ROBBERY RAMPANT.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18423, 2 July 1925, Page 9

ROBBERY RAMPANT.

OUTRAGES IN MELBOURNE. (b? catsi.*—iimsa ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT.) (AL'STRAUAJI i}.'D K.Z. CABLE ASSOCIATION.) MELBOURNE, July 1, Kobbcry outrages are rampant. Three masked robbers at the revolver point stuck up a man and woman cycling in Eichmond. •They robbed the man of his watch and chain and money, and also took a ring off the woman's finger. They then escaped. A resident of Tooralt surprised a masked and armed man in his bedroom. He grappled with and threw the intruder.down the stairs, whence lie escaped. For, a considerable time a gang of boy criminals, known as the "Knickerbocker Gang," has eommitted many daring robberies in tho- city and suburbs, managing to evade police vigilance.

The latest exploit was a raid on the premises of McGowe and Co., motor agents, where the young desperadoes poured petrol over a ear and set it alight.

The brigade quelled the flames before they could spread to 50 other cars stabled in the premises. The invaders also stole a quantity of goods. Several other places in the vicinity have been raided lately and valuable goods stolen. The police last evening surprised two boys smashing windows at a small-arms company's shops. One was arrested with three stolen revolvers in his possession.

Anzac House, the memorial building occupied by tho Returned Soldiers' and Sailors' Club and various other organisations, was last night broken into and thoroughly ransacked. This is the third time that theso premises have been visited by thieves within a £cw months.