DARING BURGLARIES

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1847, 31 July 1907, Page 36

DARING BURGLARIES

DYNAMITARDS AT WORK. SENSATIONAL ARRESTS. The residence of Mr Gerald Fitzgerald, on Grant road, was broken into on the 15th inst. and cash, jewellery, and plate to the valne of considerably more than <£loo were stolen. Five days later the residence of Mr T. G. Macarthy, Boulcott street, was selected as a suitable place for a similar domiciliary visit. And again the freebooters found they had made no mistake. The plunder was there, and they helped themselves to it liberally. That is to say, they took all they thought was sufficient for their requirements —goods of various descriptions and cash to the value of just <£lsl. An excellent evening’s work —for the burglars. On Friday night the office of Laery and Co., Ltd., produce merchants, in Allen street, almost opposite the Te Aro railway station, was entered, a big safe burst open with dynamite, and some <£4o stolen. The company’s offices are situated upstairs, and it is evident from an inspection of the premises that the burglars must have climbed on to the roof of the adj oihing building, the stove works of S. Luke and Sons, smashed an upper story window in Laery and Co.’s building, and, having entered, made their way to the office, which is situated on the third story. An intermediate door, which was found to be locked, occasioned very little difficulty; the burglars piled up a couple of grain sacks and fruit cases and one of them, having clambered through the fan-light, had no trouble in opening the door from the inside by means of the key. From that point the efforts of the burglars were quite uninterrupted. They made their way to a large two-doored safe, which is 6aid to be of a make recognised as of the first class. Evidently the burglars were thoroughly conversant with the approved method of carrying out the task they had undertaken. They rammed some extremely high explosive (probably cordite) into the keyhole of the lock, 'Tamped” it round with putty and fired it by means of fuse and detonators, of which they left a considerable quantity behind them when it pleased them to leave the scene of their operations. Evidently these men felt themselves secure, for they seem not to have used anything for the purpose of muffling the noise of the explosion. They just fired the fuse and calmly awaited results. The explosion was unquestionably a severe one, for it buckled the steel bolt of the lock and smashed the plates and rivets. The lock was a good one of an approved "thief-resisting” pattern, but it went all to pieces. The money stolen from the safe and from the office of the manager, Mr W. Brown, was about <£4o. Mr Brown had several boxes of excellent cigars, and also some bottles of wine, in his roller-top desk. The thieves helped themselves to a number of cigars, but the wine had no attractions for them, 1 This burglary was discovered on bat-

urclay morning, and, of course, at once reported to the police, who proceeded to make inquiries. .But, imagine the amazement of everyone when it was discovered yesterday morning that again the same premises had been “burgled. A storeman, who w r ent down to the premises yesterday about 9 o’clock, found that someone had been around and on a thieving errand. This time it was the bottom floor that had attracted the attention of the depredators. How entrance was effected is by no means evident, but three offices had been forcibly opened. Two windows had been smashed in such a way as to permit of a small man getting through and opening the door. Three tills had been taken out and placed on the desks, and-their contents, which are surmised to have amounted to about £5, abstracted. It happens that under the same roof Messrs Laery and Co., George Thomas and Co., Thompson Bros., and Griffiths and Co., auction their goods, and the money taken represented the products of two or three small sales which took place during Saturday forenoon. The premises were closed on that day at 1 p.m. THE POLICE AT WORK. This last-mentioned burglary was, of course, not known to the police until yesterday morning; but ever since the incidents at Grant road and Boulcott street the detective force has had a busy time. On Saturday afternoon Detective Cassells shadowed a “suspect” and followed him to his lodgings in Upper Ghuznee street, near Woolcombe street. About 8 o'clock the same evening Chief Detective McGrath, Detectives Cassells and Andrews (the last named has re' cently been transferred from Napier to Wellington) arrested a man who gave the name of John Hamilton, in Willis street. A little later on, about 8.30 p.m., McGrath and Cassells proceeded to the house in Ghuznee street which had been located earlier in the day, went upstairs into a room where there were three beds, which were unoccupied, but which they learned had been taken by men who described themselves as “mates.” The detectives “planted” themselves in a wardrobe, and there, cribbed, cabined, and confined, they crouched from 8.30 until 11 p.m. The time passed slowly for the two officers, but eventually their vigil was rewarded. A young man entered the room, and proceeded to illuminate its darkness by means of an electric pocket-lamp. The . detectives jumped out of the wardrobe so suddenly that the man was much startled, but not to such an extent that he forgot to attempt to protect himself. A§ one of the officers said, he “grabbed for his gun.” He was wearing a heavy overcoat, and, throwing its skirts aside, he tried to reach for his right-hand pistol pocket. “Stop that!' 1 commanded McGrath. “ Hands up !” roared Cassells. And at the same instant the man had the experience of looking down the barrels of two five-chambei’ed revolvers. In less time than.it takes to write it the man found himself the possessor for the time being of a pair of bracelets. When McGrath lit the candle and the prisoner was searched, it was found that he carried a revolver in his hip-pocket, and that it was loaded with ball cartridge in every chamber. Be gave the name of George Ferris. He was taken to the police station by way of Wellington terrace.OTHER PRISONERS. Having locked Ferris up, Detectives McGrath and Cassells returned to the lodging-house and tip-toed up the stairs and into the same room. This was about midnight. McGrath struck a match, and Cassells had his revolver ready. A man started up from one cf the beds —he had evidently only just “turned in” —and wanted to know what the intruders wanted. “Put up your hands.” was the reply he got. “Bundle out of bed and get your clothes on,” was the next command. The man obeyed. He gave the name of William Robert Sinclair, and was taken down to the cells at Lambton quay police station, and charged with having broken and entered Mr Fitzgerald's residence and stolen articles to the value of £IOO, and also with having similarly feloniously visited Mr T. G. Macarthy's residence.

Earlier on Saturday Detective Cassells arrested a young man named Cyril Ccsgrove, alias Furlong, a recent arrival from Tasmania, on a charge of having stolen goods and jewellery to the value of about <£l6 from the Masonic Hotel, Cuba street. In this case the hotel was entered by means of the fire-escape on Friday night. It is perhaps remarkable that some of the property supposed to have been stolen from tho hotel i'as found in the possession of other of the persons who had been placed under orHamilton, Ferris, and Sinclair have (it is said) come from South Africa to New Zealand. ALLEGED BURGLARY. The men arrested on Sunday and supposed to be connected with the recent burglaries were brought before the Court, and were remanded until August 7th. There wore several charges against each of the accused. John Hamilton was charged with the theft on July 21st of one gent’s half-hunting silver watch, valued at £6, the property of Donald McDonald, from the dwelling of Hannah TV arson. Cyril Cosgrove, alias Furlong, and John Hamilton were charged with stealing on July 26th one overcoat, one Gladstone bag, three ladies’ gold rings, one gold pin, two pipes, two razors, one box of neckties, and about half a dozen handkerchiefs, the property of Thomas Fizzell, from the dwelling of Bridget O’Neil. George Ferris, William Robert Sinclair, and John Hamilton were charged with breaking and entering the house of Gerald Fitzgerald, on or about July 15th or 16th, and with stealing therefrom goods to the value of about <£Bl. The same three accused were charged with breaking and entering the house of Thomas George Macarthy on July 21st and with theft of goods of a total value of about