CRIME IN SYDNEY.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5227, 16 January 1928, Page 3

CRIME IN SYDNEY.

IMMORALITY IN STREETS.

A MINISTER’S ATTACK.

Discussing the, question of the sanity of criminals In an address at the Central Methodist Mission’s meeting at Sydney, the Rev. Victor Bell referred to the crime waves, that were perturbing Australia and other countries. He said that international schemas were, organising for thieving and the destruction of men with property. In the great cities of the United States the laws, had broken down, and in Sydney crimes had been committed and not detected.-. Shoplifting was rife ; mere boys were frequently before the ■ ourts, and there were scenes in the streets that shpfckefl our civilisation.

“The open trading in immorality today is exciting one’s disgust,” said Mr Bell, “and it is, time that the people were protected from this insult to their higher feelings. The time has really come when the police, should exercise more vigilance to keep the streets clear of that kind ofrubbish.”

Mr Bqll expressed fear that the 610,000 Communists in Russia were by their agents, causing much of! the world’s crime.

“Some criminals are mad,” lie concluded, “but the most of them are bad.”

OPENING OF NEW YEAR.

MANY SCENES OF VIOLENCE.

The new year opened sehsatlonally for Golda Calletti, an Italian, says a Sydney paper. Seven shots were fired at him in Woolloomooloo, and five of them took effect. Taken to hospital by the police, hc< refused to disclose the name of his assailant. There was another razor-slashing at Darlinghurst in the early hours of the first day of the new year. A wosman was cut across, the cheiek and had seven stitches inserted in the wound.

After a desperate fight, lasting flor some, hours, in Crown Street, police intervened, but not before a man and. a woman had been backed with a bread knife. * An old feud between a young man and a pretty girl named Betty Carslake is said to have, been responsible for the latter being slashed with a razor at her flat in King’s Cross Road.

The man called at the flat, where Carslake was in bed with the young man’s former wife. CarSjlake and the man have, been at loggerheads for some time, and there was another quarrel: Carslake threatened to ring the police;, and the man, it is alleged, threatened that, if she did so, he would use a razor dn her.

Carslake laughed, but the man made good his words in dramatic fjashiop. He suddenly pulled a razor from his, pocket and slashed the girl across the face, inflicting a large wound. Carslake was hurried to St. Vincent’s Hospital, where seven stitches were inserted. ■

Subsequently, it is alleged,, thq wounded girl’s friend and several /men, who arc well known to the police, paid a visit to the assailant’s haiise at Bondi.

They surrounded the place, and then called the young man to come out. But, by the use of a subterfuge, he managed to escape—even though his sole garment, it was stated, was only a short singlet. Police reinforcements were rushed to Bondi, and the place was surrounded. There was no trace of the man. It is doubtful if the police will get li im befpre the friends of th® wounded giri. Berwick Lane, Woolloomooloo, where Calletti' was shot, has an unsavory reputation.- A few years ago 30 sly-grog shops were closed there. According to the police it is still inhabited by many undesirables. One bullet passed through Calletti’s body, and the others lodged in his left arm.

It is stated that an argument took place in the lane among five or six men Suddenly one of the men pulled a gun out of his pocket and fired seven shots at close range. Constable Saville, took Calletti to Sydney Hospital, but he refused to disclose who fired the shots. The police have no doubt that Calletti knows the man who shot him, and that lie is one of a. crowd who had threatened to “get square” with him. POLICE SEEK ASSISTANCE. A fight in Crown Street which, apparently, had been in progress for hours, was stopped by Constable Saville, of Darlinghurst. When he arrived on the scene he found a. woman named Daphne Armstrong, who lived in a flat there, sufV fering from three deep cuts in the arm. , ,

A man, who refused to. give his name, had a deep wound in his shoulder.

In reply to police, inquiry lie merely stated that .he was endeavouring to “get square.” Daphne Armstrong allegefl that a woman, Who also lives in Crown Street, stabbed her with a bread saw, and also stabbed the man.

Armstrong, after a struggle in which further police assistance was sought, was arrested and charged with using indecent language.

Another woman, named Lucas, was charged witli inflicting grievous-bodily harm.