A DARING RAID

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 90, 13 October 1934, Page 21

A DARING RAID

BANDITRY IN NEW YORK

MUCH MONEY STOLEN

In the history of armed banditry in America there is hardly a parallel to a sensational robbery .that was carried out in New York recently by a gang for whom the police were hunting far and wide. The thieves reached the height of daring .by holding up uu armoured ear engaged in delivering and collecting money from banks, and escaped in a hail of bullets with, booty estimated at,v£B4,ool), says an English paper. Skilful-'.organisation and military precision marked the carrying-out of the raid, which must have beeu planned elaborately for days ahead. The hold-up took place when the armoured car, which belongs to 'the United States Trucking Corporation, drew tip at its customary time on a sunny afternoon outside . the offices-of an ice-making company in.Brooklyn. The street appeared quiet and deserted, except for a few couples playing tennis on public courts opposite. Idly watching the tennis players' were several men, most of them coatlcss and wearing long white aprons. To these the driver and two armed guards paid no attention. Neither did they heed a seemingly aged, .infirm, and harmless rag-and-bone man who came hobbling along, pushing a handcart. TAKEN UNAWAKES. The guards dismounted, entered the office of the ice company, and then returned to unlock the door of the car. While doing this they were taken unawares by the gang loader,'in the guise of the rag-and-bone dealer. ■ After bending over his make-believe merchandise he suddenly straightened up, whipped some sacking from the cart, and revealed a machine-gun, with which he covered the guards. The unmasking of the machine-gun immediately galvanised the loungers into action. They swarmed around the armoured car, producing more machineguns from under their aprons. They roughly disarmed the man at ■ the wheel, and rendered his companions helpless. John Wilson} one of the guards,, was knocked unconscious with the butt of a revolver, Without firing a bullet some of the bandits then got to work inside the car, from which they handed out bundles containing thousands of dollar bills. The money was hurled into two waiting motor-cars that had drawn up unobtrusively by the armoured van. When the van was cleared of its contents, the bandits abandoned the rag-and-bone barrow and leaped into the cars. As they drove off at break-neck speed, one of the van guards and the driver jumped into the rifled vehicle and started off in pursuit. A wild chase of the bandits ensued through crowded streets, with tho guard discharging tho machine-gun • abandoned by the thieves at the rear of their cars. Soon no fewer than thirty police cars which had been called by wireless joined in the chase, but the gangsters were too speedy, and disappeared. MILLIONS IN A DAY. It was later ascertained that two parties of the bandits had left the floeing cars and made off across the river ■in speed-boats. Aeroplanes, including an amphibian, and coastguard vessels then took up the pursuit. Huge quantities of money are taken through the streets of New York every day unnoticed by passers-by. It is not until there has been a sensational raid, such as the theft of £84,000 narrated above, from an armoured lorry in n Brooklyn street, that the general public realise what is happening. In one day £14,000,000 may be transported "through the streets. Armoured trucks have become increasingly popular with bankers and merchants as a result of the evergrowing audacity and success of armed bandits. Enclosed -in quarter-inch sheets of bullet-proof steel, each truck is usually manned by a crew of four, including two guards, who are drilled in marksmanship. These guards always leave the truck one at a time, one covering the other as he steps out. Slits in the side of the truck enable those inside to return fire without exposing themselves to gunfire. The crews are never the same. They are varied every dny. They always leave headquarters with sealed arrders as to the truck's route, and these orders are not opened till the journey has actually begun. There are about 150 of these armoured trucks, of which 100 arc in daily use. Tho thousands of mercantile concerns that use the trucks vary from chain grocery shops to petrol stations. ' Nature's health remedy—invigorating, refreshing, Allen's "Frusaline" effervescing fruit saline, 2s 3d at all chemists and stores. —Advt.