TERROR IN SYDNEY.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 49, 26 February 1916, Page 6

TERROR IN SYDNEY.

A BOMB THROWN BT A PUSH. A SENSATIONAL OUTRAGE. A bomb thrown into a passage at Mrs. Louisa Burns' residence, 20, Little Riley' Street, two doors from Reservoir fetreet, Surry Hills, at about 12.30 o'clock on Tuesday morning, exploded, the result being that a door and portion of tae ceiling were blown into the street. Mrs. Burns, who was sleeping in a Toom close by, was partly stunned. Her sons, Leslie and Frank, 12 and 14 years respectively, were upstairs, and were co alarmed that they stayed in their room until neighbours arrived on the scene and induced them and Mrs. Burns to go outside. The 6ound of the explosion woke hundreds of people living in the locality, and for a while a good deal of excitement reigned. Considerably frightened men, women, and children rushed into the street. They soon learned what the trouble was, whose house had been bombed, and they all seemed to know why it had been attacked. Mre. Burns, it appears, was suspected of having given the police information which led to a raid on a sly-grog shop. But there was no one, because of the fear of what the gang would do to them, willing to impart any information to the police, and the perpetrators of the outrage are still at liberty. They are known, but no evidence can be obtained against them.

Only tbe previous morning at 12.30 o'clock a woman was attacked on a vacant piece of ground not very far from Mrs. Burns' house. She was outraged, so neighbours say, and then robbed of a gold bangle, a. brooch, and a halfsovereign. She screamed loudly for help, but before anyone could go to herassistance she had been badly treated and robbed. One man had the courage —and that is something in the locality —to chase the men down a lane, but he was unable to catch them. The woman refused to give her name, and went away.

On Christmas Eve a man was beaten up in a house of questionable character in the vicinity, and tossed out on to the roadway with very little clothing on. Blood was pouring from his wounds, and the man was in such a bad way that someone got hold of him and had him driven to ii hospitial, where he was attended to. The affair was hushed up, for the very good reason that members of the gang who frequent the place would have dealt out punishment to anyone passing the word to the police.

Only a few nights ago, in Reservoir Street, not far from where the man was ehot in a hotel last Saturday, a bomb was exploded, and the residents of the street awakened from their slumber 3. To be roused from sound sleep is nothing for people living in Reservoir Street, or the streets crossing it, as every night the rioters explode fire crackers. They are mostly all in a drunken condition during their spells of terrorising the residents, and they seem to care little whether or not there is such an organisation as the police force.

An officer of the Police Department, when spoken to about the matter, stated that it was impossible to obtain nny evidence from the residents to convict the gang, the members of which, be stated, were well-known criminals.