THOUGHT BANDIT BRANDISHED REVOLVER

NZ Truth, Issue 1194, 18 October 1928, Page 8

THOUGHT BANDIT BRANDISHED REVOLVER

\ THREATENED TO KILL VICTIM?]

Desperate Encounter On Running Board Of Robbers ' Stolen A utomobile

AMAZING CONFESSION OF PLANNED HOLD-UP

■; f nmmm „„„„„„„ , mniMiiiiiiiimiiiili mi'iiinnin iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiini iiniiiiiiiiiiiiniiimiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiii.iiiiiHiiiiii|iiii(iiiiiiii tn imiiMiiiiiimiiimiinitim iiiitiiiMiiiiiiiMiitiiinliiiiiitiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiitltiiiniliiiii uiiiit iii'liriiwitiwiniiiu luiiiniiunn = 'i'liiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiimiiimtiiiiiiiiiinmimimitiiiiiiin^ iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiuiiiiiiiihmi iii!iiiiiiiiiiitcii|M!iiiiiiiiiiiiiiitMiiiiiiti!imiiiii!iiiiiiiiii|iitiii'!iii!iiiii!iitii!"i!iiii!m!li!^ ( 1J (From "N.Zr Truth's" Special Auckland Representative.) . | Jl ALL UNCONSCIOUS of the lurking forms that stepped m their Wake George Pearce and his wife Walked quietly I II homeward, chatting idly about the doings of the day it \ their shop m Pitt Street. No thought of thieves entered their heads, al- 1; l| though m Mrs. Pearce 's handbag was a sum of £6 and m the attache-case her husband carried were the shop takings totalling §1 || about £3s. ■ . • • -..- . .',: ■■'_: . . ; . . . ■, ; , ; . ■". ■'"■■ : ;-. ■ .■' jf fl They were almost home when, suddenly from behind, there was a scurrying of feet and the next moment two men appeared, jjf fj Without a word, one of them pushed violently against Pearce and tripped him up m the roadway, injuring his left hand, while his [| j! accomplice snatched the handbag from Mrs. Pearce Then the night air was rent by the woman's screams and the two men f| 1 1 dashed headlong across the street to a waiting motor-car. j If Bruised and dazed as he was, Pearce gave chase, mounted the running board of the car and did not relinquish his hold until, | If he alleges, he was threatened with death by one of the men, who menaced him with what appeared to be a revolver. He [ || jumped from the car and sustained severe injuries to his face. For the time being, his assailants had made good their get-away. f

BUT four days later the Te Kuiti police effected a sensational "arrest under arms" of three men, two of whom now await trial on a charge of robbery with violence. The men alleged to have been responsible for the daring Mt. Eden hold-up of Pearce and his wife are Roy Edward . Trask and Norman Travers, who, m statements said to have been made to the Auckland police, admit the offences. * In spite of their alleged confessions, both men elected to be tried by jury and will stand their trial m the Supreme Court next month. On the summary charge of converting a car to their own use,, both men were convicted and sentenced to three months' imprisonment, Trask also being sentenced to a further period of fourteen days for the theft of six gallons of petrol. In addition to the hold-up charge, bot.h Trask and Travers await trial on another charge of converting a car to their- own use. " . A third man figures m the picture as di'awn by the police. He is. Joseph Henry Trask, the younger Trasli's father, who was sentenced to three months with the other two on the summary conversion charge. .\ The elder Trask also received six months' gaol for false . pretences. . The story of the hold-up and the subsequent exploits of the men concerned, as related ' by police witnesses before Magistrate Hunt last week, makes one of the most : amazing' ■ narratives of crime that *,'• has been 1 told for many a long day.

A Mummy Pistol

It the statements oontained m the confessions made by Trask and Travers are true, then these two young men are ■ self-confessed blackguards who were prepared to go to almost any. length to rofe Pear.cc and his wife. Pearce was ;iujider no de-viM whatever, m the witness- box that Trask was! the man who tripped him up. It; was Trask; \vho was at the wheel of the car and hejv'should say the other man was Travers'.'' Pearce also claimed to know Trask slightly, alleging that he had been m his shop on two pj 1 .three occasions. It Was this knowledge of Pearce and his shop that, was referred to by both men m theit- stoiteinehts and which was given as the germ of the idea to carry 6ut the daring robbery. To get a'trlie perspective of the case it is necessary to consider Avimt Trask andTravers; had to say after their 'arrest. ■ '■ •; y : /Z -i-'ri'-. ■ r Mie alleged .{ftffjlements themselves are, the story of the Svhole episode. ;| Here, is what Travers had to say m fiis -statement: "I am a seaman and have been out of eniployment fpr some time past. I have been staying, at various placas m Auckiand • arid ; have slept out on Various occasions. ; ."About a fortnight before the offence, I met : Triisk and assisted him to": repair ,a motor tyre.. I met him again later and he told me he knew where he could £et some. money. . > "Qh the mornirijg of September 28' I met Trask ahdV went with, him to Symonds Street, where Trask .took the Talbot car, from 'outside Cavanagh's gatagOi That was about lunch-time. "That' afternoon -we both drove roiind the- city, separating for tea After tea we '" met again m Albert Street. " • •,"■;■ ; . • • '.-•'■.;.

