YOUNG BANDIT.

Taranaki Daily News, 12 June 1922, Page 5

YOUNG BANDIT.

TERRORISES A TOWN. ROBBERY AND SHOOTING. ACTS AS BUSHRANGER. By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. Melbourne, June 10. While weekly wage payments amounting to £340 were being arranged by several young women in the office at a knitting mill at Clunes, a young man armed with a rifle entered the office, presented the weapon at the clerk, cried “Don’t resist,” took £lOO and decamped. Several of the employees and townsfolk pursued him, when the youth suddenly turned and fired into a group. No one was hit. Later the robber issued a manifesto to the residents, in which he described himself as a bushranger and announced, in terms of bravado that he would not molest women, children or unarmed men who did not hinder him in his progress. He is armed with an automatic rifle, and has a quantity of ammunition. Received June 11, 5.5 p.m. Melbourne, June 11. Later details of' the Clunes mill robbery show that it was committed by a youth named Clifford Hull, aged 17. When pursued he fired two shots, one of which passed through the hair of the manager of the mill. The robber then crossed tbe street, poked the butt of his rifle through a shop window and took a watch. When the proprietor came out to see what was the cause of the noise, Hull pointed the rifle at him and told him not to follow. Some time later he met a carrier a couple of miles from town, to whom he gave the manifesto already cabled, signed: “Hull, Bushranger.” Hull was formerly employed at the mill, and was dismissed over a dispute with another employee. Before committing the robbery he paid two visits to the mill. One of the employees, Miss Evans, made a plucky dash to give the alarm, but when she reached the police station it was closed, with a notice on the door: “Back at 5.30.” The constable in charge was away in the country. After the robbery, Hull raised his hat to some girl acquaintance and made a deep bow to scores of people who were peeping from shop doors. Hull is said to be hiding in a place of refuge of an old-time bushranger. The boy’s mother states he has probably lost his mental balance through reading “Deadwood Dick” stories and closely studying motion pictures. She sent a verbal message to him through the police, urging him to surrender, and several of his relatives are searching for him.—Aus.N.Z. Cable Assn.