AMERICAN ACCENT AS CLUE

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 533, 10 December 1928, Page 1

AMERICAN ACCENT AS CLUE

WESTFIELD HOLD-UP

& Arrest of Two Australians

MEN TO BE CHARGED TO-MORROW

SENSATIONAL disclosures will follow the arrest of two men at Kaikohe on Friday night. The police are now satisfied that they were the men who were concerned in the hold-up at Westfield on the morning of November 27.

Details of the arrest were given in The Sun on Saturday. The men first save their names as Melville White and Allan Davies. Later they were charged with obtaining money by false pretences under the names of Roy Patrick Hitching and David McKenzie Stewart. Now the prisoners have been identified as two Melbourne men, Roy Patrick Newman and McAfee Stoner. The arrested men will be brought to Auckland by the Whangarei express this evening, and will be charged at at the Magistrate's Court to-morrow morning with holding up S. Henderson and his party at Westfield at one o'clock on the morning of November 27. The arrest of Newman and Stoner is one of the most brilliant exploits of the New Zealand Police Force. The hold-up was done in darkness. All the police had to assist them in their investigations was the fact that one of the men spoke with an American accent. By a network of investigations which has gone on daily since November 27, the police have at last found two men answering the descriptions of the wanted men. No possible clue has been left to chance, and the men were traced over many, many miles of the Auckland Province. When it was known that a motorcar had been hired from Shorter's garage in Shortland Street, and that it had not been returned, the police

were given an additional clue, but this was not known until some days after the hold-up had happened. This is the second sensational holdup which has been cleared by the Auckland police, and in both cases they had only the scantiest evidence on which to base their investigations. The first hold-up occurred in the Mount Eden Road about two mouths ago, when a man and a woman, returning from their shop on Friclay night, were overpow'ered by two men, who snatched the woman’s handbagand made off into the darkness. Even tually these men were run to earth, though the police had practically no evidence on which to catch the delinquents. It has been learned that Newman and Stoner arrived in New Zealand from Sydney by the Marama the trip before the Westfield hold-up happened. They took a furnished house at Epsom, engaged a Housekeeper and purchased a large quantity of stores. Both men became rather well known in Auckland, and before very long were entertaining some of their new-made friends at parties. The men belong to Melbourne, where it is said they were engaged in the motor and aviation business. A few nights before the hold-up at Westfield, Newman and- Stoner went to Shorter’s Garage and hired a car. It is alleged that on the night of the hold-up they went along the Great South Road to spy out the land. It is stated that the hold-up men allowed several cars to pass before stopping that containing Messrs. S. Henderson, L. aril E. Manson and G. Holland and Mrs. Henderson, who were returning from the Te Kuiti races. Evidently the two highwaymen were disturbed by the fact that a motor-cycle and side-car came along unexpectedly, causing them to dash off into the darkness before they had time to search Mr. Henderson’s car thoroughly. After the night of the hold-up it is said that Newman and Stoner visited Rotorua, but not before they had returned and given up their flat at Epsom. The next heard of them was in North Auckland, where they were touring the Ninety Mile Beach in a car which was similar to that which had been hired from Shorter’s garage. On Friday night two men giving their names as Melville White and Allan Davies arrived at Kaikohe. They purchased some stores and offered cheques for payment. This fact w4s communicated to the police, whose suspicions were aroused when the cheques were found o be valueless. Later, the men’s luggage was searched and revolvers were found. The two men were then taken to Whangarei, where they gave the names of Kitching and Stewart. Under these names they were charged on Saturday with obtaining money by means of a valueless cheque Detec-tive-Sergeant Doyie and Detective O’Sullivan, of Auckland, were immediately dispatched for Whangarei, to interview Newman and Stoner. The arrests were made by Constable Wolfendale. of Kaikohe, and Constable Duddy, of Aawene

NO BURGLAR A N automatic burglar alarm ■‘A shattered the stillness of a Nugent Street establishment on Saturday night. it clanged through the building with terrifying suddenness, and woke the caretaker, as all burglar alarms should. As fearlessly as he could, the caretaker crept to the telephone to call the police. Round came a policeman, ready for any emergency. A thorough search of the premises was made. No doors or windows were open, no tills were rifled, nothing had been touched. The burglar alarm apparently Had decided to spring into action of its own accord.