ROAD ADVENTURERS

Hokitika Guardian, 29 September 1932, Page 8

ROAD ADVENTURERS

HIGHWAYMEN IN ENGLAND. ■ ■ ' LONDON, August 19. People whose, ocupatioa necessitates their travel by road m motor vehicles, as well, as those who tour for, pleasure, are beginning to feel nervously , t ,jinr comfortable Decause there, have .lately oeen so many Jbray.ellprs. ~victimised, and still more, threatened, by bandits, Woh adopt various ruses to trap the ipnoc.ent traveller,. Even thos.e who use inptor coaches are not safe from attack by daring ,highwaymen.. Every few- days comes news that some motorist has been held up, assauted, arid; robbed. , .

Less than a week ago, while a London .to Bristolmotor-coach : was passing through Savernake Eoresj;, , near Marlborough, at dusk two masked men, armed >vith., bludgeons, approached it. The women occupants of the coach were alarmed, and ’the driver pulled up.,., Fortunately, by , a . .00incidepce,, two mobile pplice officers on motor-cycles arrived, and the men made off into the, forest. ....... The police and an A.A. scout immediately began a search for the men, while the coach continued on to Math, borough and, after setting down the passengers, called at the police station tq pick up all available-police. These, ifch dice. dogs. and.aided, by. civilians arried out an. intensive search all night, but without result.

Mr S- T. Gamlin, Cotbam, Bristol, ge of 'the passengers on the ) coach, •?aid: “Suddenly, a s we were going irbugh 'the forest,, the driver brought the coach to an abrupt stop. We then saw two' men, one wearing a white mask, and the other a black mask, making a dash' for the cover of the undergrowth.” . ( t ,/ i An, attempt to hold up a motorcyclist on. a lonely road, near, Chippenham, between Savernake Forest and lath, was fustrated by the cyclist’© •efus'al to stop.

.'A'fc, npdnjght the... motor-cyclist, was returning home along a road three rjiles .from Chippenham.,.;,..As he approached one of the darkest spots, he aw oy the light of a head-lamp a hat!>ss man run across the ropd. Drawing nearer., the man gesticulated and sboufed .“atop” several times. On the greensward on the opposite side of the road by a deep ditch the cyclist saw another hatless man lifting a screaming, struggling young woman from the •pad .on tp the grass. A few yards farther, on, standing in a semi-conceal-ed gateway, the cyclist .saw a third 1 man, who made no attempt to go in the direction pf the shouts. The trick, referred to is not unr known tp motorists.,,. The common praetjoe is. for the woman to lie in thee road while her male confederates stop the approaching car or motorcycle on. the pretence that the woman lias been knocked down by' a passing Vehicle. , -

Mr Leop Flash, of. Manchester, in a .new racing, mo,del car, was brutally attacked on .Watling .-Street, near . Dunstable,, by two highwaymen, who used .vj high-po\vered coupe car. The hold; up took place at midnight on a stretch of the main road that was shaded from the moonlight by trees. ; One of the highwaymen waved a lighted cigarette to Mr > Flash, who immediately pulled up. The highwayman asked for -a.-; spanner, explaining that ho had trouble with his brake* Mr Flash went for his toolbag and effected tlte necessary., repair to the brake. The second highwayman joined hip c-ompainion, and both thanked. Mr Flash - for his assistance. Then one of. the men; .struck 'Mr Flssn on the bqck of the head with an iron tyre lever.

(Mr Flash subsequently stated: “I have a cut five inches long across my scalp. ; I had no chance to fight. They topic my .car and , personal belongings and left me with just what I stand in) I was driving • from Manchester to London when the two men stopped mo and asked me to repair their car which had ostensibly-broken down. J found there was a brake ■ uncoupled and I repaired it. I was putting my tool away when one of the. men -struck me on the head from behind with a tyre lever. He hit me twice, and when I put up my arms to defend myselt and tried to get away, I -was struck three times on the arm with an iron jack handle. I- was practically unconscious, and the men dragged, -me towards their car. Presumably they \>eie going to put me into it. “A car'qamc al cn ß It seemed to slow down, but whether the driver saw what was happening or not I do pot know. He did not stop, but I managod to do a bit of shouting and a lorry stopped. The driver, and his mpte dragged' me on to the lorry and took me to Marlcvate. There is •no doubt that they saved my life. They' told me they did not like stopping!, because they thought they were going to .be waylaid.., * Tliey,had .heat'd storipff of things happening, on the road, ail'd thought I plight be one of the gang.” The Great West Road, near Beenham , reputed to be the .haunt of Dick Turpin, has been the scene of a modern hold-up, Police-Constable Gibbons, of Pqdworth, was cycling on patrol duty about 2.30 a.m. .when, he saw a, motorcar with, lights extinguished' standing near a, closed coffee-stall. As he got nearer he saw a light siloing inside, so, dismounting, he ~, crept forward to investigate. Unfortunately he was picked up in the lights of a passing car, and his presence was revealed to two men who were rifling-the inside of the stall. The men rushed out, a«d while one ran to the ca r the other; .flashed the light of a torch into the I policeman’s face and pressed a pistol into nis,.stomach and, threatened to shoot him if he moved or shouted. The