"Trask had the car with him again and we. went for another spin until about 9 o'clock, when we went together, m the car to Mt. Eden road. "Trask said he would, wait for Mr. and Mrs. Pearce, who would be coming home and would have some money. Trask arranged that he would trip Pearce up, while! I secured the bag containing the money. "At about haif-past nine a man and a lady approached. They were walking on the footpath and Trask told me they were Mr. and Mrs. Pearce. "We let them pass and then followed them until they haji got opposite where we had loft" the motpr-car. "Trask tripned up Mr. .Pearce and I grabbed the nandbag off Mrs. Pearce. We then ran over to the car and .Trask soon had it going. ••■■■. -■: . . • . ■"■Pearce jumped on to the running board and I tried to stop him from interfering with the d.-iving .wheel. "I pointed a dummy, revolver — it was like a water pistol— sit Mr. Pearce, who jumped off the caiV further, down the road. Trask diove to G^eat South Road, where the car ran out of petrol. "After I had handed the dummy revolver to- Trask, I opened the handbag and found there was £6 m it. I gave Trask £5 and kept £1 for myself.. . . "The next day (Saturday) we de-

Trask Confesses

cided to leave Auckland m case the police picked us up. Trask's father got-a rental car frpni Mf. Shorter : ■ .■ .and m this the.thiee of uS left Freeman's Bay and went to Hamilton. "Later we went -on to Te Kuiti, all of. us sleeping m the car on the roadside at night-time. We intended going to Wellington m the car. "I would not have thought of interfering with. Mr. li.nd Mrs. Pearce had not Roy Trask* s\i§j£estod it. I did not know, the Pearces." . So much for the statement made — and .signed — by Travers. But what about the other man — Trask? ■ He also told a story to the police, and, according to the state- " ment read m court, it was similar m almost every detail to that of the 1 other man. > Styling himself a plasterer, Trask stated that he. had been assisting his father on several contracts. . . Tra'vers had told him he was hare] up and Trask informed him that he knew wh ere he' could get some money. "I decided to pick up a car for the day," the statement 'ran, "so I took one from Sympnds Street." The statement goes on to describe the arrangements Trask' made with Travers for holding up the Pearces. There was an alleged admission that he had tripped up Peurce, but after he jumped on to the rimning board he slowed' up the car to enable him to jump off. . "Travers gave me £5 of the money m the handbag, saying: 'That will go

towards e^es., as ..'we . can't stay m Auckland.! ■ ' Th'o. statement then goes on. to detail the '.arrungements' that were being planned following the departure f?om Auckland. ..:... • It was intended that . Tr^sk, serir:. should go to New Plymouth and that his .'.son should 'return the car to Shorter. • ' ' ' ■ , , ; • Explaining why he participated m the hold-up, Trask, m his statement, said : "We did it . because we were short of cash and out of work." Such were the statements that were put m and which will have to be explained to the jury. ■ • ■= ■ All Pearce could tell the court in' the witness-box was merely a repetition of

many of the statements contairied m the alleged .confessions of the two men concerned.. .... - His left . hand still m bandages, Pearce appeared nervous and illratease when eivi'qg^ his evideride,. but he told a connected story, nevertheless^: After describing the actual assault, and robbery, he was- closely questioned by Chief-detective Hammond as to wha.t transpired when he jumped on the running board of the car. The chief-detective: You say Trask tripped you up? What became of your attache-case when you fell ?-—l feil on it. :/V Was any attempt made to take it from you?— Yes. 1

What happened after you. were tripped lip?— They got away' and ran across the road to where a car was standing. What happened then ? — Trask got to; the wheel and the other man got into the car beside him. Now, what did you do?— I endeavored to stop them. . Did you then know that your wife had lost her handbag?— Yes, my wife screamed and I knew then that her bag was. missing. And you tried to get it back? — Yes. Did you see the bag? — No; And you tried to stop them from getting away? — Yes, I, .did. : . What did you do? — They, could not get the car to start at first. I got on the running board and Travers started hfFting me tn the face, The magistrate: Was that when you first met him? — I fancied I had seen' him before! ' ' Chief -detective: -.You-, say Trask was driving the car and Travers was trying to hit you m the face? — Yes. How. long did you remain on the running board ? — For about a mile or a mile andi a-half. And what was 1 said during that time ?— Travers threatened to kill nic if I did not get off. He had. what I took to' be a revolver, which lie was holding m his hand. . Did you get off voluntarily or. were you pushed off?— l got off the cat

