THRILLING DRAMA

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 146, 17 March 1934, Page 18

THRILLING DRAMA

Gunmen Run To Earth

Hollywood’s most thrilling drama had no more dramatic climax than the end of the hunt for the two German gunmen who kept the population of Bale, Switzerland, and the region for many miles around in a state of terror for two days recently. The fugitives, who committed suicide early when trapped in St. Margaret Park, Bale, were, as in most gangster films, brought to justice by a woman. The affair has ended in the loss of eight lives and possibly of more yet to be revealed. '

The bandits, Kurt Saudweg and Walter Velte, murdered two cashiers in a bank which they robbed at Bale. The same day they kept an appointment with two women they had met at Bale, and with the greatest composure entertained them at luncheon in one of the town’s best-known restaurants. One of the women subsequently persuaded the men to have their photographs taken, and this put the police on their tracks.

One morning two detectives visited a small lodging house ou the outskirts of Bale where the bandits were staying and asked them to produce their identity papers. While one was doing this the other emptied his revolver at the detectives, killing one and mortally wounding the other.

Sandweg and Velte made off on stolen bicycles, and a workman who chased them was shot in the head and severely wounded. Later, when trapped in a quarry, the desperadoes killed another detective and fatally wounded his companion. The fugitives then calmly walked into a station buffet at Laufen, in thickly wooded country about 30 miles south of Bale, and ordered a substantial meal, after which they bought provisions at a neighbouring shop.

Meanwhile, troops armed with rifles and wearing steel helmets had been called out to help in the search being made by hundreds of police. Aeroplanes and dogs were also used. In the evening one of the airmen saw the bandits running toward the forest'and dropped a message informing the police. A cordon of 500 men surrounded the spot, but the fugitives got away. The Franco-Swiss frontier was now ablaze with searchlights, for the guards on both sides had been warned of the man-hunt.

Unable to obtain more food, the bandits made their way through a district packed with police to the outskirts of Bale. There they telephoned asking one of their women acquaintances to bring them provisions to an isolated spot in St. Margaret’s Park. She informed the police, and on their instructions took a parcel to the place indicated. When she returned from her perilous mission she said there was no doubt about the men’s identity. The park was surrounded, but as it was known that the desjieradoes intended to sell their lives dearly operations were suspended until daylight. At-dawn the police, with revolvers ready, cautiously closed in and found the two bandits lying dead with bullets through their heads. Apparently Sandweg had shot Velte before killing himself. The men still had'l6 rounds of ammunition in their pockets. It has been established that they were the robbers who killed a bank cashier at Stuttgart two years ago..