Man Found In Shop Caught After Chase

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28371, 2 September 1957, Page 10

Man Found In Shop Caught After Chase

Civilians and police combined successfully on Saturday evening to apprehend a man who had been flushed from his hiding place near a strongbox in

a city frock salon. For a few minutes patrol cars, detectives and uniformed police assisted by civilians arid a taxi driver raced through numerous back alleys in the heart of the city before they caught the man, hiding behind a car in a city parking lot.

The chase started at 9.30 p.m. Yesterday, the main figure in the episode, the manager of London House, Ltd., a frock salon in Colombo street, reconstructed t’ a events which built up into what he described as “an almost fictional affair with more* than a touch of Hollywood.” The manager, who did not want his name mentioned because he feared “reprisal" attempts on his home, was a few minutes before the chase sitting quietly at home with a neighbour. Not having completed work which he usually carries out on Saturday afternoon, he asked his neighbour to accompany him to the salon shortly after 9.15 p.m. They walked to the store, stopping to say to a constable on beat duty nearby: “Very quiet tonight —no trouble with the bodgies.” Man Behind Door Then the manager placed a key in the door of the salon and walked with his friend into the carpeted room. He fumbled for a switch, turned on the light and walked to his office. Then ... as he says: “I eased the door open and felt something soft behind the door. Looking up at me was a man crouched behind the door near the strongbox. “I wedged him between the door and the wall and said: “What are you doing here?’ “I got his arm, but he wrenched himself clear. Then I saw something gleam in his hand. I thought I was for it. My companion thought I had seen a rat, or something, and was struck dumb when a man raced by him and out into the rear of the store.”

The. manager told his companion to chase around the block to cut off the man’s escape through a back alley. He did this and then the manager, running into the street yelled: “Thieves, thieves,” pointing to his companion. A constable bn. beat duty sized up the situation, but thought the companion was the thief. He chased after him. The man, pursued by a growing band, cut through alley ways and rights-of-way until he ducked into a right-of-way that led into a parking lot near the State Fire Insurance building. Taxi Commandeered'

Meantime, Constable T. Miller had commandeered a taxi and had almost caught the man. A search

of the parking lot soon led to his capture. By this time detectives and police were surrounding the block and at? least five civilians had joined the hunt. “Really, it was much like something out of the films,” Said the As the man was being escorted to the police station two detectives on, patrol saw the manager of the saloon inside the building, and stopped to question him. • About £lB was found to have been taken and coins were scattered across the floor near the strongbox, which had been left open.

A forcing bar was found to have been, used to smash the rear door of the premises, and a pair of black shoes with soft rubber soles was left behind.