Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, MARCH 8, 1909 RUSSIAN TERRORISTS IN ENGLAND. THE TOTTENHAM DESPARADOES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLIII, Issue XLIII, 8 March 1909, Page 2

Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, MARCH 8, 1909 RUSSIAN TERRORISTS IN ENGLAND. THE TOTTENHAM DESPARADOES

FEW occurrences have demonstrated more clearly the Quixotic absurdity of Gre:it Britain affording harbourage to the criminal scum of Continental Europe than the Totenham murders by a couple of Russian desperadoes. The affair was alluded to briefly and somewhat disjointedly in the news cablegrams at the time. The English mail, however, brings further details, and a more complete narrative than the cables have given may prove of interest to the general reader. A London correspondent says that the murders were something new even to London's strange annals of crime. Thay savoured of Russian terrorism, they reminded one of tho Kelly gang in Victoria, they iccnll'wl the sliocting by and of desperadoes who held life cheap in the wildest days of the ' Wild West." The two miscreants combined almost unparalleled audacity and fierce and collous criirliy with *he true Terrorists' disregard o' their own wretched lives. Nor had they a huge sum of money at stake to rob which they murdered — they waded through blood aiming to get a relatively few pounds. • •••• •

The murderers were named Jacob and Hefeld. both Russian Poles. They appeared to have, some acquaintance with Schtirmann's rubber works at Tottenham, having beon employed thero for a time. They knew that Saturday morning was the customary pay time, and that, froni £80 to £100 would be earned from the bank to the establishment, At 9.30 they were noticed ahout the entrance to tho firm's works. Soon aftorw.nds a motor car appeared, and a lad employed by S.-hurmann's .•lighted with the bas. containing £60 in gold and £30 in silver and bronze. Instantly he was rushed by ono of the men and overturned, while the other crabbed the bag, but before he could bolt the chauffeur took a flying leap on to him from the driver's seat, and the two rolled together on the roadway. Meanwhile the. other Pole, having dazed the boy, drew a revolver and danced around the struggling men. He fired twue, ani the chauffeur let ro his hold The locality is a congested one, and the shots attracted immediate attention. Two constables rushed out of tho police station opposite, and the emplovcs dashed in a body out of the woi-ks. Jacob and Hefeld turned and fled. As they ran along the street Ihey brandished revolvers, and so kept a u,ear Held ahead

The pursuit was hot and prompt, ( and had the thieves not been armed they would not have held on for a quarter of an hour. But not only were they arvied— they proved themselves revolver marksmen of a high degree of excellence. A London cor-

