DOUBLE-BARRELLED BURGLARY

NZ Truth, Issue 725, 10 May 1919, Page 5

DOUBLE-BARRELLED BURGLARY

-<> Dunedin Theatre Robbed Manager's House Also Entered. (From "Truth's" Dunedin Rep.) | Fullers have been having a gr^at run lately. For many months the Princess Theatre has been putting on a first-class vaudeville entertainment j at prices which are ridiculously low I when compared with those charged for shows which don't meet the vaudeVllle halfway m entertaining value, lO.'he dour folk, ever eager to seek tha j ; tjest investment for their bawbees, ' fttave, consequently, flocked to tha Princess Theatre m their nightly hundreds,- seats being unavailable to those who come along late. It wag this obvious prosperity of a popular place of amusem<*nt that, probably, prompted one of the most audacious burglaries yet chronicled m the long list of crimes which the dour city has to* its credit. When Manager John Hamer woke up last Friday morning it was to find that his office safe was shorter by £45 than when .-he left it securely locked a few hours Uefore. The most remarkable feature of tha robbery is that it closely corresponds, both m time and method, with the Milton post office affair, though there is nothing to indicate that the one crime was. m any way connected with the other. Mr. Hamer, after Friday night's show, went, as usual, to his residence. When he retired, his office keys were m a trouser pocket. During the night nothing occurred to awaken either Mr. or Mrs. Hamer or their child, and it was not until the .telephone rang at seven the next morning that any of the occupants of the room became aware that they had had a visitor during the time they slept — a most unwelcome visitor, j The telephone call which aroused Mr. ] Hamer was to make him acquainted with the fact that the office safe had been opened, and that his keys were lying on the office floor. .On searching his clothes, which had been hung up m a wardrobe. Mr. Hamer found that his ring of keys had been stolen from his pocket,, and that the burglar had evidently entered the house by way of the kitchen, as both the window and the door of that apartment were open. A fairly large sum; of money and some Jewellery were 1 passed over by the intruder m hisj haste to obtain possession of the theatre keys. Leaving Mr. Earner's house, the burglar must have speeded down High -street to the theatre. To gain -entrance to the building was an easy matter, as, after climbing up 'on to the balcony, he had merely to lift a window and pass through. In opening the office door he snapped the key of the Yale lock, but, after that, his task was easy of accomplishment. A canvas bag, containing about £45,. the door takings of the previous night, was missing, while a cashbox ] was opened, and some documents, the personal property of Mr. Hamer, \ were abstracted. A little cash m another part of the cashbox' was not touched. At the time of writing no clue to- the perpetrator of this audacious double-burglary has been found, i