MOTOR BANDITS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 40, 10 November 1917, Page 8

MOTOR BANDITS

HIGHWAY ROBBERY AND MURDER

SENSATION ON WEST COAST £3659 STOLEN ONE MAN KILLED, TWO WOUNDED By Telegraph—Press Association. Greymouth, November 9. News has been received of a sensational highway robbery oil the Point Elizabeth road this morning. William Hall (clerk) and I. Jamtfs (manager) were proceeding in a motor-ear to the mine with about X'looo in cash for wages and salaries, when they were stuck up by one or more men, who shot tliein both, seized the money, and look to the bush. Hall is in a serious condition. James has two wounds in the leg. The manager (Mr. James) was brought to town and the bullet extracted from the leg. It appears a box was planed across the road. James got out to shift it, when he was wounded. On recovering himself he found that the assailants and the car had disappeared. Where the hold-up to?k place was in the vicinity of the place known as "The Camp." There is great excitement in town. Two arrests were made this morning, bu.t from inquiries made by the police they cannot be conne:ted with the affair. Mr. Hall was brought into hospital at 10.30. 'The car left town for the collieries shortly after fl o'clock. Later Details. Later details show that the driver of the car, John Coulthard, was shot dead. Tho car, with its three occupants, turned a corner, and not having time to pull up, ran into a box and a ladder on the road, the obstacles pulling up (he car. Immediately the car stopped a man, masked, bopped out of a place resembling a dug-out, and cried: "Hands up!'' Coulthard endeavoured to remove tho box from the road, but was •.•truck by a bullet and rolled into the gutter, dead. Tho manager (James) then leaned from Vie car, and was hit in the thigh and leg, a third bullet grazing his hand. The paymaster (Hall) evidently was fired in at short range, for when assistance orrived his clothes were on fire. Two men approaching i.n bicycles heard the shooting, and saw a man cross tho railway lino with a bag and take to the bush. _ , A similar obstruction to that of this morning was placed on the road exactly two weeks ago, but was removed before the pav-car camo along, so tliat evidently the crime had been coolly premeditated. When Mr. Jnmcs saw the object on tho road to-day he got out of the car, luckily on the. opposite side to that, of tho masked man. If. appeared that tho latter had a revolver in each hand. Mr. Hall, when tho man called "Hands un!" refused to obey, and reached for his revolver. He fired two phots. The masked man blazed away at short range. Cnu'thard was shot dead, and his body pitched forward. Hall is convinced that he hit the assailant, who :n"st have worn nroteetivn mail. One bullet struck Hall in tho arm and two penelrated his chest. The latest reports hold out little hope for Hall's recovery. Miners Cease Work to Search for the Robbers. Tho pay was done up in bags, and totalled J;3G59 16s. Bd. it would not be I cumbersome, as it contoined only XIUO of silver. Tho mine ceased work on receipt of the news, and many miners took to the bush in search of the highwaymen, but up to nightfall had got no nearer {J'lie of the desperado than that for some days a stranger had camped in tho vicinity of liunangii. The police, however, attach little importance to this, as thero is quite a number of military shirkers still at large, and supposed to be in the bush. A posso of police has been busy all day, and more are arriving. When wait- | ed on, tho police are very reticent as to the information gained. The Coroner held a formal inquest at Bunanga. on the body of Coulthard. Dr. Mcado stated that.death was due to being shot through the lung, severing the main blood-vessel. Condition of the Wounded Mon,' Mr. Hall's condition is very serious, and little hope is held out of his recovery. Mr. James is improving. Tho two men arrested were vagrants away from a brewery. Tho 6tick-up evidently had been premeditated for some time, as, according to reports which originate in the right quarter, a similar obstruction of a ladder and a box was placed on tho road on the same spot a fortnight ago, but was removed by a passer-by before the same car passed with the wages; otherwise a tragedy would have occurred then. Statement of an Eye-Witness, An eye-witness named Manderson says: "As far as I can guess, it was about »:wenty minutes past nine o'clock when my son Leonard and myself were cycling down the hill. When we turned a corner I noticed a box across the road. I cried out to my son to get off. This we immediately did. At this moment the mine car turned a corner at the other end, crashed into the obstruction, and before it had pulled up, like a flash of lightning a man, a youne chap, I should say, dressed in dark blue dungarees, with his face completely mosked, jumped out of the bush on the right-hand side of tho road, just below a little rise in a clump of dense scrub. In this he had a veritable 'dug-out' for himself, and there remained in wait for his prey, unseen and unheard. With a revolver in each hand, he hopped on to the road and cried: 'Hands up!'. 'Oh, God,' I cried, 'lie is going to shoot us. Come into the bush.' My son and I took to tho bush, going about a chain in, when we heard Bang, Bang, Bang! It was a few terrible moments. We knew we would be inciting risk to come out. Then there was silence and we espied a man on the railway with a bag, evidently the proceeds of the robbery. He went along towards Runanga, disappearing out of sight. 'We then came out of the bush, and quickly heard eroans. We rushed to the car. and there found Coulthard shot dead. Willie Hallwas then in a state of collapse. 'Are you shot? Where are your mates?' 1 asked. Hall said: 'I'm on fire!' I found his, coat on fire. I nut the fire out and immediately sent for the police and tho doctor." An Arrest Probable. Although nothing can be officially ascertained, it is probable an arrest will be made shortly. The mine will be idle again to-morrow. The money stolen -was being taken to the State mine to pay the wages mid salaries of the men employed there. The amount was ,£3600, and the bulk of the money was in notes. It was the nroperty of the New Zealand Government.