Boy is questioned on Melbourne mystery tappings.
Melbourne: Police investigating the mysterious nightly tappings on the walls of a house at Heidelberg for the past three weeks and stone-throwing on the roofs of other houses in the vicinity will question a 15-year-old boy today. A Heidelberg resident told police that she caught a boy last night throwing a stone on the roof of a house. She is Mrs M.L. Dawson, who lives next door to Mrs W.F. Cameron, on whose roof most of the stones have been falling. Mrs Dawson said that she kept a watch last night after bulldogs in her backyard had begun barking excitedly. Through a hole in her fence she said she saw a boy pick up a heavy stone and hurl it on to the roof of Mrs Cameron’s house. She caught the boy, took his name and address and gave it to police.
Earlier this week showers of stones were thrown on to the roofs of four houses at intervals for four hours, although residents and police were searching for the prowler. A policeman and a number of people were struck by light stones, but nobody was hurt. The knocking on the walls of the home of Mrs J.A. Byrne, of Banksia-st., Heidelberg, has gone on almost nightly for more than three weeks. Mrs Byrne, an aged widow, who is reported to be wealthy, is seriously ill. She is in a coma and is not aware of the knockings, although nursing sisters and other occupants of the house have been terrified. A police guard has been at the house and on one occasion a detective sighted and fired at an intruder. The man escaped, however, by leaping over a high fence.
The Newcastle Sun (NSW), 22nd July 1950.