into the dining room I saw two men, who rushed at mo, and I fell, hurting my faco. The men picked me up, took me into the dining room, and put me in a chair in front of the fire. I was in my nightdress, and they brought clothes and put them over me. "The burglars told ine that if I moved or made any attempt to summon helo they would gag me, turn on the gas, and leave mo to be gassed. They also threatened to shoot me if I caused trouble. Thcv then made a methodical search of the house for valuables. One man, however, was always in the room near me. "Both the men had their faces masked so that I could only sec their noses. They appeared to have false beards under their masks. They filled one of my suitcases with a number of articles, including an antique silver teaset and some jewellery. Tliey took a ring off my

finger. They also took a cheque which I had previously written out. "Later one of the men made tea. They offered nto a cup. -At first I would not take, it. ;is I was afraid it might have been drugged. I then decided that I would risk it anil took a cup of tea, which was very welcome. "The men had a meal of roast beef and bread and cheese, and told mo that they were going to wait until after six in tho morning, when the night polico would have gone off duty. They told me that they had been watching tho house for some weeks. "One of then) asked me if I had not noticed that a curtain at the back of the house had been moved a few days before. 1 told him that I had noticed it, and that I had thought the cat had done it. Ho said, 'We did it, and I should have thought that it would have mado you suspicious.' "Toward six o'clock the men cleaned their shoes carefully. They told me to allow them some time to get away before I moved or otherwise they would come and assault me. They went out of tho front door with a suitcase packed,

and after a while I ran to a neighbour and gave tho alarm." Ono of Mis§ West's neighbours said:— "Miss West came to my house between six and soven in tho moiming in a state of considerable agitation. Thore was blood on her faco and sho was wearing her nightdress with some clothes pulled over it, and told me she had had burglar? in the house all night. I went to the house and it was in a state of terrible disorder. She was so upset that a doctor had to be called in."