FIGHT WITH ROBBER GANG.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 226, 22 March 1912, Page 3

FIGHT WITH ROBBER GANG.

A FUSILADE WITH BROWNING PISTOLS. Paris, January 31. , A little before 2 o'clock in the morning a watchman employed.by the railway company discovered several men iir the act of breaking into, one of the; store rooms at the Orleans railway station. The watchman quickly gave the alarm, and soon returned, reinforced by the assistant stationmaster, two platform porters and a policeman. Peaching ■ the; door of the store room, they called upon the burglars operating within to surrender. The latter, finding themselves surprised, dashed out of the building, firing right and left. The assistant stationmaster was struck in the left breast with a bullet, and fell to the ground, while a second employee was hit in the leg. As not any of the railway officials were armed, they could do nothing against the revolver fusillade of the criminals. So the Litter succeeded in getting away. The members of the band rushed towards the station, and succeeded in getting on board a train which was leaving for Etampes. When the station officials had recovered somewhat from their consternation, news of the shooting affray and the presence of the culprits on the train was telegraphed to the police at the various stations between Orleans and Paris. As tlie train slowed down preparatory to halting at Angerville two men were seen to alight on the oll'-sidc. Climbing the fence enclosing the railway line, they made off across country. A number of gendarmes, one of whom was mounted on a bicycle, started in hot pursuit. The two fugitives, hard-press-ed, opened fire on the pursuers with their ] revolvers. 1 After a chase extending over two hours, chiefly over intervening fields and | meadow land, Corporal Dorman, of the gendarmerie, who had outrun his companions, found himself gaining fast on the rearmost fugitive. When within fifteen vards of his man he. shouted to him to "throw up his hands in token of surrender. By way of reply, the man stopped, and] wheeling round, look aim at the ' sendarine with his Browning, and, rlr- ' 'ing. shot him dead, the bullet penetrating his victim's heart. The. remainder of the pursuers were fa.-t closing in upon ' the mtirdercr, when the latter realising ' how desperate was his plight, and, see- ' ing that no chance of escape was at hand, " placed the muzzle of his pistol behind ' his ear, and. pulling the trigger, fell 1 dead with the grip of his pursuers almost '■ upon him.

Leaving the bodies of the assassin and the dead gendarme where they had fallen, the pursuers pressed on in the wake of the second fugitive. They Were reinforced by military and the residents of the district, who had learnt the news of the affair. Half an hour later they overhauled the second man, who, finding that he was being run to earth, made free use of his revolver, wounding a gendarme, but the excitement and the fatigue of the long chase had told upon him, and his aim proved very uncertain. His pursuers managed to surround him, and the fugitive then opened fire with the, revolver; but when his last round of ammunition had been fired in a vain attempt to kill his would-be capturers the gendarmes rushed in and overpowered ! him. Meanwhile, at Etampes, the principal station after Angerville, on the way to Paris, the third act of the drama was taking place. When the train on which the fugitives had fled from Orleans drew up at Etampes the gendarmes there made a thorough search for other members of the band of desperadoes. In a first-class compartment they came across a man with a 'third-claSs ticket. He was questioned, and- as i his replies were deemed unsatisfactory, he was placed under arrest. His captors relaxed their vigilance in order to search the compartment. The prisoner, immediately the gendarmes had turned their backs, drew a revolver" from his pocket and, before anyone could intervene, shot himself dead. On his body were fdtmd papers which showed that his name'was Jean Paseala, and his age 28. In his pocket were two additional revolvers,' 17 cartridges, and a small sum of money. The man who killed the gendarme was without papers. He was about 30 years of age, and at present his identity has not been established. The third man, who was arrested, declared that he was born in Canada, and gave the name of Wild.