Recognised Them

voluntarily; In getting off, I fell and tut my wristband eye and grazed my ankle:' ■■:;" ' '".'..' '".'.'... '" ' . . When did you, receive the injuries to your hand?— When I was tripped up m the road. The wound has not healed up yet. ■ ' There Wks nobody- m the car but Trask and the other man?— No. 1 ' • ' ■• * How •many yards were "you fromycur gate when you were tripped up ?V-^ Well, within, 200 yards; ' What do you mein by that? Gah't you give us some definite idea? — Well, probably It would be abptjt twenty yards or so. Magistrate: Bid you recognize either of the two men at the time?— Yes, ] knew Trask and I know him now. . Any doubt about, it?— No doubt about it at all. ' v . Do you know the other man?— Yes. "Well, was he the rtiari who was With Trask?" Pearce thought for a while and then gave an indefinite answer. ....•• . ''■"■.- The questipn was repeated and he was again asked what he had to say m reply. Was it— or was it not— the same man who was with Trask? "Well, I should say lie was," Pearce got out at last. 7 , , Elizabeth Pearce then tola her version of ( tl}e assault and robbery/. f - What she had to tell the court was corroborative for the mosk part of her husband's evidence. ' She had seen Trask m her husband's shop, but could not say that she re~

cognized him as the man who figured m the assault. Detective O'Sullivan told how the two accused, with Trask, senr., had been arrested on the high road by, the Te Kuiti police.. Although the fact was not stated m evidence, It is understood that the Te Kuiti police were warned that tho wanted men were supposed to be armed. Thus prepared, they arrested the two Trasks and Travers under arms. .' . The two Trasks were sitting: m the front seat of the car they were driving at the time of their arrest. . ■■'■ The capture cameras a complete surprise. There; was no resistance offered and when searched there vyas ; n6 sign of a revolvei* on any of the accused. On their arrival m AucklandY the three men. were seen by Detective O'Sullivan. . " ' Both the .younger accused made statements which were produced m court and read by the magistrate . Following the reading of ..the., Statements, already quoted, -Detective O'Sullivan stated that he had questioned Trask about the toy revolver. "He told me he had thrown it out." This concluded the case for the prosecution and Lawyer F. W. Schramm, avJu) appeared for the defence,, 'intimated that there would.be a plea of not guilty, both to the robbery charge and to tHe charge of converting a. car belonging to Cavanagh and Co. ; ' : : ; With regard to the latter charge, which came within the jurisdiction of the magistrate, counsel asked the

On FodVs Errand

.bench to> withhold judgment until after the Supreme Court trial. r r "No, certainly not," said the magistrate.; "I am convicting them on this charge ana each will be sentenced to three months' imprisonment. They can appeal f r,om that if they like. "As for Trask, he will get another fourteen days for theft of the petrol, this sentence to be cumulative witKj the other.",; . •• ' ■. : - y-^'-'V' '" Tlie" ■ magistrate Tiad a few words to say , cpijcernlhg the petrol. <,"T ; his man piilleld^.up : > the : car / outside a service. sf atiStf; "got six gallons of petrol m the; tank, sent the garage man- away, .on a, fooUs.-ierrand and "then droVeVoff; Isypp_ose he,, thought he' .''w&s' clever. doing, this sort' of thing." ■>.'•?■' • -Arid 'so for the next few months, : 'at'-'least, the Trasks and Travers will remain m gaol. . 'As for the "elder Trask, the. "police gave him a bad record. It was sard that he ; hadan act* punt at a bank ajid paid. .in"; "small deposits oocasioh-iilly, then 'operated dud cheques, ihathe did not have >sumcient m tiie bank to l-deete them." • V '; He came from Aristralia soiiie. years ago and had worked as a concracto.-". '.'He has a pretty good list of previous convictions and is at present on three years' probation for attejiVpted arson,"' was how the chief-detective described him; - ' ; For the next , nine months he will have time to ponder on his ways, hoping that Fortune will smile upon his son and heir to the extent of giving him a verdict of not guilty on the grave charge hanging over young Trask'S head. But, as already mentioned, that is a question which a jury will be called upon to decide. ..-.-.