GIPSY FEUD

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 112, 13 May 1937, Page 26

GIPSY FEUD

TWO FIGHTING BANDS

A TROUBLE TO THE POLICE

COUNTRY TOWN BRAWL

(From "The Post's" Representative). SYDNEY, May 30.

Two wandering bands of gipsies are a source of worry and annoyance to residents and police of New r-Juth Waljs. They are warr'.ng factions, and besides committing various thei'ts and frauds (for which some have been imprisoned) they frequently fight among themselves. No one knows whence they came. Their numbers have increased. They marry young, and their families are large. They haye forsaken the traditional caravans for motor-cars, and move swiftly from place to place, generally following the circuit of agricultural shows, where surreptitious fortune-telling and other practices bring them money. Recently they were encamped for several weeks on the outskirts of the metropolitan area, where they created considerable interest and curiosity. A "scrap" between the factions led to a number of the gipsies beina arrested, and a police order to move on followed. Now they have appeared in the news again, this time as a result of a brawl at Dubbo, 300 miles west of Sydney. The rival factions, the Sterios and the-Stevenses, met there for the fiJst time since the big brawl near Sydney, and only the arrival of a big posse of police prevented a serious riot. Blood was shed before the contestants were separated, and the police had considerable difficulty in restoring order, owing to the presence of a crowd of several hundreds, who blocked the street as they watched about sixty gipsy men and women in fierce combat. It all started when, by accident or design, cars belonging to the rival factions bumped. In quick time the gipsies were fighting. Tom Stevens, whose arms bear the scars of razor slashes inflicted on the last occasion the factions clashed, was the first man felled. While Stevens was receiving a severe mauling on the ground, a constable arrived and used his baton in! order to stop the fighting. Other police I were telephoned for, and reinforcements stopped the conflict. Constance Sterio, alias Larry Jones, provided a sensational finale to Dubbo's most exciting street scene. Jumping into his car he drove up the street, turned, and then at high speed drove direct at the crowd, which scattered in all directions. A constable jumped on the running-board of the car, turned oft' the ignition, and arrested the driver. The police court was packed when eight of the gipsies were charged. The police alleged that Jones drove his car at the crowd at a speed of between fifty and sixty mile's an hour. Jones claimed that he drove away to get assistance, as his "team" was outnumbered by the rival faction. Sperio Sterio, who corroborated Jones ictory, denied that he had come to Dubbo to settle a long-staging feud with Stevens faction. He said that if he had known they were at Dubbo he would not have come. y Jones was fined £5 for assaulting a.:;c6riystable and £20 for driving his car dangerously, his licence being cancelled for two years. Two other men were fined for riotous behaviour. Several other gipsies were remanded on another charge. ■• I