HIGHWAYMEN DE LUXE

Hokitika Guardian, 9 March 1928, Page 1

HIGHWAYMEN DE LUXE

(By \V. F. Bullock). NEW YORK, JanA>o. An elegant motor-ear bound northward moves swiftly out of New York. At a crossing a traffic policeman halts if. He glances indifferently at tire occupants but sees nothing amiss. Why should bo? How is he to know that the car has been stolen and that the five men inside are modern highwaymen intent on securing rich booty now on its way from Connecticut to New York? The policeman raises his band as a signal for the ear to go forward. and it leaps ahead like a greyhound released. The car pursues its swift way until it, reaches a lonely stretch of road, where it turns off ami hides liencatli the shelter Of low-hanging branches, istensibJy to make a needed repair. There it awaits'the arrival of a heavy firry carrying 'a valuable cargo of ragraut tobacco. When the lorry is heard coming down tlie road the motor-car driver prepares to shoot out of hiding and folows it towards Now York. At a. favmrable spot the highwayman at the \ heel sounds his horn and the lorry Iri'er moves over to the right so that the motor-car may pass. But something seems to go wrong and the lorry driver finds he is forced nearly off the road and is obliged to put on his brakes that an accident may he avoided. Ho turns to curse tho awkward “guy” who has driven him into such a dangerous predicament, lint, the muse dies on his lips. 'The motor-car, too, has slopped and out of it have leaped four men, now showing guns. The lorry driver and , his companion hare no time to draw their revolvers before they are menaced with instant death tuiless they throw up their hands. They are ordered off the lorry and forced into tho motor-ear, their places being taken by ‘two 'iif the bandits. No"' the car and the lorry part company, the ear being driven to some spot where the two victims of the hohl-up can he snl-clv deposited and the car abandoned. while the lorry and its valuable land are taken to receivers, who quickly dispose of the tobacco at a huge profit. Nothing is hoard of that robbery. The company which sent the tobacco to Now York proffer to suffer their loss in silence- rather than risk publicity damaging to their trade. A week later a similar incident occurs on a New Jersey highway along which pass daily rich silks from the I’aterson and Newark factories. Another motor-car toots its horn and another lorry is driven to the kerb. Before tho driver is certain of the next move in this surprise game half a dozen revolvers settle the matter for him. Sulkily Im climbs down from bis seat to make room for another mail, who takes the cargo not to the warehouse whither it was bound but to some secret rendezvous from which it cun lie listributed without detection. Merchants and trucking companies are spending more than half a million sterling annually on the protection of their goods. Sometimes a lprryman puts up a light and the story of a murder finds its way into the newspapers. But more often the robbery is planned and executed with the most secret- despatch and the company bears its loss modestly and quietly. Silks, furs, perfumes, and tobacco are the most valuable merchandise taken into New York, either for shipment abroad or for sale within the great city. When bullion is carried from bank to bank armoured cars are gen orally used. These c-an travel ns a rule in safety, for tliev operate within metropolitan limits and are difficult of approach. They cannot be field up with the celerity demanded in a modern highway robbery.

But armoured ears are expensive and factories are diary of employing them. .One company, handling millions oi dollars worth of goods each year, has abandoned motor-lorries lor horse teams, arguing that a horse-drawn wagon is too slow for the robbers, who must make an immediate getaway if the coup is to be successful. Other merchants lor their most valuable shipments attach live men to a truck and arm them with heavy calibred revolvers. The instructions are “'shoot first and inquire afterwards.” But the employment of these guards is costly and the men cannot he engaged for less valuable stock. We weave romantic and exciting tales around pirates and highwaymen whose deeds date hack 300 or 400 years. But when they scour the broad higways of Xew York they become pests of society, to he shot, if possible, without warning or mercy.