SENSATIONAL FIND

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 37, 6 May 1927, Page 11

SENSATIONAL FIND

MAN’S ROYAL LIVING PRISONER IN A BOND CHAMPAGNE, CIGARS, ETC. Press Association DUNEDIN, To-day. A sensational discovery in Neill and Company’s bond this morning resulted in the arrest of the man, Arthur George Rennie, whom the police have wanted for some time on many charges of stealing from seaside cribs. A youth who was sent to the top flat of the bond saw smoke issuing from the rafters, and discerned a form crouched there. The police were sent for. The man emerged in a disreputable state, with bags round his legs, and a month’s growth of beard, one side of which was singed. About a month ago a sklight was found broken in the bond, and the police found a coat and boots on the roof, but no sign of the man. It appears that Rennie had procured a ladder, climbed up to the rafters, and hidden himself, dragging the ladder up after him so that nobody had an inkling of how anyone could get there. When the skylight was mended Rennie found himself a prisoner in the bond. He lay hidden all day, emerging at night and rifling the bond of champagne, bread, sardines, cheese, cigars and cigarettes, the debris of which was found in great quantities in his lair.

Apparently in dopey condition he had allowed a match to start a fire, and got his face singed. Rennie presented an astonishing figure when he was taken to the police station.