ROBBERY AND MURDER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18888, 10 December 1924, Page 11

ROBBERY AND MURDER.

BANK TELLER'S HEROISM.

"SHOT ME IN COLD BLOOD."

CHASES ROBBERS WHILE DYING.

[from oqa own correspondent.] SYDNEY. Dec. 3.

Tho crowded annals of robbery under arms in Australia contain no more striking demonstration of devotion to duty and signal heroism than that displayed by the young teller of the Hampton, Melbourne, branch of the Commercial Bank of Australia. Although mortally wounded, and actually dying from a bullet wound about two inches below the heart, this young hero, Mr. W. F. C. Almeida, rushed after two men who had robbed the bank, and brought about the arrest of a man.

Mr. Almeida fainted immediately after tho man had been apprehended, and thero was a pathetic scene at the hospital later, ■when, in the presence of his parents and ethers, he told the story of tho robbery in gasping and broken sentences, and expired before tho end. "They did not give mo a chance; they shot me in cold blood," were almost his last woids.

Hampton is a prosperous suburb of Melbourne, and the robbery occurred just as Mr. Almeida was about to close the small branch office, where he was working slone. According to the story which he told at the hospital, two men hurried into tho bank and pointed a revolver, with the words, "Put up your hands.'' Mr. Almeida disregarded the demand and the threat, and jumped behind a partition, where he seized a revolver which was lying on the desk there. Immediately he reappeared the man who held the revolver fired, and the bullet struck the unfortunate teller just below the heart.

Dying Man Pursues Murderers. Mr. Almeida fell to tho floor, almost paralysed with the shock and pain of tho terrible injury, but by a great effort he , managed to retain consciousness, and, although the men took him for dead, he was s aware of their proceedings as they ransacked the office, stuffing their pockets with all the money they could find. A few minute.? later the men left the bank, slamming the door behind them. Still clutching the revolver that he had procured from behind the screen, although then practically dying from a wound which he knew musn bo fatal, Mr. Almeida staggered to his feet and rushed from the building in pursuit of the men. Near tho. railway station he bailed up a man, whom he ordered, at the point of his revolver, to return to the bank. At this juncture ' Mr. Almeida was joined by a friend, Major Whalley, late of the A.1.F., who, knowing nothing of the terrible wound that the young teller had received, came up and offered his assistance. The facts from this stage were related by Major Whalley, as the young toller succumbed before his account : was concluded. Whalley said that he saw Mr. Almeida bailing up a massive six-foot man' near the railway signal box. Hurrying up, Major Whalley said, "Stick to him, Charlie, we are with you.". Mr. Almeida appeared to have been in a struggle, but ho showed no signs of having been wounded, and there was no sign of blood on him.

Tribute to Brave Man. "Almeida levelled his revolver at the man," said Major Whalley, "and the man walked back to the bank with his hands before his face. When they reached tho bank Mr. Almeida was on the verge of fainting, and, handing his revolver to a man named Stewart, asked him to keep the man covered. Almeida then collapsed, and, thinking that he had merely fainted, we undid his vest and shirt, "and were shocked to see the wound and bloodstains. With such a wound tho toughest soldier might have lain groaning until help arrived, but Mr. Almeida had run across the street, bailed up a man, and forced him to the bank."

When the detectives arrived at the bank Mr. Almeida. was unconscious. After interviewing him. later and making other investigations, they detained another man. Shortly after the robbery residents saw a largo blue car travelling at a high speed toward the city, and containing tnroe men. The car had been seen earlier in the afternoon standing in a lane near the bank, and one man, noticing that it had two number plates, took a note of them.