CALLOUS MESSAGE BOY

Southland Times, Issue 19460, 27 January 1925, Page 5

CALLOUS MESSAGE BOY

ROBS HYDE PARK MANSION. TRIES TO COVER HIS CRIME. ißy Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.) LONDON, January 24. Amazing disclosures were made by the prosecution in the charges against a messenger boy named Onlagi, who was charged with entering a Hyde Park mansion. He made a statement after his arrest to the effect that, as he was short of money, he went to the house and found the mistress out. He struck the cook, named Bragg, on the head with a hammer. As she still fought he tried to pour hydrochloric acid over her, but most of it was spilt on the floor. The fumes overpowering her, he dragged her out into the hall. With a blow of his fist he ended her resistance, and then bound her hands and forced her to pilot him through the rooms in search of valuables, after which he gagged her. It dawned on him that he might later have to bring a parcel to the house, and that there was danger of the woman identifying him, so he tied her in a chair and fastened it to a bed. He piled up papers around it and fired the lot. When he saw that the flames had a good hold he locked the door and went home with his booty, then returned and watched the police and public gather around the house, from which the woman was rescued on the point of suffocation. The boy was remanded.