AN EXCITING CHASE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19675, 29 June 1927, Page 14

AN EXCITING CHASE.

A RESOURCEFUL CONSTABLE. STOLEN CAR' RECOVERED. ARREST OF EIGHT MEN. " The tenacity and dating displayed by a Sydney constable resulted in the arrest on the evening of June 18 in remarkable circumstances. of eight men and the recovery of a motor-car, alleged to have been stolen less than two hours previously. In effecting the arrests the constable, who in the hitter part of the episode received the assistance of two other policemen, covered many miles. Information was received at the Liverpool station about 8.20 p.m. that a motorcar containing eigTit or ten men, who appeared to be intoxicated, was being driven at a reckless and dangerous speed near the Warwick Farm railway gates. Constable Sweeting went to the Warwick Farm railway station, where he intercepted a car and called on the driver to stop. There were about eight men in the car, and the constable made the driver get down to the road, where he questioned him. One of the men remaining in the car suddenly started the engine with the obvious intention of making off. However, Constable Sweetman was too alert for this move, and he jumped on the running board and brought the car back to when ho had intercepted it. The constable decided to take the driver and man who had attempted to take the car away to the Liverpool police station. The six other men were left on the road.

The constable drove the car himself, and seated one of his prisoners on the front seat and one in the back. While the car was travelling at a speed of between 15 and 20 miles an hour the man in the back suddenly jumped out, and apparently receiving no injuries, made of! into the bush. The constable proceeded to the station with his other prisoner, and locked liim up. The constable was then joined by Sergeant Gibson and Constable Stackpool, and they drove back to Warwick Farm in search of the men who fiad been left behind. Two of them were found at the Warwick Farm railway station and arrested. The police party again returned and received information that several men were walking across country toward the Cabramattu railway station. When they reached the station they found that a train had just left. TTiey searched another train standing in the station without result, and then, acting on information received, they followed a lorry road into the bush, and came upon four men. Three of them were arrested, but a fourth escaped. Handcuffing his prisoner and leaving him in the custody of the other officers, one of the police party gave chase, and after a long run captured the fourth man. On the way back To Li\*erpool another man was met witTT. Ho at first denied that lie was a member of the party, but, it is alleged, he later admitted his association with the other men, and he also was taken into custody. The five prisoners were taken to Liverpool and lodged in the cells with their companions. It was found that the motor-car, which was valued at £250, belonged to Mr. George Solomon Harvey, of Hartley Vale. Mr. Harvey, who was on a visit to Sydney, left it outside a city hotel, at which he was staying, while he went inside for his dinner at six o'clock on the Saturday evening. When he came out some time later the car had disappeared. Almost before he had reported its loss the police were using it in chasing the alleged thieves.

Three of the men, it is stated, arrived from New Zealand only three weeks previously.

ANOTHER PLUCKY CONSTABLE. TWO THIEVES CAPTURED. Pursued first bv car, Ffien By Boat, and finally on foot through ETie bush, two car thieves were captured in dramatic circumstances on the afternoon of Sunday, June 19, at Tacoma, a fishing village on the Wyong River, near Newcastle, New South Wales. The arrest was effected by Constable Cross of the Wyong police, aided by a posse of fishermen. The stolen car, which is the property of Alderman Jacka, of Hamilton, was left outside the Methodist Church. Hamilton, while the owner and his two sons were attending the morning service. Mr. Jacka heard the noise of lus car outside the church, and went out just in time to see the back of. his car disappearing round the adjacent corner. He immediately reported the theft to the Newcastle police, who circulated a description of the stolen car. Early in the nfternoon Constable Cross, of 'Wyong, noticed the car approaching, and signalled the drTver to stop. The driver suddenly accelerated and dashed off down the Tacoma Road, which terminated in a dead end at the river bank. There the constable found the stolen car abandoned. The constable chased the two men who Had been in it across the river and into the Bush, subsequently capturing them.