MAN SHOT DEAD

Taranaki Daily News, 19 December 1930, Page 9

MAN SHOT DEAD

BREAKING INTO HOUSE. OWNER FIRES THROUGH THE DOOR A man was shot dead while attempting to break intq the house of Mr. William Whittington at Burnley, Melbourne, on November 27. . . The man was later identified as Frank Ellis, alias Walter Wray, whose record of crime was a long one. He had been convicted in Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia, Queensland, and New Zealand on charges of housebreaking, larceny,- assault on a woman, and receiving. There were 27. convictions against him, and he had been sentenced to terms of imprisonment aggregating 40 years. : Mr. Whittington told the police that he was lying down in his dining room reading a book when his wife, who was in the bedroom, heard someone at the door. She got up and listened, and heard the man go to a side window. He returned to the door and put his fist through the leadlight. Mrs. Whittington called out: “Quick, he has got a revolver, and is going to shoot.” Mr. Whittington ran. into another room and picked up a shotgun. He went to within a few feet of the door and fifed at the shape of a man through the leadlight. The man was shot through the shoulder and died immediately. Mr. Whittington, who is about 60 years of age, told the police that he did not know whether the gun was loaded when he heard his wife call. out. He simply pulled the trigger. No firearms or housebreaking implements were found on the dead man. The police, however, found in his waistcoat pocket two visiting cards bearing the name of an owner of a house at Essendon which was robbed a few days previously. Ellis was about 54 years of age. Mr. Whittington was formally charged with having murdered Ellis,