A FURIOUS OUTBREAK

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXI, Issue 19048, 27 June 1924, Page 7

A FURIOUS OUTBREAK

MAN CHASES WIFE AND CHILD INTO STREET. STOPPED BY A BULLET. A railway porter employed at Flinders Street Station suddenly broke into a state of fury whilst in his home at New Street, Elsternwick, Melbourne, on the night of June 6, and after smashing up furniture, locked his wife and child in a front room of the house. They escaped to the street through the window, and it is alleged were chased by the man, who threatened them with an axe.

A man rushed into the Elsternwick Police Station shortly after 6 o’clock and exclaimed excitedly: “A madman has smashed up his home, and is chasing his wife and child into the street with an axe.” He directed the police to go to the house of John Beynolds Mclntyre, 402 New Street, Elsternwick. Sergeant Weppner communicated by telephone with the Garden Vale Police Station, in the district of which the house is situated. As the constables at the station wore away at tea, Sergeant J. L. Thompson mounted his bicycle and hurried to the scene alone. Sergeant Thompson alighted near the house. Crowds of neighbours were standing in the streets, and he could hear sounds of breaking crockery and chopping issuing from the back part of the house. The wife' of the man approached the sergeant, and it is alleged advised him to be careful. She said: ‘‘He doesn’t know anything when he is like this. He has an axe, and he’ll down you.” Sergeant Thompson disregarded her advice, and going to a front window, which was open, he climbed into the sitting room. He found books and furniture in a disordered state. The chopping sounds continued in the back room. The sergeant went to the door of this room, which was the kitchen, and tried to open it. He found it locked. He said: ‘‘Let me in, Mac,” but received no answer. He pressed his foot against the door to force it open, and the sound from the other side ceased ominously. As the door burst in with the sergeant’s weight, he saw a man standing facing him. It was alleged the latter rushed towards the sergeant with the upraised axe. The sergeant thrust his right hand into his hip pocket and drew his revolver. A sharp shot resounded, and, dropping the axe, Mclntyre reeled backwards with his hands to his face. In a surprised tone he said: “You’ve shot me. ’ ’ A doctor was called, and after receiving first-aid attention for wounds in the chin and cheek respectively, the man was taken in an ambulance to the Alfred Hospital. He was admitted to the hospital, where he described himself as John Reynolds Mclntyre, 27 years, railway porter.