ARMED MADMAN

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXXII, Issue 12528, 13 April 1935, Page 9

ARMED MADMAN

STALKS PRINCE OF WALES llow the Prince of Wales, during his visit: to Australia, was stalked, by a madman with, a rifle has been revealed by Air J. A. Fi belly, who was acting-TTemier of Queensland at the time oi the Prince’-.? tour. When the Prince came to Brisbane early in August, 1920, Air F'ihelly relates. he spent a quiet, week end at Ooochin Coochin with the late Air E. T. Bell, a Queensland -squatter. Under Air Fihelly’s instructions, the Prince was accompanied by a small bodyguard of the Queensland police under Air Alichael O'Sullivan. TAKING AIM. Living in the immediate neighbourhood of . Air Bell’s .homestead was a shell-shocked ex-soldier who was occasionally subject to- fits of eccentricity and depression. Hie had never shown signs of violence, and little significance was attached to the fact that he -seemed to resent being kept in the background during the Royal visit. One afternoon while the Prince and Admiral -Sir Jroncl Halsey were, strollin the grounds of the homestead. O'Sullivan, who was keeping watch from a distance, noticed a man armed with a rifle stalking the two and sighting The Prince with his gun. Itwar?i the neighbour. O’Sullivan had to- decide in an instant. Should -lie warn the Prince at the risk of galvanising the .armed man ii>Fo action, or make a direct attack ? He chose the second alternative. Stealing up to him, O’Sullivan grappled with the madman silently wrested the gun away, lie then dragged him from the -spot. KEPI’ SILENT. The Prince -and -Sir Lionel Halsey un.suspoptingly continued their stroll. O’Sullivan said nothing a‘t the time, but reported the incident to Air Filially, who considered it inadvisable to make the matter public, as it would have created a sensation embarrassing to the Prince. His Royal Highness was not informed until some weeks later, on the eve of hiisi departure from Australia. He then sent O’Sullivan an auto™ graphed letter and tie-pin set in pearls . Fifty-two years before the visit of tho Prince of Wales in 1920’, the Duke of Edinburgh was -seriously injured in Sydney by a madman’s pistol.