VICTIM OF PROWLER

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19915, 18 April 1939, Page 5

VICTIM OF PROWLER

INJURY TO CONSTABLE GROUNDS OF HOSPITAL COMPLAINTS BY NURSES (Per Press Association.) AUCKLAND, this day. Serious injuries were suffered' by Constable D. G. Kilgour when he received a blow on the head while patrolling the grounds of St. Helen’s Hospital early yesterday morning. He was found in a semi-conscious state near the back entrance of the hospital shortly before 3 o’clock.

He was taken to the Auckland Hospital, where he recovered consciousness several hours later.. His condition is fairly serious. It is suggested that Constable Kilgour may have been a victim of a prowler who, after striking him, escaped in the darkness; Since the beginning of the year nurses at the hospital have from time to time telephoned to the police in the early hours of the morning and complained that a man has been seen to lurk near the back entrance to the grounds. Several times constables from the central station went to investigate, but when they arrived the man had gone. It is reported that on one occasion a nurse found a man in her room. Her cries prompted him to run away.

Periodic watches have been kept and yesterday morning Constable Kilgour accosted a man who was crossing the lawn outside the nurse’s sleeping quarters. A few minutes later a sister heard groans from the back of the premises. She went to' the back door and saw the constable, obviously distressed, crawling toward her. When he reached the door he collapsed. Constable Kilgour is the man who rescued Mr, J. O’Sullivan, the vicecommodore of the Victoria Cruising Club, from the club’s premises during the fire at St. Mary’s Bay on March 6. Both men were afterward taken to the Auckland Hospital, where they were treated for shock.