INCIDENTS OF THE SEARCH.

Colonist, Volume LII, Issue 12769, 15 April 1910, Page 3

INCIDENTS OF THE SEARCH.

The "New Zealand Times'?' special cprrespondenkgives the following incidents of the search for Powelka : In the very early morning a supplier of the dairy factory at Bunnythorpe ,Avas out getting his cows and. almost tumbled over the notorious fellow lying on the ground. ., Powelka fled. . . r ; - ■■ ,;■ A medical man with .whom I have conversed says the weather will stop Powelka. He was recently -operated upon for ulcer,, and half of one of his lungs is gone. Exposure in the wind and rain wiUkill him ifhe id not arbySder says thai Overtoil shot poor Qnirke dead point blank at ntteeii When he did so he exclaimed exultingly, "I've shot him he's mine I . The stunning realisation of hiß awtul mistake completely prostrated OverThe Police Commissiouer's office d&: sires to emphatically deny the published statement that 1 Sub-Inspector O ? Donovau 'issued firearms to persons outside the, police force. Mr. O'Donovan has always strongly deprecated the carrying of guns : and revolvers by citilzens.- . \' , .■■ . . ■ -r ' " Tne ;. Powelka scare has teacneatne Wairarapa, and wild . rumours have | been afloat lately regarding the, mysterious conduct of a ; man' alleged to resemble Powelka in the vicinity of Mauriceville. The" rumour once set afloat, of course", lost nothing in the ra-telling and soon yarns of a sensational character were flying from mouth to mouth One man had nad his safe robbed of a quantity of food; another had lost a horse and reckoned Powelka had stolen it; another had lost a gun. Then at. dusk a man was seen v to be riding desperately along the road near. Mauriceville, and a snprt time after several shots were heard n£ar the road. A party of rabbitcrs latex on accounted for the ahots. "

The police at Masterton were com-; municated with, but placed no reliance in the' reports. ... ... '-■'-.'■'. Mclvor, who is- a. 'New .'Plymouth constable, is a ' man^who' will give \Bo-welka-a^hbt time if 'thero is any" close work. "He would be..tHe ; last to-hesi-tate; for a-momentuf he gdt fairly . on the fugitive's track. a'fairly big man, a noted wrestler," andhas shown himself to be made of "good stuff. McIvor's single-handed arrest of Doctor Goodej at Waitara, after others had had the house surrounded for hours because the man ; was armed and desperate, is one of his" intrepid deeds.