MYSTERY SHOT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 69, 23 March 1937, Page 9

MYSTERY SHOT.

DETECTIVES BAFFLED. GUNMAN MEETS HIS FATE. SYDNEY TTNDERWORUO DRAMA (From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, March 19. Last Sunday week a taxi containing a man and a young woman drove up to St. Vincent's Hospital. The woman assisted the man to alight, as he was obviously injured. After explaining to the hospital officials that the man was ill and required treatment, she drove off. The doctor found the man bleeding from a bullet wound near his spine. He had apparently been shot in the back and complained that he felt half paralysed. It was impossible to remove the bullet, and the man, after lingering for a few days, died without giving any clue that could explain the circumstances of his fate or indicate those responsible for it. The doctors knew nothing of the man and the woman who brought him there had left no name. But when the detectives came they had recognised him at once. He was Edward Pulley, well known to the police as a "stand over man" —that is to say, a gunman who makes a practice of extorting money from "bookies" by threatening them with a revolver. Since 1933 Pulley had been before the Court 18 times ai.d had served four terms in gaol. He was known as the associate of desperate and dangerous men.

The police made several inquiries and were soon face to face with that impenetrable "wall of silence" behind which gangland hides its bloodstained secrets. They were told that while Pulley was walking down a street with the girl who took him to the hospital later a closed car drew up beside them with curtains drawn, a man leaned out of the window, aiming a revolver at Pulley, and shot him in the back. Girl Professed Ignorance. The girl, questioned by the detectives, insisted that she knew nothing of the shooting and that she did not even know that Pulley was hit till he fell to the ground. Further investigation convinced the police that Pulley was not shot in the street but in a house, but beyond this they could discover nothing. Ko.v°ver, enough was known of Pulley's antecedents and his associates to connect him in general terms with the series of events that undoubtedly led up to his death. Toward the end of last year "Hoppy" Gardiner, one of the most notorious, and, it should be added, one of the most courageous, of Sydney's gangsters, was shot by unknown persons, and after the inquest Pulley, who had known Gardiner well, was arrested and put on trial for the murder. The police knew that several respectable men and women had witnessed the shooting, but when questioned they professed ignorance. They knew that their lives might not be worth an hour's purchase if they "squealed," and they elected to keep silence. So that the police had to drop their case against Pulley for lack of e\ lence—though Hoppy* Gardiner on his death had told his mother "It was Ted (Pulley) that shot me." Impossible to Get Evidence. But why should Pulley. generally accepted as Gardiner's nearest friend, have murdered him? The answer to this question is contained in a long and involved story, in which S.P. betters, gunmen, "stand-over" men and desperate ruffians of all types move confusedly. When Pulley was charged with the murder of Gardiner it was impossible to get witnesses to testify against him, and he was acquitted. Still, in gangland there is usually an evil fate prepared for evil-doers, and it was generally believed that Pulley was "marked down" after Gardiner came to his end. Either through an act of vengeance committed by one of Hoppy's friends, or as an incident in one of the endless vendettas that diversify the gangster's life. Pulley ! reached St. Vincent's Hospital last Sunjday week with a bullet in his spine and 1 the end came speedily.