just over an hour yesterday, terrifying women residents and getting away with $540.

Wearing a distinctive yellow rain jacket, the intruder worked his way along the trail between Camp Hill and the Waterlot Inn in Southampton between 3 a.m.

and 4 a.m. yesterday, said Police.

"We believe that because the break-ins are so close in time and the houses are so close, he was using the Railway Trail and hitting one place after another,'' Police spokeswoman Sgt. Andrea Browne said.

In the first incident, the intruder broke into a home on the trail by removing the screen from a kitchen window. A family member awoke and the man ran off empty-handed through the kitchen door.

Next, a woman living on Fork Lane was disturbed by the sound of her door closing. She saw the man standing on her porch and shouted, at which he jumped over a wall and fled. She discovered her handbag, containing $240, had gone from her car.

The intruder then raised a screen on a window of a house in Middle Road and disturbed the woman living there as he moved around. He opened her bedroom door and she screamed, after which he ran off. Nothing was stolen.

Finally he struck at a Riviera Road home, grabbing a purse containing $300 which had been left in the kitchen.