DESPERATE DAYLIGHT ASSAULT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12600, 2 March 1903, Page 2 (Supplement)

DESPERATE DAYLIGHT ASSAULT.

& j A PAY CLERK BOBBED OF . £284. During the past fmv months it has been • . very apparent that Dnncdin at the present , time is infested with a gang of criminals, ! , and another litis now to lie added to tho j list of crimes perpetrated in the city and [ suburbs, and this last, one of the most j daring robberies known in the history of j tho colony for many years past—a pay-clerk j | in the employ of Messrs Sargood, Sen, and ; I liwen being struck down in a street in j bread daylight and robbed of the factory | ; hands' w:ig.'\s. totalling £?M in nil. j Thomas Reid, the man assaulted, is about i i 25 years of age, and n clerk in the High i street offices of the firm of Sargood, Son, and j Kwen. He bad been on his way with some j £284 in uguy; and silver, in a handbag to tho : boot factory, where ho was to pay the fac- j tory hands their wages. When picked : ho was bleeding profuse!-,- from a deep | wound in the bead, and bo was conveyed ! to the- factory office a little farther along. I the police and Dr Maeniierson being at ' once telephoned for. Reid, however, was in ; a dnsed condition, and could not utter an ' intellieih!' syllable, though ln> essayed I several limes to speak. Dr Macphcrson arrived soon after and attended to the inju- . rics. which proved to lie a deep, rough cut, j about, oin in length, at the right side of the j crown of tho skull, evidently indicted with a blunt, heavy instrument, such as a short iron bar or a "jemmy." and a slighter wound on the forehead. The doctor ordered Reid's removal to the Hospital, and lie was taken ihore in a cab immediately. The spot where the assault took place was at the corner of a vacant section just about a hundred yards on tho town side of tlio factory door. There are two vacant sections there, the one nearest the railv/ay hoina enclosed by a boarded fence, and it is presumed the assailant was concealed j behind this fence watching for Reid. Tl-e • blow miirht have been delivered from the inside of the folios or outside in the street; it is impossible yet to sav which, but footmarks wero found inside the fence, indicating that someone had sicod inside, just j opposite to where Reid was found, for some i time. When found, the injured man's head i was upon a sack, which had evidently been thrown over his face. Tt, appears that Tlrid, whose duty it was to p-\y out the wages to the boot factory employees, always proceeded to the factory on Monday afternoons, generally taking ihe same route. Tt was his duty to draw the. money from the Bank of New Zealand, tint faking tho bulk cash to the firm's offices, where it was made up in envelopes, each envelope bearing an employee's name, and j then he bad to convey these envelopes ill a i ! brown leather handbag to the factory, thero personal!" distributing them He left tlio 1 bead office at 3 o'clock, o» shortly after, from whence his route would be, as usual, down Ttaftray street, along hchind the railway station, across tho siding lines, and down past tho foundrv, and ihenco along Plehardson, street, about halfway along which the assault took place. He was found there by a Mr Foster, a corporation 1 employee, who had only passed the same spot a few minutes before and was returning to the city again. 1 Circumstances would coem lo indicate 1 that the perpetrator of the outrage was ovi- ' dently acquainted with the arrangements for < the payment of the factory employees, as it ' must have been known that I'eid's custom 1 was to convey the money on foot and along ] that particular side of tho street. Added 1 to which is another significant fact that Mr < C!. F. Smith, clcrk in the hat factory, has also to pass over the same route carrying 1 mci'iey, but his portion amountn only to '< about £SO. On Monday Mr Smith, who 1 sometimes accompanies Mr Reid on the way 1 lo tho factory, left tbe bead office somewhat 1 c:ir!i<v\ arriving at the factory about 3 I o'clock, and had paid out the wagra in his I trust by tho time of the assault Probably - tbe n-v.ii!;r){: may have boen in concealment I behind tho fence when Mr Smith passed < airing. ' Two suspicious characters had been '• observed about the locality, with a ] heavy '-prii'ig cart drawn by a 1 dark brown bor.-e. One had. his face some- ! what b':ie!;r«:ed. and both were fern several < limes ill Ti:eh:.n!soii slrect. about the He- I elaimed land generally, and near the s wharvci'. This cart was noticed near Ihe • snot where the a.ssauit took place about ' the same tiros, and it was heard rapidly t driving pn-fc the faelory just before the news of the robbery was received. This < cart and horse were found at large 'in Vcpel t street by some bovs about 3 o'clock, and taken to tbe. police ntntion. The horse seemed tired out. as though it. had been driven a long journey, probably without food, but nothing of moment was found the earl, which contained only some sack- o siig and some idones. As i.t has been re- o ported that on Saturday night, im tbe Out- j ram di j !riet, a horse was slolen f>om on? c place, a cart from another, and hamcM n from a third, it is presumed that tho ini*a- 1 iug property has been discovered, and that 1: tbe thieves are identical with the men con- 1 cenncd in tho murderous assault on Reid. st t r.