CONSTABLE ABDUCTED

Greymouth Evening Star, 9 November 1923, Page 5

CONSTABLE ABDUCTED

EPISODE IN MELBOURNE. > ■ V - I A sensational experience befell Senior Constable Elliott during the course of patrol duty Tn Coffins Street, Melbourne, when lie attempted to remonstrate with a- party of joy-riders. Elliott states that a motor-car contain- - ing three men and a woman drew up alongside the kerbing outside the Victoria Coffee Palace, the occupants be- . ing more or less intoxicated, reports the “Age.” One of the men brandished a whisky flask in his hand. Elliott walked over to the car and, mounting the running board, he told, the occupants that their conduct was offensive, and that if they did not desist .the would have to lock them up. The constable’s intervention was the signal:for a renewed outburst of ribald remarks and shouting. After ascertaining that the driver did not possess a license, Elliott vaulted into the back esat of the car and commanded, the driver to proceed to the city watchhouse. He informed the occupants of the car that he intended to lock them up. Instead of complying with the . request, the driver took the car up Collins Street into Exhibition Street, and after taking a devious route it entered Wellington Parade, East Melbourne, and reached Albert Street During the journey Constable Elliott was tightly wedged between two men in the rear seat, and he was powerless to protect himself against the blows which the men bestowed on him. AVhen the car was travelling along . Wellington Parade the captive constable saw an officer on patrol duty, and cried out to him for assistance, but the appeal was not heard. The action of the constable in crying out for.help was evidently: resented, for one of the men produced a bottle of beer, and made a threatening gesture in the prisoner’s direction. Elliott warned the men of the consequences of their action should, they resort to violence, and, although he did. not carry a revolver, he decided to bluff his captors. “I have a gun on me,” he'said, “and I’lT shoot.” This was news to the assailants. The cai. slowed down, and Elliott took the opportunity to jump into the roadway. Immediately he did so the speed of the car was accelerated. Elliott, however managed to obtain the description’of the men and their car, and he expects that an early arrest will be effected. Late the next night Detective Saker intercepted the driver of a motor-car in Swanston Street and informed him that he had a warrant for his arrest. The man drove the detective to the City Watch-house, where Albert Balfour (26), manufacturer, had a charge of offensive behaviour preferred against him. ■