ARMED ROBBERS

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 121, 27 November 1928, Page 10

ARMED ROBBERS

RACEGOERS HELD UP. PURSUERS FIRED AT AUCKLAND SENSATION (By Telegraph.) j (Special to "The Evening Post.") i AUCKLAND, This Day. A sensational hold-up at the revolver point and an exciting effort at pursuit foiled by the firing of two shots, one of which punctured the tire of a pursuing motor-cycle and sidecar, took place on the Groat South road near Westfield at 1 o'clock this morning., Messrs. S. Henderson,' L. Hanson,.Erie. Manson, E. Holland, and Mrs. Henderson were^ returning in a motor-car from the Te Kuiti races when they were stopped by three men, two of whom had revolvers and threatened to shoot. At point of the revolver money, watches, and other valuables wero handed over. Then, still under tho cover, of revolvers, the three men dashed into their victims' car and sped away. A chase by motor-cyclists was set up within a minute or two. Percy Fletcher, of 2, Matai road, Ellerslie, and D. S. Wallace, of 2, Railway street, Newmarket, arrived in a motor-cycle and sidecar. They were on their way from Ngaruawahia to Auckland, and when they got near Westfield they found trees and wood blocking the road. They managed to get through, and » few yards further on reached the three men and the woman who had been robbed. They immediately started out in pursuit of the robbers. Fletcher and Wallace had gone only three or four hundred yards when they saw two cars in front. One was wrecked, and as they approached the other they saw a man leap on to the running board and the car dashed away at a great pace with the lights switched off. Fletcher and Wallace had given chase for about one hundred yards, when the man on the running board fired two shots with a revolver. One punctured the tire of the sidecar, which was thus crippled, and further chase was impossible. Fletcher and Wallace hastened to a nearby house and sent word through to the police. This was at ten minutes past one, only a quarter of an hour after the hold-up had taken place. Shortly before 2 o'clock a party of detectives arrived on the scene. Mr. Henderson said that when his car was approaching the bridge near Westfield the lights showed a barricade across the road. He pulled up, and. two men rushed out from the side of the road and jumped on the running board. Each had a revolver. The'rob T bers ordered the party to get out of the car, telling tho men to take off their coats and waistcoats and to place them in the ear. "We were powerless to resist," said Henderson. "I could not do anything, because one man stuck a revolver into my chest." .The men forced the party to walk some distance back, and then jumped into the car and drove away. Mr. Henderson said that the Maiisons had a fair amount of money on them, and had the presence of mind to put it under the back seat of the car as soon as the party was held up. The car was eventually found abandoned at Penrose, and the police believe that .the robbers then got into their own car. On the south side where Mr. Henderson's car was found there was a wide jiatch of tacks on the road. In the car were the coats and waistcoats with the pockets open and showing other signs of having been rifled. The money hidden by tho two Mansons was recovered intact from under the back seat. LADY PASSENGER'S STORY. Mrs. Henderson says: "We wero bowling along at a comfortable speed when I' felt the car stop. I saw tho j head of a masked man in the open window at my husband's elbow. The man I stuck the muzzle of a revolver in my husband's side. Another masked man placed tho barrel of a revolver against Mr. Holland's head. 'Take all we have got, but for the Lord's sake don't shoot us; we've got three kiddies. Don't shoot,' I cried. The men ordered us out of the car, saying they did not want our money. 'It is the car we want,' they told us. We wero all lined up behind tho car, while the robbers kept their revolvers pointed in our direction. They said they would leave the car about a couple of miles down the road. We did not believe them. The whole party was left in the road watching the disappearing tail lights of the car."