WOMAN AND BURGLARS.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 September 1924, Page 6

WOMAN AND BURGLARS.

COURAGEOUS WIDOW. STRUGGLE WITH INTRUDERS. MAN PUNCHES HER IN FACE. When Mrs. Cotton, a widow, residing with her two children at Lower Riecarton, Christchurch, returned home at about 8/20 p.m., and discovered that there were burglars in her house ransacking her possessions, she neither screamed nor fainted, although she was one woman opposed to four male criminals. She marched boldly into her own premises and tackled the lot. The burglars got away after Mrs. Cotton had had a fierce struggle with one of them, but the courageous lady found herself afterwards in the possession of a hat as a trophy of the combat.

Mrs. -xCotton, with her two children, had left home about an hour earlier to visit a house a short distance away. Upon her return she noticed that a ycung man was loitering near the back gate, but she was not perturbed. Mrs. Cotton did not go to the back gate, but proceeded on to the front gate- As she turned to go in the loiterer gave a loud syren-like whistle. “Then,” said Mrs. Cotton, “I knew something was wrong. I felt that I was up against it.” She went on, and as she- proceeded up the path she noticed that the front door, which she had left shut and fastened, was open. At tire same time a light appeared in a bedroom. and she was able to see that three men were inside rumaging about the articles in the room. Beyond the confederate outside there was nobody about and nobody to whom Mrs. Cotton could appeal for assistance, fl was. of course, quite dark. “I was not going to show them that I was afraid,” said Mrs. Cotton, "and T simply marched straight up the path and on to the verandah.” Here Mrs. Cotton could see that the men in the bedroom were looking over the contents of some drawers. Apparently they had not heard the warning whistle of the man in the street. NEAR NEIGHBOURS ALL OUT. When Mrs. Cotton’s footsteps sounded on the verandah there was a pause within, followed by a rush to the doorThen Mrs. Cotton did a thing that would have reflected credit on the coolest man. She seized the knob of the front door, pulled it shut, and held it. There was no knob on the inside, to give a grip to the burglars, who were thus unable to open the door and were for the time being trapped. Holding the door, Mrs. Cotton called to her two children to run and give the alarm to the neighbours. The children, however, were not as cool as their mother, and started to scream, a proceeding which would, however, have been quite effiicacious had the neighbours been at home. Unluckily, practically all the near neighbours were out.

Mrs. Cotton heard a whispered consultation inside, and then there was silence. Suspecting that the intruders were making their egress via the back door, and still determined to do all possible to prevent their escape, she went round the back, but could see no sign of them there. Returning, she was in time to see the front door opened and the three men peeping out to see if the coast was clear. As she again approached the door the three made a simultaneous dash for liberty. STRUGGLE ON VERANDAH. “I grabbed the nearest one” said Mrs. Cotton, "and we had a great titssle. The others went over mo like kangaroos and made off ” Mrs. Cotton had caught the man round the neck, had got what wrestlers describe as the “strangle hold” on him. and though ho exerted all his strength he was unable to break the grip of the determined woman. The pair struggled on the front verandah until finally the man managed to twist his body round so that he could punch Mrs Cotton violently in the fare. Dazed for an instant by the force of the blow. Mrs. Cotton released her hold sufficiently to allow the man to break free. He immediately vaulted over the verandah railing, but had bar?ly touched the ground before Mrs. Colton had collected herself again and was giving chase. The young man was much too speedy for her. ENTRY GAINED BY FANLIGHT. At that moment the only male neighbour arrived on the scene just too late. It was found that the house had been ransacked throughout and everything was turned upside down. An entry had been obtained through the fanlight of the bedroom window, the first Intruder walking across the bed. on the •-ounteTpane 'of which dirty footmarks could lie seen. The door was then opened for the admission of the other two, after which a systematic search of the house had been made. Jewellery had been carefully left alone. It was money the burglars were after. They found the sum of £3 in a drawer, and this they took. They also took Mrs. Cotton’s pension papers. Mrs. Cotton describes the intruders as all young men. and rather dapper in their dress. They did not impress he* as being regular “cracksmen.”