LOCKED IN OFFICE

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12076, 2 March 1925, Page 7

LOCKED IN OFFICE

BUSINESS MAN ATTACKED. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. (Received February 28, 5.5 p.m.) ■LONDON, February 28. A mysterious crime was discovered in the heart of the city by a girl typist. On returning from her luncheon she found her'employer’s office door locked, and heard groans. When the room was entered her employer, Mr Ekisler, a well-to-do Armenian, was seen lying with his head battered, amid signs of a desperate struggle. H<e could only mutter: “Have they got him?” before he became unconsoious. He was taken to hospital. , A strange feature of the crime is that the telephone in the office was cut dose to the receiver, and a-key of the door was lying, in an outside /passage. There Were no signß of robbery. It is stated that Ekisler, who is understood to he an agent for the Paris Bon Marche, and lives with hjs wife and son at Westhourne Parade, Paddington, often complained of demands for money by a man whose name is known to the*police. CONDITION CRITICAL POLICE WAIT AT BEDSIDE. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. (Received March 1;' 11.5 p.m.) . LONDON, March 1. Early this morning the police, with a magistrate and the injured man’s wife, were still at hie bedside, after a four-hours’ vigil, waiting to take his dying depositions. - Four times I he made signs of being about to make - a statement, and then lapsed into unconsciousness. ■ : , . ' ■, The office.is on the third floor of a huge blocjf in Great Winchester street. The porter states . that Ekisler was lying clutching an overturned chair. His spectacles were smashed, and .there was a bloodstained poker near by. MOTIVE NOT ROBBERY. The police believe Ekisler was the victim of a Frenchman who recently sent him threatening letters, which the Frenchman was anxious to -regain. It is significant that Ekisler’® clothing was disarranged! a$ if someone had searched his pockets. Certainly robbery was hot the motive, as Ekisler'a gold- watch and chain were lying oh his overcoat, and a wallet was .on the floor. : j