respondent thus dsscribos the cliE^e:— The motor car was the, vanguard of a gathering brigade of men, woruon and children, who shouted as they pointed alone the highways. 1' or a while the chauffeur took no risks; then someone railed out that the cartridges were blank, and on the moment he "let the machinery go r.iid went racing on the heels of the runaways. It was a costly venture. The two wen .stopped and deliberately aimed their weapons at the occupants of the motor. One of them, resting the barrel of his revolver on his left forearm, fired, and fired again. The first shot missed; the second broke the wind screen, and grazed thn chauffeur's neck. The third pierced (he ratli.itor :iii:l signed the engine. Constable Newman jumped out ;.ml attempted 'i> close, but was hit in the lens at mice. Revolver shootint; •an<W exciting condition* is usually wild a«d wide; but here alnost every bullet was going homo Having sloppct the rush, Jacob und 'Hefeld continued their hopeless flight, followed by a still larger but now moTe cautious army of pursuers. There were, however, some notable exceptions to this caution, and one of these wa= Constablee Tyler, a London officer, with a conspicuously good record. Tyler was the first vie im He endeavoured to head oil the runaways, and succeeded. They wtrttcd until he was within a few yards_ 01 him, and then, with terriblo precision, shot him in the throat and temple as he was running. Tyler wan dead wnen lifted. T!ie whole neighbourhood was now in rpr.iar, and the chase left behind it diverted shops and empty houses, lne pursuers numbered hundreds. ma Poles were noti-.od to refill their yevoJv.rs, and they fired again, killing a bo ynamd Often Ralph Joselyn, who vv.n'sho* dead through the brain. The unfortunate Kttlo (M low had boon drawn from a game of footha I 1 t w-Ueh and folio* the eha.-c Till now the Hiine had been one-sidwi. me London police do not carry tirearm? as a rule, and in a thousand Biitish homes perhaps not one shooting iron could be found. The telephones had been busy, however, and revolvers were sent for and given to a number of policemen now joining in the pursuit, beveval motor care, a legion of carts, and a motor 'bus were pressed into service and the hunt went with much clamour towards the fields adjoining London. The nursuei.-, too, were ne.■omir." wary. " They were impressed with the deadlines* of aim 01 lne two Terrorists, and were standing (•« at a fair distance. Still they sometimes ran too clow, and the Poles, after crossing the canal stopped beside the swimming baths, andinthecourseeof a few shots, brought down a s=co.nd policeman and a boy, both shot through the legs, llecognising their danger, those in the van of pursuit threw themselves flat on tae -round The Poles had renewed thenflight The callousness of the fugitives \ as shown by their attempt to fhoot a woman near this canal. She came t,o the door of her cottage. As they pas.*od one of the Poles, who had lost his cap, snatched at the covering on her head She put .ip ber hand in defer-'-e, and he lifted his revolver and pulled blank in her face. Happily tne cartriJgo chamber was exhausted. His mate ffred at the woman, and mi>«-d. lhf-y raced safely past two sportsmen with Rims, and shot badly in the icg if workman, who tried to arrest their progress. When at length run to a "slandsliJl, they held up thftir pursuers on the bridge, f rom which they fired a number of shots, and dangerously wounded another of the bolder spirits in advance of the ruck. After a brief spell the desperadoes r.lll on again till they came to the Chingford electric tramway. The trnm was stopping to »el ljuwu pa.--<.Mi;,'t r-, ami Ibe hunted innrd"rer;, ir.i.'l<- a <I;>Mi I" u«.t- aboard. Tlic driver made a ":•>>" n-pnt as if to start the car. whereupon tlict men fired, shatkrinj the glass round his head He bolted to the top of the ear, apd one of the murderers placed Us revolver at the Jiead of the conductor and bade him "Drivel" The conductor drove hard, as bidden, with one eye on tho track and one into the muzzle of a smoking weapon. The second desperado had taken his place at the real of tho car, and in the course of a mile run wounded a number of those who rode and drove behind. The- game, however, was nearly up. Mounted constable. 1 ! appeared, and although one horse was ihot down, it was clear that the men were nearly to tho end of their sensational escapade. Bat more blood was to bo spilt. In the tram were a wonK'.n anil a child, and a man named L<i"odny. The woman grouched in terror with the child I.c-vedA? attempted to throw op^n i').? Va?R door and wr.-st th? pistel from thi- man who threatened I tiir. 'rtriwr. but rmly ruc.-fdi-d in >ip inn rerion-ly shot ll.rnnsh the li£< U. The moo wore Muffed off the mr by (lie vomlucioi'. who told them that they were approaching a police station round the corner. Running on, they shot a milkman three times, and seized his cart, and made another determined effort to escape. The horse fell, and the.v had no better luck with a second vehicio. . . . . . * At this point the two hunted miscreants separated. Hefeld was the first to fall. He was forced on to a high paling fence with a great crowd of mull, mounted, armed, and unarmed at his heels. He dashed at the fence, but Irs strength failed. Facing his assailants, he emptied all his bullets but the lust into their midst. With his last shot he tired into liis own head. He di-d not die at once. He was taken to the Tottenham Hoipital, and met his end there some days later. Jacob ran »n. although hit by ehtf !iiin=. for a »>irisiderable distanco further. He made h : s !a«t stand in a labourer's cottage, whr-.rp he cnt"r--d th" 'i:'l Vit - *~ " -HJil. ucW'W .1 ",' Of KB 1 " ' ■ ' ' '' M'janwhiie tIk 1 woiri'in i'.t:i fl " \\-." ''-v viin-'cr "l'ild in her ni'i'f, !■:• *■"!!' r -f *h° co+tn^ra the pursuers w<:ir j .i.'vv'i? Policemen, mounted on foot, end in motor cars, cyclists, and pedest' i'np. ■G;/is, pistols," and ancient bJunderbus.ses, were brandished. More than 50 of the men were armed. Suddenly there was a movement in the (.ottnge. A pale face peered from the front window. It was greeted with a howl of rage. It seemed that his courage had all gone. He tried to climb up the chimney, but it was too small. Again his face was seen at the window. This time soveral shots rang out from ihe street, and the window was shattered. Three times the police called upon Jacob to surrender, but he gave no iign. Then two shots were sent through the door at the fugitive, who could be seen through the opening between the door and the floor to be cautiously moving towards the door. Quietly it opened, and Jacob exposed himself in the act of firing. With the deliberation that had marked his conduct all through, he had 'he revolver in his left hand, with the muzzle resting on his right arm, but Constable Eagles was too quick, and before Jacob could pull the trigger Eagles had fired a bullet from a police revolver. The bullet entered about the centre of Jacob'e forehead, and came out at the right temple. He rolled over on to the- bed, and endeuvoured to cover liie lead with a sheet, but he was dead bofcre tht> policeman could reach him.

Thus ended the career of two men, presumed till then to be ordinary foreigners, but provod later to have been notorious Anarchists and Terrorist agent n. Apparently there are "scores, hundreds, of their kind in the purlieus of Soho and Leicester Square. ' The Aliens Exclusion A-t seems powerless to deal with any who can show by the flimsiest excuse that tbsy aro poli'.ic-il refugees, and thus London is the navon of all the political criminals who Pre from justice in their own land or fin.l the British metropolis a safo oent-e whence to plot murder. The Tottenham affair has opened the eyes of the authorities and created a o\sh y -s opinion that is demanding more rij.irns exclusion of Anarchists nn I Terrorists lili now open outrage in Britain itself by the refuge scum of Europo has been rrre. But it is r.ivous that the t'arcrer

from mif-ea.its of tha Hefol.l anl Jacob stamp is ever lurking in London, and the nece-sity for a rliarir.L' out r f the purbeus haF been demonstrated by the Tottenham man hunt, during which much innocent blood was spilt.

The triumph of tne r.D. Corset is easily understood. Great surgeons and specialists commend the P.D. Injury was caused by the old-fashioned corset, but the P.D. confers benefit. It snpportß a-.d ennobles tho figure and gives strength and stimulus. Demand the P.D., and get &*