A DESPERATE FIGHT

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXII, Issue 19368, 27 July 1925, Page 5

A DESPERATE FIGHT

IN CITY HOTEL. 1 WOMAN ALMOST THROTTLED. SYDNEY, July 14. A desperate struggle was waged in a room at tho Cafe Francais Hotel. George Street, yesterday afternoon, between Mrs Alfred Thompson, wife of I the licensee, and an intruder whom she disturbed. The man in his frantic efforts to gain freedom almost throttled Mrs Thompson, and threw her down a flight of steps, when she attempted to block him. The man bolted down the stairs, ran through the bar of the hotel, which was crowded with men. and dashed down Hunter Street. Hundreds saw him being pursued down the ; railway, and he was captured in a shop I by two men. Tho sensational affair happened nt ■ about 3.30 p.m. Mrs Thompson was ■ sitting in the drawing rqom, on the first floor of the Cafe Francais, when ' she saw a man walk into her room. I She thought at first it was her hus- ' band, lut she went to the room, and I says that she saw a man ransacking tho drawers on the dressing table. “What arc you doing?” asked the woman. “I’m looking for Mrs Fcrfusson,” the man replied. GRABBED BY THROAT. He was told there was nobody of that name in the place, and then tho intruder suddenly sprang at Mrs Thompson, grasping her viciously by tho throat with one han-l, and place the other over her mouth to prevent her calling for help. The woman pluckily fought against the man, and the pair staggered on to tho landing outside. the room. Mrs Thompson was standing at the top of a flight of about twelve stairs, an-l seeing there was no other way of escape the man knocked her backwards. She fell heavily down the stairs, striking a. hall stand with a crash and bringing a heavy vase down on top of her. Dashing down the stairs, tho man again attacked the helpless woman and brushed her aside. Mrs Thompson screamed, and as the intruder ran through the bar Leslie Turney, who is employed in the hotel, set after him. HUE AND CRY. Turney was about to tackle the fugitive as he was running across George Street, but the man managed to speed away in front of a tram, and Turney just saved himself from being run down by hurling himself backwards. I A young man named William Hunter, [who was on the other side of the road, joined in the, hue and cry, and near ' Hamilton Street the man was cornered I in a shop. [ Hunter and Turney rushed in and I grabbed the man, who pleaded, “Don’t make a show of me. I’ll walk with yon.” - Traffic Constable McCray was called, [and the man was taken to the Clarence iStreet station, where he. was charged.