MURCHISON MYSTERY.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 March 1921, Page 6

MURCHISON MYSTERY.

' THE DARING ROBBERY.. ALL PLAIN! SAILING FOR THE ‘ THIEVES. The Murchison correspondent of the Gaeymouth Star supplied the followings account of the recent bank robbery : A special body of police are assisting Detective Young to solve the mystery of the Murchison 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 a.m. for the purpose of plunder, were as silent as they were 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. Ail was plain sailing, for the manager had not crosskeyed 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. H. Ellis) had failed to crosscheck the safe. It is a usual bank practice to have several locks on a safe The of these are distributed amongst the staff and make it imposible 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 op&ew Zealand is a one-storied building, and the teller sleeps in a room behind the public office. It was here, he 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 his stretchdr. Then the 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 had recently been cut. The twine tying Engall’s hands was identical with that found in the cottage. Ou the morning of the robbery just as the dawn came and the darkness faded fro mthe landscape, a car made its way out of Murchison. Who was in the car? Wheje did it go? The course of this mysterious car running from the scene of the lobbcry has neen traced as far as the Lvell, but there the trail ends.

A later message stated: “The money has been found intact, planted under a bridge at the riverside, but a short distance from the bank.”