”TARRED AND FLOCKED.”

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XLV, Issue 11930, 28 October 1919, Page 6

”TARRED AND FLOCKED.”

The little township of Piopio, 1G miles from Te Kuiti, is., says the Auckland Herald’s Te Kuiti corres- ' pondent telegraphing on Thursday, in a state of some excitement as ;the result of an „incident which happened there on Saturday night, when mechanic, well known in the town and district, was rather cruelly set upon by four men, knocked about somewhat badly, and subjected to the entirely ignominious and comparatively painful process of being smeared with tar ;over a great portion of his body, and then, presumably, owing to t£e scarcity of feathers, being covered with flock, or kapok,.evidently abstracted from a pillow or mattress. The assaulted individual, Cecil Bridgeu by name, carries on his occupation as a motor mechanic, and has his dwelling in a tent at the rear of his garage, or workshop. It is-said that some three weeks ago, Pridgen received a warning from a friend in Te Kuiti to be on the qui vive, as “something -was likely to • happen to him. ” According .go the story told by Bridgen this warning was little heeded by him, as he appears to have been totally unprepared when the blow fell. His account of the affair, as told to the police authorities, who are investigating, is that at about eleven o’clock on Saturday night he was in his tent, when voices outside demanded admittance. Going to the door of the tent,•’Bridgen saw four men, but owing to the dakrness he way quite unable to identify them. 4 Without a word of warning, he says, the unwelcome visitors set upon him, half throttled him, and manhandled him pretty roughly generally. He then partially lost conaciousness, and remembered no more until some two or three hours later he came senses properly, 1 and discovered that a torn piece of scrim had been tied across his mouth to serve as a “gag,” while his hands and feet were securely tied, and he had been dragged about a distance of 20 yards to the fence adjoining the Post Office. SVhen in his tout, Bridgen had not been fully undressed, and his unwelcome visitors had, after securing him, disarranged his clothing and liberally applied the distinct unpleasant mixture of tar and flock. At b a.m. on Sunday, in rathpr pitiful plight, Bridgen had recovered sufficiently to telephone to Sergeant Matthew, and the latter officer went out to Piopio on Sunday to make some preliminary investigations. In the vicinity of the tent he found a tin, containing the remains of the tar, and traced the dragging of Bridgeu from his tent to the Post Office fence, but that was all. Bridgen was unable to give even an idea of the identity of his assailants, and so the matter rests at present. __________________