HOLD-UP AT A BANK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18471, 7 August 1923, Page 4

HOLD-UP AT A BANK.

ATTACK UPON MANAGER.

A 'DESPERATE J STRUGGLE^

ESCAPE ;OF ASSAILANT.

A sensational hold-up occurred at the

Hamilton (Newcastle, N.S.W.) 'branch of the National; Bank of Australia last week. The manager was attacked by a man, who struck-him across the head with a piece of copper-studded and weighted hosepipe. ' - Alter a desperate struggle, the assailant, tearing the raising 01 the alarm, tore Ininsell away and bolted out to a; waiting cur, in which lie and an accomplice made good their escape. •';■ .. I'he plucky and determined fight of the bank manager, Mr. Cecil McFarlane, w*s alone responsible for the preservation of the bank funds from the raid. There was no one else in' the bank at the time, and the bandit, bad he achieved his purpose of stunning the manager, would have toad a clear field. Mr. Mat arlane is a keen-eyed and alert returned soldier of medium but athletic build. Shortly after three o'clock, -when the day's business had been finished .and everything balanced, he prepared to leave the premises. Just as he was about to go out, a man carrying a small calico money bag entered and said that he was in the habit of banking at the Newcastle branch, but as he was going to Muswellbrook that evening he wished to leave some money in it, as he was then too late to bank at Newcastle. Mr. 'McFarlane, continued his story to a newspaper representative : • " The man handed me the bag which contained 26b 2d. I took the bag with the intention of opening it and counting • the money. As I did so I was struck" on the back of the head with a piece of copper-rivettcd hose Pipe, • which was loaded with leaden plugs." The blow was heavy, but ft danced down the neck, and Mr. McFarlane at once grappled with his assailant The pair struggled for several minutes, the intruder striking at the manager with the hosepipe. -. Not daunted, however, Mr. McFarlane hung on. In the struggle he knocked off the hat, and pince-nez glasses, which the would-be robber was wearing, but the intender eventually managed to get clear, and dashing out of the bank, he rushed down deary Street and jumped into a bluish-coloured five-seater motor-car in which a man was at the wheel. The car then was driven quickly away, and was soon lost to sight. Mr. McFarlane apart from abrasions, suffered no ill effects from his encounter, and was inclined to discount the pluck he displayed, but the bank has reason to congratulate itself on having an officer ready to risk injury in its service. The hold-up is reminiscent of that at the Government Savings Bank at Hurlstone Park, Sydney, on February 20, when a man attacked the - manaeer, > but was worsted in a violent struggle. He escaped, but was surrounded by a police net the same evening, ; and, when captui was found to have taken a fatal dose of poison. ■ . A scheme to hold up a bank was also the underlying motive of one of the great unsolved murder mysteries of last year— the killing of F. 0." Kemmis, manager of' the Hornsby (N.S.W.I bank. His head was battered in while he was travelling in a train between Hornsby and Wahroonga. and the bank keys were stolen. Duplicate sets of keys were necessary to open the bank safes, . so the robbery failed. ;-'"/ :