MURCHISON BANK ROBBERY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2248, 8 March 1921, Page 3

MURCHISON BANK ROBBERY.

MYSTERIOUS AND SILENT WORKERS.

The Murchiston correspondent of the Grcymouth Star supplied the following account of the recent bank robbery:—

A special body of police are assisting Detective Young to solve the mystery of the Murcheston bank robbery, that possesses many strange features. So far no arrests have been made.

According to teller Engall’s story the men who visited the bank at 3 u.m. for the purpose of plunder, were as silent as they are mysterious. They did not speak, nor did he. It follows that they must have rummaged round in the dark, for they would hardly be daring enough to light up the bank at such an hour, until they came upon the teller’s keys, which were in a chamois bag on the bank counter. All was plain sailing, for the manager had not cross-keyed the safe that night. Only one key was on the safe when the robbery took place. This was the first occasion on which the manager (Mr C. 11. Ellis) had failed to cross-check the safe. It is a usual bank practice to have several keys of a safe. These are distributed amongst the staff, and make it impossible for the safe to be opened unless the keyholders are present. At Murchison two keys held the safe, and as the manager failed to lock with his, the thief or thieves needed only the teller's key. The Murchison Bank of New Zealand is a one-storied building, and the teller sleeps in a room behind the public office. It was here, lie states, the grim intruders overpowered him. They tied his hands and legs with binder twine, and gagged him with his own handkerchief. They also wrapped blankets about him taken from bis stretcher. Then I lie teller fell asleep. Waking at 7 o’clock he gave the alarm. In the cottage next to the bank was found a roll of binder twine. From this a piece bad recently been cut. The twine tying Engall’s hands was identical with that found in tlic cottage. On the morning of the robbery .just as the dawn came in and the darkness faded from the landscape, a car made its way out of Murchison. Who was in the car? Where did it go .’ The course of this mysterious car running from the scene of the robbery has been traced as far as the Lyell, but there the trail ends.

The money was subsequently found intact, planted under a bridge tit the riverside, but a short distanco from the bank.