PARIS TRAIN BANDITS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17889, 17 September 1921, Page 2 (Supplement)

PARIS TRAIN BANDITS.

HAUL OF JEWELS and MONEY. /RESiSIINS OFFICER killed. During the "early hours of the morning, masked bandits held up the passengers in one of the 'first-class coaches of the Paris to Marseilles express train, and robbed them of their jewel* and money, A young artillery officer, who tried to resist 'the desperadoes was shot through ! the head and killed. The bandits, who, it is believed, were' four in number, got off the train near Chagny, and disappaared. It is thought they had a motor-car waiting for them. * According to telegrams from Marseilles, a number of English passengers were travelling in the raided coach, and the bandits' haul of money and jewels was considerable. Train No. sis the best and fastest running from Paris to Marseilles, and includes first-class coaches and sleeping-cars. : Everything was normal till about 15 minutes after the train bad left Dijon (195 A' miles from Paris), where it stopped to take up passengers. Then the passengers of the last coach of the train were surprised to find that the doors opening on to the corridor were locked. A few seconds later the first door was opened, and a hand holding a Browning pistol was thrust forward, while at the same time the bandit in the doorway shouted, " Hands up, or I fire."

In most cases there was little hesitation. The bandit rapidly and skilfully turned from passenger to passenger, and told him or her to hand over jewels and valuables, which he threw haphazard in the pockets.of the dust-coat he was weaving. - Four bandits wera counted by the frightened passengers. Only two of the bandits wont from carriage to carriage ransacking the passengers' handbags for valuables. The other two stood at the door watching the sway, ing concertina passage connecting the next coach forward on the train. wer» women in some of the compartments, and they screamed and fainted when the robbers thrust their pistols into their faces. When a woman fainted the bandits caused the nearest male passenger to open her handbag, while they themselves divested her of rings and jewellery. It was in the third compartment that the tragedy of the raid took place. One of the passengers there was M. Max Carayellis, a young artillery officer, who had just passed out from the Polytechnic, the French Army school and was returning to his parents' home as -Marseilles with his second lieutenant's commission in his pocket. Six feet in height, and of sturdy build, he laughed at the bandit's threats, and, jumping np, seized him by the gthroat with his right hand, while he knocked the revolver away with the other. |le did not, unfortunately, see the second desperado, and there was a sudden double report and the young officer fell back into the carriage r with two bullets in his head. This incident seems to have unnerved the bandits, for their visit to the remaining compartments, was hurried. Then they pulled the alarm bell, and got off the train. Meanwhile in the other coaches nobody knew what had been happening. When the train stopped a mile and a-half from Chagny the guard came running along the six-foot way and found out what was wrong. The passengers, still terrified of the bandits, had kept quiet, but when they heard the guard they put their heads , out of the windows, and told what had happened. It was useless to toy to follow np the bandits in the night, %a the train drew slowly on to Chagny station. There M. Caravellis was removed to an ambulance, but died on his way to hospital Parisian. gendarmes were at once despatched by motor-car to the spot where the bandits had left the train, but they could discover nothing.