MCKAY FOUND

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14090, 23 March 1939, Page 5

MCKAY FOUND

ARRESTED IN AUCKLAND WAS WEARING A BEARD. Elec- k» Telegraph— Fress Association AUCKLAND, This Morning. The Piha fire case reached a sensational ciivnax outside a house in Parnell at 10 p.m. last night with the arrest ot Gordon Robert McKay, ageti 43, an Australian Hides and skin merchant, who had been missing since the early morning fire at a Piha bach on Ecbruary 12. Acting on information received early this week that a strange man witn a beard had recently taken up residence in the Parnell district, Detective-Ser-geants J. Tretheway and F. N. Aplin made inauiries. They ascertained that a man answering McKay’s description was living at a house. The iwo detectives waited for two hours outside the house. At about 10 o’clock they intercepted a motor-car with three people in it, a bearded man, another man and a woman. When the oar stopped, the police officers accosted the man with the beard, who allegedly denied he was McKay. He was taken to the detective office, where he was formally charged with improperly interfering with humap remains, and taken in o custody. Ho spent the night in the cells at the Central Police Station. it is said the man arrested was dressed ip ordinary street clothes his one distinguishing feature being his beard.