POST OFFICE ROBBED

Manawatu Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 4811, 16 July 1937, Page 4

POST OFFICE ROBBED

BY AHMED BURGLAR OCCUPANTS HELD AT POINT OF GUN. . > Forced by an arnaed man to lea,ve their bed at the Rose Bay North post office, Sydney, Mr William Thomas Thompson, the postmaster, and his wife were marched downstairs. The man ordered Mr. Thompson, under threat of shooting, to open the safe, and he escaped with between . £BO and £9O in cash.

[Mr- Thompson conducts the post office in conjunction with a newsagency, and lives in a flat above the shop and post office. Mrs Thompson was awakened by a noise in the hallway and saw the flash of a torch. She switched on the reading lamp and at the same moment a revolver was pointed through the doorway. Mi’s. Thompson screamed, waking her husband. “Stick up your hands!” ordered the man, stepping into the bedroom. He was young and short, wore black gloves, and shoes covered with linen to deaden his footsteps'. Mrs Thompson struck at the revolver, turning it away, but the man drew back and retained his grip on the. weapon. The man permitted the couple to don slippers and then marched them downstairs, where he forced ME Thompson to secure his keys and ordered him to open the safe. 'Mi’s 'Thompson lingered near the telephone, but the burglar made her go into the shop. Mr Thompson turned the key in the lock of the safe, but suddenly stood up and exclaimed: “I’m darned if I’ll do it!”

“You’ve got no option,” the man said. “I’ve come here for money, and I’m going to get it. Give it to me.”

Mr. Thompson realised that resistance was useless and opened the door. The burglar seized the money, about £4 of which was the postmaster’s own property. Still holding the revolver menacingly, the man backed to- the side door of. the premises, ■ which he had forced and darted into the street. It is thought that he had a companion outside with a ear.

“It was an experience I never want to face again,” said Mr. Thompson. “That man meant business. I thought my wife was having a nightmare when she screamed, and I was taken by surprise when the fellow demanded the keys of the safe, which were in my pocket. He had evidently been in the shop some time, getting the lay-out of the place, before he came up to the bedroom. When we came downstaii’s, he knew just where to-go. He forced me in the right direction.”