THRILLING CHASE.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 June 1922, Page 5

THRILLING CHASE.

SHARP BATTLE IN STREET, CROWD ATTACKS ASSASSINS. CRIES OF “LYNCH THEM.” MURDER HORRIFIES LONDON. Received June 23, 5.5 p.m. London, June 22. Sir Henry Wilson’s assassination stunned London. The fact that the crime appears political lends poignant emphasis to Sir Henry Wilson’s last speech, less than an hour before, when unveiling the soldiers’ memorial. He said these men fell while doing their duty, and in doing what they thought was right they paid the penalty. These prophetic words can now be applied to Sir Henry Wilson himself. Even his enemies never doubted him. i Throughout recent events he acted with a deep sense of duty. Three bullets struck Sir Henry Wil- j i son. His sister and others in the house ' i rushed out and bore him inside, but I he breathed his last in a few minutes. Constable Marsh heard the shooting and chased the assailants, who fired a , shot and hit Marsh in the stomach. The I constable died in hospital. The prompt action of Parliament in ' rising in honor of Sir Henry Wilson’s memory was followed shortly afterwards by the King’s announcement that he had cancelled a private dinner in . honor of the Prince of Wales’ birthday, which was intended to be the Royal family’s own celebration of the Prince’s return. It is many years since London witnessed such a chase as that after the assassins. It took place in the very heart of the peaceful, aristocratic West i End. I A policeman in a nearby station in i Gerald Row heard the hubbub and rush- ! ed out in his shirt sleeves and led tne ! infuriated crowd on the murderers’ I heels. Some constables commandeered j cabs and motors. The fugitives turned into South I % Eaton Place and thence into Ebury Street, where they were run to earth. A smart battle preceded the capture, the police taking no risks with the firmed assassins. Some policemen ■flung their batons in the murderers’ faces. One of the assassins was a big man over six feet in height and sixteen stone weight. He whipped out a re- , volver and was aiming when a police 1 truncheon descended on his wrist and the revolver fell. The crowd the.; attacked him. One man hit him on the head with a shovel ! and a carter flung a bottle, which broke the assassin’s head, and blood streamed down his face. The police were compelled to protect the prisoners, the crowd shouting, “Lynch them.”

HUNDREDS CHASE MEN. TRAFFIC DELAYS FLIGHT. SENSATIONAL CAPTURE. VICTIM’S SWORD DRAWN. Received June 23, 8.20 p.m. London, June 22. It is difficult to disentangle the details of Sir Henry 'Wilson’s death, though a score of people witnessed the murder and hundreds partook m the chase of the- murderers. Sir Henry Wilson had paid the taxicab and taken out his latch key when the first shot was fired. It missed, and penetrated the front door. The FieldMarshal turned round and three shots followed. All struck the doomed man, who staggered on the pavement ana fell.

The servants of the house ran out and found their master with his face in the gutter. The fatal shot pierced his chest. Sir Henry Wilson was in full uniform and wearing all his medals, with his naked sword lying by his side as though instinctively he drew it in self-defence.

Meantime several passers-by had seen two idlers, one man six’ foot high and the other a little fellow with a pronounced limp. They were talking together, but did nothing to attract attention until they drew revolvers of the Webley service pattern and opened fire from the roadway, sheltering behind a trestle which kept vehicles from a newly-tarred section of the road.

The road-menders say that when he fell one of them went to Sir Henry Wilson’s assistance, while the other dashed after the murderers, who turned and ran. They threatened the road repairer with a revolver, so he stopped, but did not lose sight of the murderers until they were arrested. Meanwhile people coming * from houses and passers-by were attractea by the sounds of firing, and joined in the pursuit, shouting “Murder! Murder!” and “Stop ’em.” The taller man could easily have outran his companion, but made no effort to leave the limping man. As they dodged the traffic they both turned occasionally and fired on their pursuers. A horse and carriage coming out of a garage barred the murderers’ escape. The men instantly decided to jump in, and shouted to the driver. “Drive on.” The man, however, guessed sometlnng was wrong and said he was not going to. One of the murderers replied: “Drive on or we will drop you.” The driver says he made up his mind to drive the men to the Gerald Road police station, and perhaps they suspected this, -for they jumped out at the corner of Eaton Place.

The pursuing crowd now numbered hundreds, including two members of the American Embassy, who say it took them some moments to realise that it was not a carefully arranged piece of cinema acting. The end came when a motor-car drove across the murderers' path. They fired, but the police had the men cornered. One constable threw his truncheon and hit the smaller man on the side of the head, and he fell on the. road, and in a moment a number of of constables and members of the crowd fell upon him. The tall man fired his last shot at the men struggling on the ground, but a policeman truncheoned him, while another man in the crowd broke a heavy milk bottle over the assassin’s head. The infuriated crowd tried to I lynch the man, who cried pitifully: “Have mercy.” “A lot of mercy you showed?’ was the retort. Both prisoners, bleeding badly, were carried to the jolic* statiou,—Aua-N.Z. Cable Assn,