VICTIM OF BOMB

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19373, 10 July 1937, Page 14

VICTIM OF BOMB

SOLICITOR INJURED TERRIFIC EXPLOSION SENSATION IN AUCKLAND ROCK GARDEN WRECKED (Per Press Association.) AUCKLAND, last night. Wounded and bleeding from the head, a hand and one leg, a wellknown Auckland solicitor, Mr. R. A. Singer, was found in a state of partial collapse, following a violent explosion that occurred at his feet as he was walking along the garden path of his home at Grafton road, in the city, at 6.15 o'clock to-night. Mr. Singer, who had alighted from a taxi-cab at his gate a few seconds earlier, was assisted into the house, where he was attended by a doctor. He was ordered to bed at his home and his condition late to-night was not considered serious. He received injuries to the head, a hand, and one leg. He was hurled sideways by the explosion, which occurred in a rockery at the right-hand side of the path! Mr. Singer was dazed, but managed to stagger a few yards to the front porch of his home. He had already lost considerable blood when the door was opened. Assisted by a passer-by, who had run to the house after hearing the explosion, members of the household took Mr. Singer inside and endeavoured to stop the bleeding of his wounds. Dr. Douglas Robb was summoned and the police were advised.

Deep Hole in Earth

A general alarm was caused in the neighbourhood by the explosion, which was accompanied by a brilliant sheet of flame. A deep hole was torn in the earth of the rockery. Two windows in the porch of the house next door were smashed. The whole path, as well as the taxi which Mr. Singer just left, were liberally coated with earth. One of the signs clipped to the side of the taxi was blown off, and the shrubs and flowers in the rockery were uprooted. A bundle of books and papers Mr. Singer was carrying was burst open and the contents of some of them, blown to shreds, were scattered about the garden. Jagged holes were torn in the stout brown paper in which the documents were wrapped. The taxi, which was driven by Mr. Selwyn Casey, formerly a well-known racing motor-cyclist, did not stop in Grafton road, but on a ramp leading to several houses, including Mr. Singer’s, which are on a much higher level than the street. The car was still at the gate when the explosion occurred, so rapidly did it follow Mr. Singer’s entry to his property. “There was a deafening explosion and a blinding sheet of flame,” Mr. Casey said. “For a moment or two I could not see Mr. Singer, and I did not know what had happened. I then saw him staggering up the path toward the front door. Police on Guard * “The fumes of some explosive were heavy in the air, and immediately after the blast occurred the windows in the porch of the house next door were broken. Showers of earth rained down for quite a time all over my car, and eveh on the roof of Mr. Singer’s house and that of the house next door.”

Attracted by the roar of the explosion, which was heard as far away as Princes street in the city, a crowd gathered rapidly. Speculation was rife as to the cause of the explosion, which occurred where a shadow falls across the path. Detective Moore and two constables answered the call and were quickly on the scene in the police car. An investigation was commenced, including search of the rockery, the garden path, and the lawn for fragments of a bomb or other device that caused the explosion. Small pieces of tin, or some other metal, were found, some by Mr. Casey and some by the police, who were later reinforced by Detective-Sergeant McHugh.

A more complete search will be made in the daylight to-morrow. A detective and a constable remain on guard at the house until the morning.