PROWLER ESCAPES

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 671, 24 May 1929, Page 1

PROWLER ESCAPES

DISTURBED BY MAID THIEF IN SYMONDS STREET The screams of a maid disturbed a prowler in the Wentworth Private Hotel, 74 Symonds Street, at about 4.30 o’clock this morning. He made off immediately, taking with him a suit and other clothing and a wallet belonging to one of the boarders. In his mad rush to escape the intruder struck the girl a blow on the face with a torch which he was carrying. The blow was painful but the girl was not injured. Mrs. A. J. Brett, proprietress of Wentworth, stated this morning that the prowler had entered the hotel through the laundry door which had been left open. From there he made his way into a corridor and then into the room of one of the boarders. Tho maid, who slept in a room opposite, was wakened suddenly and saw the flash of a torch and a strange man searching some clothing which was hanging in the room. She was so startled that she screamed, rousing some of the boarders. The thief apparently grabbed some clothes and made off through the rear of the premises and down into Grafton Gully among the undergrowth. The maid was standing in the corridor and as he rushed past the thief dealt her a nasty blow on the face with the torch he was carrying. The stolen wallet contained only a few shillings. Fortunately the owner of the clothing had placed his keys in a safe place before going to sleep. The police were called in and are making investigations.