A MASKED GANG.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXI, Issue 8767, 19 March 1907, Page 4

A MASKED GANG.

Mrs Hamilton, an English lady residing at Kortch, in South Russia, and her niece, Miss Isabella Gasston, have had a terrible experience. They lived in a villa ou the outskirts of the town, and had retired to bed, when tire house was entered by masked robbers. In a letter Miss . Gasston, who belongs to South Shields, tells her experiences :—“I was awakened,” she says, ‘ ‘ by heavy footsteps in the corridor. Four men wearing masks and wigs entered my room. One carried a revolver, and another a long knife. The other two seized hold of me, one .clutching me by the throat and tire "other holding my hands in a tight. grasp. Tho revolver and knife were pointed at me. ‘‘l asked them if they wanted money, and they said yes. I begged of them to release my throat and hands, and I would show them whore the money ,was kept. They did so. I then saw two other men keeping guard over tho house, and directly afterwards caught sight of four men in my aunt’s room. They gwere stifling the life out of her, and her mouth was all bleeding. The man who was holding his hand over my aunt’s month got a surprise when I struck him on the back. ‘ ‘ There were ten men in her bod room, and I asked them again if it was money they wanted, and they all said ‘Yes.’ I gave them the keys. They looked aunt and mo in a dark room, and told us if we shouted they should return and kill us. They left us shivering in the cold- and ransacked every room in the ..house. They took four watches, live gold chains, four rings, and all the other jewellery they could find, and £IBO in Russian notes, besides a lot of Bank of England notes. ”

The gang have since been captured and several of them shot.“