CITY HOLD-UP.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 124, 27 May 1932, Page 3

CITY HOLD-UP.

PAYROLL STOLEN. ACCOUNTANT ASSAULTED BAILED UP IN DOORWAY. IHSEE MEN ESCAPE IN CAR. PURSUED BY TOLICE. Under sensational circumstances, Mr. Richard Dias, aged 35, an accountant emploved by Messrs. W. Parkinson and Co., monumental masons, was held up, assaulted and robbed of over £100 in Victoria Street at a little before noon to-day. Three men were concerned in the hold-up, which is one of the most sensational occurrences in the history of crime in Auckland. One of the men pinioned Mr. Dias by both arms from behind, while a second punched him unmercifully and robbed him of a bag containing the company's payroll, which, consisted of five bundles of notes, each containing £20, six single notes and about £6 in silver, which was scattered all over the footpath. The third member of the gang was at the wheel of a two-seater roadster, in which all three escaped.

There were dozens of people in the vicinity at the time, and they were attracted by the cries of the assaulted accountant, who was jammed into the doorway of a, shop used as a dwelling house, No. 115, Victoria Street, occupied hy Mr. C. Gciseler, aud within a few yards of Parkinsons' monumental works, to which Mr. Dias was returning after obtaining the week's wages from tlio bank. Eye-Witness' Story.

An eye-witness stated that he was standing at the comer of Victoria and Hobson Streets when he noticed Mr. Dias walking towards Parkinsons'. He then saw two men approach the accountant outside of Geiseler's premises. One of the men, who was of dark blood, pounced upon the accountant, pinioning both his arms behind him, while a second man punched him about the head and body, and appeared to abstract something from an inside coat pocket. The assaulted man cried out for help, but before anybody could reach him the footpath was strewn with silver which spilt from a cretonne bag.

"I noticed a small car standing outside the shop," said the witness. "It was facing towards Queen Street, with the engine running, and a man was sitting in the driver's seat. When Mr. Dias commenced to cry out the driver started the car, and it commenced to move very slowly in the direction of Queen Street. A moment afterwards tho two men responsible for tho assault boarded the moving car, one jumping on the running board and the other taking the seat next the driver. The bag had disappeared with the men, and I concluded that the assailants had. got away with the swag. All that remained was silver coins, which appeared to be of the value of £4 or £5, scattered about tho pavement."" " Everybody Flabbergasted." Continuing, the witness said that he took particular notice of the number of the car, and with a pencil wrote it on the palm of his hand. It was an old model, and the driver did not seem to know too much about the handling of it. Everybody in the vicinity, he added, seemed to bo so flabbergasted by the suddenness of the hold-up that they were spellbound. He said the dark member of the gang was about sft lOin in height, dressed in a brown suit and hatless. He was the man who did the pinioning. ■ The man who assaulted the accountant was taller and not so well built. He wore a dark grey suit and had a beau- i tiful set of snow-white natural teeth. I

A description was given also of the driver of the car.. This was to the effect that he was thick-set, tall, dressed in a blue suit, and was wearing a gTey cap. "Would Know Them." Another eye-witness said he knew the man in the grey suit, as he had encountered him in a city hotel several weeks ago. "I could not mistake either of the two principal assailants," he said. "I would know them anywhere."

It was stated by a third eye-witness that he also knew one of the men concerned, and when he saw the car standing outside Geiseler's shop with the engine running, and two or three men cruising around as if in search of somebody, he thought there might be trouble. He explained that he had some business to do in a nearby shop, and when he again came on the street he saw the last blow in the assault struck and the three men escape in the car. Mrs. C. Geiseler, in the doorway of "whose shop-dwelling the assault occurred, said that her front door was shut, but she was attracted by screams. She opened the door and saw a dazed man in her doorway, and the footpath was strewn with silver. The next door neighbour, Mr. McClure,. was rushing down the street in pursuit of a blue roadster. There was blood in the doorway.