UNDERWORLD CRIME

Hokitika Guardian, 8 May 1930, Page 2

UNDERWORLD CRIME

A SYDNEY MYSTERY

POLICY OF SILENCE AGAIN

SYDNEY, April 24. There seems to be no possibility ot the polite solving Sydney’s latest underworld crime which resulted in tbe killing of William Roy Elmer, and the wdundiiig ’of Charles Bourke, alias Edward Brown. Both these men were shot in the back oil Good Friday night while they were walking in a street in East Sydney, and although scores of people must have seen tbe incident none will speak. This is tbe difficulty which invariably faces the police when they are enquiring' into a crime that has been the outcome of gang warfare. Elmer even when be was told that he was sure to die, refused to utter a word about the shooting, and when invited to name bis assailant be replied: “I will say no+hing.” The wounded man. a friend of Elmer’s, was equally determined not to speak. He is recovering and is probably looking forward to the day when be and his friends will be abP to revenge Elmer’s death. There is little doubt that there is a woman in tbe ease, a<s there often is in such crimes. The names of several women who are. notorious in the underworld- have been mentioned, but it is quite clear that tbev had nothing direct- to do with the shooting. The police have received no encouragement when making their inquiries nmang who should know just what happened. “AVe know nothing” is the only answer tbev can secure. People likely to he in possession of information that would nroylde a clue seem all at once to have faded .away, and those who cannot ef- , face themselves, say that they did not bear any shots fired on tbe night of the murder—and tbev live in the street the murder -was committed. Whether tbe silence is the result of a pact in tbe underworld among tbe vavipus. gangs, or is tbe resnlt of fear induced by threats, it is difficult to sav T + is quite comprehensible .that silence for mutual protection might extend to a limited number of persons whose lvstore would not bear police scruitiny ■, but when the same policy of silence ex- . tends to the inhabitants of whole localities. many of whom are bound to have,Tittle in common with the underground element, the conclusion is inevitable that fear plays, an important part The ;silence which has of b° shielded so, many tragic affrays in Sydney i is -regarded by the police as one of -me finosti. sinister . developments oi crime, in Sydney. So far, in this . latest crime, , the . police are without nthe slightest-bit of evidence that would be of .use to -them, In tracing the per- : petrator: of what was a particularly brutal crime—two men shot in the back without being given,a .chance to fight; for,.their lives. . V . .And the,dead man ,was a cripple—crtpplqd with rheumatism—and walked , with the aid. of jCrutcljes. He l° B t h* B mouther some , time ago, and after Thursday last, when one his friends died in hospital in Sydney, he became very despondent, Rimer's sister was emphatic thqt sbe. knew nothing of the shooting, She had been involved in a brawl in a s,hop not far from the scene of the shooting. “It looks as if they were just sniped off,” she said. A reporter tried to obtain -information wjiere tfye police had failed. To the occupier of, the house outside wh : ch the. shooting: took place he put the question: “Did you hear any shots?” “I did,” was the reply. “Anyhow two blokes were shot, so there must have been shots fired. Of course I heard them.” “Were you in the street?” the reporter persisted. “I might have been.” was the reply Anyhow, I know nothing.” Another man said: “If it was gang war it was gang war, and that is all ; there is about it. Perhaps the two men copped some else’s bullet. No one knows who did it, and no one would say i’f .they did know. So you are only wasting time, young fellow. And you are on dangerous ground. I’d let the matter drop if I were you.” ’’ 'The ' police-’aiiticipate reprisals very soon, and perhaps already another man in Svdney’s underworld is marked for death.