REIGN OF TERROR

Hokitika Guardian, 11 February 1929, Page 8

REIGN OF TERROR

SVI)XJOY’S C XI)EK WOKLD. RESIDENTS ALARALED. SYDNEY. .Imiliary 31. Residents of (Sydney’s underworld .arc not easily terrified, and the fact that a majority of residents in famous Surrey Hills quarter bolt their doors and are afraid to go at night is an indication that the gangs to. particularly active. Surrey Hills is within the city proper, and the houses are small and squalid, the streets narrow and dirty, and there are com., lanes and byways which make it an admirable resort fo criminals. "It is only with the utmost difficulty, and at great risk to their own lives, that- the police operate in this quarter. During the last fortnight three desperate thugs have established a reign of terror, and their crimes have been of a most audacious character. Principally these ruffians have been inflamed by lust for plunder, but happenings generally suggest a vendetta, among the criminal class. Police interference in such cuinstances is not welcomed.

The thugs set a seal on recent happenings early on Saturday morning last by a series of crimes which they managed to perpetrate, in the short space ol an hour and a half. The record is probably without parallel in the latter history of Sydney’s lawlessness. At different places two men were assaulted—one in a particular brutal fashion; two men „cre robbed; and an a ttempt was made to rob a. confectionery simp; and at a residential the proprietor was forced to fire a revolver shot to protect hiiasell and his lodgers from garrotters. Arrests followed this outrage. The trio commenced operations Tate on Friday night, when they went to a confectionery sihop. intending to hold up the pioprietor. r i hey were frustrated, owing to the unexpected presence of a number of male patrons in a rear room. Money hungry the men then turned their attention to a lonely i>edc.striaii near the city, 'the man was wise enough to offer no resistance, and was allowed to continue on his way un-harmed-after he had been robbed. A similar experience befell a man who was hailed up a few minutes later. He was merely robbed of a fairlv/large sum of money. At 12.40 a.m. Saturday came the big coup possibly, of an underworld vendetta. Going to a boarding house, the men dragged one of the boarders out into the street. One of them punched him on the chin and bit him a smashing blow on the head with a 'beer bottle, which was full. The beer bottle lias been proclaimed as "Australia’s national weapon,” but tlmse who use it generally empty it first. As the unfortunate victim staggod to the ground lie was brutally kicked, and finally robbed. The bottle was smashed to pieces by the force of the blow. A tramway man who was m uniform was mistaken for a policeman and the thugs made off. leaving their victim, very close to death.

Noxt the gangsters entered another hoarding house, robbed one ol' the lodgers, and demanded money from two others, threatening to “do for them” if they refused. The proprietor, a ijreelc met the situation energetically. Producing a loaded revolver, he chased the three men out of the place, and as thev raced down the street he fired a shot into the air. ’lhis brought the police patrol to the scene, and anests followed. Owing to the peculiar code ol “loyalty” to one another existing among the people of the underworld, the police anticipate great difficulty in securing the noccsary evidence against those who arc under arrest. The majority of the men who are assaulted irom time to time within the Surrey Hills area do not report the matter to oolice. for they fear the consequences ol such action. Further than that they find a great deal of pleasure in dealing personally with their assailants. And so it is that the neighbourhood boasts a state of open warfare almost continually. And so it is that most of the houses are looked and bolted at night, and people who know the locality refuse to walk the streets alone. A large force of police pays particular attention to the locality, but the -police hindered more than helped. There are rival factions hut all are united against any steps to restore law and order.