"PUT THEM UP!"

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 153, 16 July 1937, Page 6

"PUT THEM UP!"

— Owo Corresccudent )

Postmaster Threatened By Burglar MADE TO UNL0CK SAFE

( Bs Telegrapb-

SYDNEY, July 8. A burglary marked by considerable boldness and resourcefulness was carlied out about 4.30 a.m. last Friday on Ihe Old South Head road. The Eoso' Bay North Post Office — some six miles from Sydney, toward the harbour mouth — is located on this road, and the postmaster, Mr. William Thompson, conducts the postal business in conjunction with a news agency. On the morning mentioned Mrs. Thompson was awakened by a noise in the hall of the house, She switched on a reading-lamp just in time to see the muzzle of a revolver come ryund the corner of the door. .The wpman naturally screamed, 'but as the husband.woke the intruder advanced into the room. He was a young man heavlly built, and was wearing black gloves, with his hat pulled down over his eyes. His shoes were covered with rags to deaden the sound of his footsteps. "Put them up " said the man. and the postmaster and his wife. recogmsmg the serious nature of the situation, promptly obeyed. Yet the woman, as the man approached, had tlie courage to snatch the revolver and try to wrest it from the burglar 's grasp. She failed, and the man, pointing the revolver at his captives, ordered them to put on slippers and precede him downstairs. In the oflice he ordered Thompson to find the keys and open the safe. The postmaster did as required, but at the last moment lie drew back and defied the burglar. The man pointed his weapon straight at Thompson. " You've got no option," he said. "I'm here for the money and I'm going to got it." Eealising that it would be perilous in the extreme^to hesitute longer, Thompson opened the safe, which incidentally contained £4 of his own as well as the postal cash, The robber seized all the uotes withdn reach — about £110 altogether — and, keeping his revolver pointed, backed out of the oflice. Once clear of the room he rushed to a side door, which he had broken open on entering the buildings and disappeared. Thompson ran out after him, but the man evidently had accomplices, and when the postmaster reached the street he had disappeared, probably in a car that had been awaiting his return. Of course, the police were at once ealled up, and the Orimiual Investigation Bureau deteetives were promptly on the trail. From the detailed description given by Thompson and his wife, who had looked their assailant carefully over, the police recognised the man, and the information they had about his previous movements suggests that he needed the money to enable him to get clear away from the Htate. Thompson also recognised the burglar as a man who had ealled in a few days before to inquire about a street whicli turned out to be wholly lictitious. It is significant that twice in the previous fortnight attempts had been made to rob Thompson 's shop — once by breaking a window and once by eutting a hole in a glass door. The police recognise the work of an experienced and desperate criminal, and they are hopoful of ef- . fecting a captur«.