BURGLARY AT PAX HILL.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20892, 5 December 1929, Page 12

BURGLARY AT PAX HILL.

LORD BADEN-POWELL’S LOSS. ASLEEP OX THE BALCONY. (From Our Own Correspondent.) T) . LONDON, October 24. Burglars who crept along on stockinged feet broke into the Hampshire home ot ■Lord Baden-Powell on Tuesday night by prising open a window a few yards from where the Chief Scout lay asleep on a baloon} - , in the open air. Apparently the burglars motored along the mam London-Southampton road, and then took off their boots and walked along a narrow winding path leading to the house-—Pax Hill, Bentley. Then, "ft the s V, av ‘i l ? ath in fro,l t of the house .they walked along a newly-planted bed of nallnowers. They broke a thick plate-glass window of the dining room near the fastening, then opened the window and climbed in. TREASURES STOLEN. They stole presentation plate, wedding presents, and four silver cups—two from tho Mercovs Company and two f rom the Duke of Connaught. A ; silver model of the famous naval gun, the. Old Wolf, a treasured trophv presented to Lord Baden-Powell by the people of Matabeleland after the Boer war. was also taken. ‘‘All the stolen articles wore presents, and all bear inscriptions (said Ladv Baden-Powell). We prize them very much indeed. The burglars did not visit the upper rooms. As they walked through the rooms downstairs they locked the doors behind them. The value of the stolen trophies is nothing compared with the sentimental associations. They were all priceless to us.” Lord Baden-Powell expressed his admiration at the cleverness of the burglars, who did not disturb three dogs which were loose in other parts of tho house. A careful search appears to have been made for other articles of value, but to the great relief of the Chief Scout the burglars failed to discover the hiding place of the gold casket which contains the freedom of the City of London, presented to him last week. The thieves apparently wore gloves, as no finger-prints have been disco vered-