ATTEMPTED ROBBERY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 415, 25 July 1908, Page 4

ATTEMPTED ROBBERY.

An audacious attempt was made recently to chloroform and rob a first-class passenger in the express from Viutimile to Paris. He had a sum of ,£1,200 in his pocket book and was enjoying a comfortable nap, when he awoke with a start to find a man coolly holding a phial of chloroform to his nostrils. His waistcoat had been unbuttoned, and the thief when interrupted was in the act of snatching the well-filled pocket book. Before an alarm could be given the man had scurried along the corridor to another part of the train. At Frejus, the next station, an individual was seen hurriedly changing from one carriage to another. Inquiry proved that he was not the robber but another passenger who had been the object of a precisely similar attempt, and had been so frightened as to lose all presence of mind. The man in custody, who was arrested when the train stopped at Cannes, is reported to be one of an organised gang who regularly “work” the southern express.