GRIM FIGHTS WISH MURDERERS.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume I, Issue 93, 1 April 1911, Page 4 (Supplement)

GRIM FIGHTS WISH MURDERERS.

ONE MAN HELD OUT FOR OVER DAYS AGAINST HUNDREDS OF CORNISH POLICEMEN.

Armed and desperate criminals not infrequent!*' show figte when driven into a corner, bat happily such pitched battles between the force* of order and anarchy as that which raced in tie East End of London recently are exceedinglv rare. About twenty six years ago. however, there del occur a somewhat similar rase. A gang of armed burglars had been anrpnsed by police officers in a turning off the City Road, London, anti took refuge in a disused burial-ground, whence they opened a heavy fire wkh large calibre resolvers on their wouldbe eaptorw. using tha tombstone* as cover. One constable was shot clean through the cheifc, another had his thigh smashed. But by this time pohee whistle* were sounding on all sides, and soon reinforcements arrived. The cemetery was rushed, but moat of the burglars escaped in the darkness and confusion, only one being captured. Directly afterwards the leader of the gang was seen tn run into a narrow cul-deuac called Tomtit Court, and a dbaen policemen dashed hot-foot after him. certain that they had him. But no. The man, with almost incredible agility, swarmed up a waterpipe. and on to the roofs of a block of seventy or eighty bouses lying between East Road and City Road. From this new vantage ground he recommenced firing at the police, of whom there were now some three hundred assembled. Ladders were procured. and about fifty constables climbed or to the roofs from different sides of the block. Then, at a signal from below they converged on the desperado, who, from behind a sheltering chimneystack. continued shooting rapidly. In the end he was seiaed from behind while presenting his revolver at two conambles in front. What even a single armed ami desperate criminal can do against a large force of police, when lie is inside a building and bis assailant* are outside, was shown at St. Blaaey. Cornwall, early in 1900. when a man named Cecil Dench held at bay half the constabulary of the county for nearly four days and nights. He had lots of ammunition, and he fired repeatedly from the windows of his cottage at those who strove to approach him. lie succumbed in the end to exhaustion, due to lack of sleep and food. In April. 1901. again, an Italian carabineer named Mania, stationed at Bordighern. after quarrelling wi:.h and killing a comrade. barricaded himself in the armoury of the barrack*, where be was besieged by the troop*. He kept up a continuous fnsiiade. killing three move people, while the. soldiers, on their part*, fired over 2.000 bullets into the desnerado’s stronghold. Finally one of the besiegers climbed in the roof, and shot Maida dead, but not before be had himself been seriously, though not fatally, wounded. Practically the entire population of Bordighera. including hundreds of English and American visitors, were out all night in the w.reets watching the progreas of this extraordinary affray. Another sensational case of the kind occurred in California. Two Jobbers named Sontag and Fleming, after shooting and killing a bank manager and Stealing his gold, were brought to boy in a loop-holed log cabin they had built for themselves in the mountains. Four hundred armed police surrounded their stronghold, but the outlaws had no thought of surrender. With ♦heir repeating rifles they killed seven of their besiegers, and wounded above a score. In the end a nowerful dynamite bomb was hurled from a cliff above down upon the roof of their wooden fort, and it and i*« garrison of two were blown to pieces. More recent was the case of the notorious dynamitard, Isaac Gravelie. who tried to blackmail the Northern Pacific Railmad mfr of £10.90 by blowing up rts bridges. He was cap-/ tured and given a life sentence, but somehow secured a revolver and broke gaol, after shooting dead one of his guards and wounding others. He, too. took refuge in a house, a disused building, but in good repair, end bullet-proof. A small army of police and deputy-sheriffs surrounded him. but he kept them all at bay, returning shot for shit*, until his ammunition was exhausted. Then, with Ms last cartridge, he took his own hfe.