MAN SHOT DOWN

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 242, 2 June 1932, Page 7

MAN SHOT DOWN

! ATTEMPTED ROBBERY OF BANK IN WESTERN | AUSTRALIA. | j TELLER'S FORTUNATE ABSENCE Details have been published in Ausf tralia of an attempted robbery of tbe i Bank of New South Wales at Manjimup, 16 miles south of Perth, early ! on the morning of Sunday, April 24, when one raan was fatally shot by a constable and his two companions escaped. Constable Harvey was called by a watchman and was standing in front of the bank building when a man came towards him. Constable Harvey said: "The man had a white handkerchief tied across his face. When I called to him that the police werie there and that I had him covered he still came on without speaking. I told hum to put up his hands, but he levsiled a revolver at me. I fired, j shooting him through the head." Mr. George Starkie, the watchman, who was at the rear, heard the two other men, who were inside, rushing f in his direction. When the back door i was opened, Mr. Starkie cried: "I've [ got you covered," and fired through I the glass door, which was immediateI ly closed. The men retreated, but re- | turned in a few seconds. Mr. Starkie 1 fired through the door again. The

burglars retired again. Constable Harvey came to the rear, thinking Mr. Starkie might have been injured. It was then that the men escaped through the front door into the bush. Mr. Ronald Beck, the teller, who , sleeps at the bank, was absent that . night. He fbuiid a m'ark on his pillow next morning, indicating that it had received a blow from a heavy iiriplement. A burglar had apparently crept to the bedside, intending to silence him with a spanner and tyrelever, which were lying on the bed. The burglars had stolen a cylinder • of oxygen and one of oxy-aeetylene and hose from a dredge at Fremantle. j With these they had almost burned a j circular pi'ece out of the safe door I when the shooting began. A small j piece of gelignite was found in the l dead man's pocket. The safe contain- | ed £1600. | A suspected man was found by a constable in a railway truck at Bridgetown, 24 miles north of Manjimup, on April 27, a few minutes before the train left for Perth. He was arrest1 ed and charged with having, in company with others, brokeii and enter- ; ed the bank with intent to commit a : crime. Manjimup is surrounded by deep jarah and karri forests extending east ! for 9 miles. It was into this that the men escaped. The pursuers could hear them crashing through the dense ! undergrowth after their escape.