Cathedral Hotel: Robbery
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| The Cathedral Hotel at North Adelaide Photo: © 2017 Karen Tiller |
Originally known as the Scotch Thistle Hotel in 1850, the
hotel was established on the north side of Kermode Street and John Street (now
King William Road), and in 1881, was moved to its present location. In 1925,
the hotel's name was changed to The Cathedral Hotel, and it has continued
trading under this name for almost 100 years!
In 1918, several robberies had been occurred in and around North
Adelaide. The police had no suspects, until a robbery occurred at the Scotch
Thistle Hotel on October 4th.
Mr Opie, husband of
the hotels licensee, was on shift, and had closed the hotel. He followed his
regular routine, locking all the doors and windows, except the one leading to
the billiard room. He put the till into the store room, just off the dining
room, turned out the lights, and locked the exit door on his way out at 2am.
The following
morning, Dorothy Walloschick, Mrs Ethel Opie’s sister, opened the hotel. At
6:30am, she found the storeroom door unlocked and all the contents of the room
strewn about the place and the kitchen and billiard room doors had been left
open by the offender.
The burglar had smashed a window in the billiard room to gain entry, which he must’ve been very quiet in doing, as the Opie’s, asleep upstairs, did not wake to the sound.
The burglar had smashed a window in the billiard room to gain entry, which he must’ve been very quiet in doing, as the Opie’s, asleep upstairs, did not wake to the sound.
Only a couple of months previously, a store on O’Connell
street owned by Mr LeCornu had several items stolen. It was reported that the
front door had been left unlocked, and the investigating Constable, Mr George
Wyatt, had returned the key to Mr LeCornu and then filed a report for the
missing goods.
The goods included garden hoses, barbered wire, tools, implements and paint.
Missing from the Hotel were 10 bottles of Chateau Tanunda
brandy, seven-pint bottles of Heather Bell whisky, three bottles of Walker's
whisky, three bottles of Dewar's whiskey, two bottles of Burke's Irish whisky,
eight-quart bottles of Henke's schnapps, eight bottles of Reynella family port,
and twelve half flasks of-Heather Bell whisky, also missing, £22 in money.
Researched and written by Allen Tiller ©2018
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Bibliography published in next edition.
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