ROBBERY UNDER ARMS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9092, 19 May 1908, Page 5

ROBBERY UNDER ARMS.

TWO MEN SHOT AT,

A CHRISTCHURCH SENSATION. BY TELEGRAPH —PEESB ASSOCIATION' . CHRISTCHURCH, May 18. Between twelve o'clock on Saturday night and one o'clock on Sunday morning a gang of three men, two of whom were armed with revolvers, rode slowly along Fitzgerald avenue on bicycles, and "held-up" pedestrians who appeared likely to possess valuables. They started from the northern end of the avenue, and sighted the first quarry after going a little distance. The victim was called upon to stop, and when he did so one of the gang hit him on the heaJ with the butt end of the revolver, wounding him severely, and smashing in his hat. He then threw him dow:: upon the footpath, while another man went through his pockets, taking about £2 in cash. The three men then hurriedly remounted their bicycles and proceeded southwards along the avenue. They next encountered a gentleman who, when called upon to halt, endeavoured to beat off his assailants with an umbrella. They snatched a purse which the gentleman held in his hand. It contained about £4 in cash. While the robbers were busy with their victim, a policeman on beat strolled up. The men at once told the captive to keep a quiet tongue in his head or they would blow his head off, and the constable's as well. The constable approached and told the men to shift their bicycles, the machines having been laid down on the road when the attack was made. Notwithstanding that he had just been robbed of £4, the threat was sufficient to prevent the victim making any complaint at the time. The next person to attract the attentions of the night birds attempted to run away, but was stopped by a revolver bullet, which struck the back of his hand. He evidently thought further flight too risky, and he went homeward poorer by 17s Sd in cash and a gold watch and chain. On the next attempt at robbery, which occurred at about a quarter to one, the gang were not so successful. They called upon a young man named Morley to stop, and on his making a bolt for the gate of his residence one fired at him. the bullet passing through his overcoat and coat, and grazing one of his fingers. ■ THREE SUSPECTS ARRESTED. ARMED WITH REVOLVERS. CHRISTCHURCH, May 18. With regard to the "holding up" outrage on Saturday night further enquiries made to-day show that the incident was conducted by a determined gang of thievas, and was not at all a isrr'kin affair. The police are taking extra precautions to patrol the town. The police arrested *three men at Sumner at noon roughly answering the description of the men concerned in the outrage. All three are suspicious characters, and have been under police surveillance for some days. When arrested all were found to be armed with revolver?. This morning Detective Ward went to Sumner, and with.the assistance of Constable Hampton, «'ho is stationed at Sumner, arrested the three men. It is understood that there is other evidence besides the revolvers that the right m?a hav, been secured. The three men were detained at /Sumner, ar.J early this afternoon step.'' vvere taken to give the victims of the v obbsries an ooportunity to identify tIW men. They were not very clear in ft e ' ir recollections of the features and .*5 ures °. f their 'assailants owing to thb excitement under which they had natui', nl, y laboured at the time of the assault, v l '" it is understood that the identification was sufficiently complete. The detention of the three men at Sumner was clue to the prompt police work of Constable Hampton, the constable in change at the seaside resort. He had been "keeping an eve" on the three men who were bachelorising together. They were absent from their house on Saturday at midnight, and on Sunday their clothes were hanging out to dry on a clothes line. These two facts led the police officer to communicate with the Central Police Station, and Detective Ward went to see the three suspects. It is confidently predicted that the men detained will prove to be the desperate characters "wanted." The three men arrested were living in a-small furnished house at the back of Sumner, which they had rented and had been occupying for over a week. One of them comes from the North Island and has a bad-police record, but the others are unknown. The men made no resistance when arrested. On being searched a revolver was found upon one of the men, and also a gold ring, which had been taken from one of the men "held up," and which was advertised for this morning. The accused were taken to the Sumner lock-up, and the police then proceeded to search their house. A search resulted in the discovery of two keys which were taken from one of their victims and thrown behind a tank, three masks, one revolver, a ring and a quantity of clothing, etc., alleged to be stolen from a Woolston house last week. FURTHER CHARGES PROBABLE. CHRISTCHURCH. May 18. The names of the men who were arrested are:—James Kegan, Joseph Evans, and Frank Brennan, alias Bolton. All the particulars regarding them are not yet available, but it is understood that one of them is from Auckland and another of them from Wellington. The necessary- enquiries nre being made into the antecedents of each. At tho Magistrate's Court to-mor-row morning the men will be charged with having committed highway robbery, but the case will not be proceeded with and a remand will be asked for. It is probable that further charges will be laid against the men in connection with certain other recent offences in the city. It is understood that the greater portion of the property, of which persons who were stuck up on Sunday morning were forcibly deprived of, has been recovered. From the man-

ner in which the offences of Sunday morning were committed, especially the ostentatious way in which the assailants produced and flourished their revolvers, it is surmised that they are not practical hands at highway robbery.