SIEGE IN HILLS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22025, 7 August 1933, Page 8

SIEGE IN HILLS

ALLEGATIONS OF VENDETTA A REMARKABLE STORY (From Ouk Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, July 27. A remarkable story involving allegatios of a vendetta against a number of Serbians who have settled in a more or leas isolated part of the Gippsland district in Victoria, comes from the little town of Toora North. Foreigners there have banded together, and wait in nightly terror of violence. The mysterious events that have been reported so far include an attempt to poison one of the settlers, the firing of shots in the middle of the night, the death by poison of two dogs. Each event has followed closely on the other, and those who dwell in the lonely farm high in the hills wonder what is going to happen next. The Serbians sit with guns across their knees, while the police, hidden in the valleys of the frozen gullies, keep watch over the home of Torn George, whose life has been twice menaced; The loneliness of the region, and the inability of the chief actors in this grim drama to speak English have greatly hampered the police in their inquiries. For more than a year Torn and Chris George, Serbian brothers, have occupied a small dairy farm in the hills. Chris works in the township of Toora, while Tom looks after the farm. Nearby, on other holdings, live their cousins, Chris, Nick, and Vassi George. Last Wednesday Tom George set out to see his cows on a distant run. He chopped up some meat and fried it, leaving it in the pan on the stove, covered with brown paper, ready for his homecoming. On the following day he tasted the meat, and found that it was bitter. He threw it into the fire. In the morning he made a startling discovery. A bottle of poison kept for the poisoning of foxes, was missing from its place. Tom went outside and found his two clogs dead. They had been poisoned. Returning home on Saturday night from a visit to their cousins, Chris, Nick, and Vassi George surprised two men who were lurking behind a tree. These men, they state, immediately ran off into the bush. On Sunday night Chris went to the woodshed to get some fuel for a lire. He reports that as he entered the shed two shots rang out, and the bullets whistled over his head. Calling to his brother to take care he ran into the house. They put the lights out and sat in silence for more than an hour without moving. Then cautiously they made their way to their cousin’s house. After that they communicated with the police and asked for protGTh°is week the homes of the Serbians are in a state of siege, and anyone who approaches unannounced is likely to re-o-ret his rashness. So far the events are completely baffling. Both brothers have been in Australia for five years, and they cay that they have not made any enemies. Tom stated this week that on Sunday the tomato sauce tasted bitter, and this has Boon sent to the police for analysis.