SENSATION IN COLOGNE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20086, 25 October 1928, Page 13

SENSATION IN COLOGNE.

TWO DESPERATE EANDITS. [ TRAGIC FIGHT WITH POLICE. ONE CRIMINAL STILL FREE. BROTHER DIES FROM WOUND. Australian and N.Z. Press Association. (Received October 24, 5.5 p.m.) COLOGNE, Oct. 2.'). Sensational scenes were associated with a hunt for the five bandits suspected of holding up a hank at Gladhaeh. The first took place on Saturday, when a house in Cologne, where the suspects resided, was besieged and three of them were arrested. Two brothers named Heidder made a thrilling escape after having fatally shot a constable and a motorist in whose car they escaped. A long running light took place until finally the bandits succeeded in eluding a fleet of pursuing cars. The desperadoes were not seen again until yesterday, when they tried to escape on a motor-cycle and again shot two policemen. After keeping up a running fire in alleyways the bandits boarded a tramcar and forced the crew and passengers to alight at the points of their revolvers. Country House Besieged. The fugitives then drove the tram away at full speed as far as the Rhine Bank. There they alighted with policemen in fast carp hot on their heels. The fight was resumed outside the bank. Two more constables were shot dead and several civilians were wounded before one of the bandits was mortally wounded in the head. He died on the way to hospital. The other man was pursued into the country. He scaled the garden wall of a house, which was surrounded by the police. Searchlights were played upon the building and bloodhounds and torchbearers searched for the bandit for six hours without ;uccess. Suitcase Full of Ammunition. Later details of the affair show that the two Heidders were first recognised by a young gardener as they were entering the house in Cologne. Ho gave the alarm, whereupon the brothers immediately shot him and dashed out into the streets. One man carried a suitcase filled with ammunition. A motor-car was standing outside a cafe below. The bandits could not open the door so they entered the cafe and pointing their revolvers at the owner of the car demanded that he should unlock the door of the vehicle. No one moved. Then the police appeared and the brothers raced into the street. It was then that they took possession of the tram. The elder brother drove the train at a mad pace, the younger one taking cover on the rear platform. From there ho poured a shower of bullets into the police cars which were pursuing them. Shooting ot the Younger Brother. When the bandits jumped off the tram they loft it continuing its mad career along the track. A policeman leapt from one motor-car into the tram and pulled it up just in time to avoid a collision. In the meantime 50 armed police continued the pursuit. The younger brother, who was wounded in the leg, was about • to bo carried off from the Rhine Bank when, like lightning, he snatched a second revolver from one of his pockets. A policeman seeing the action shot him in the head. When the elder Heidder gained the house in the country 400 policemen formed a cordon around it. They kept up indiscriminate firing all night. At daybreak the police, in a line four deep, each man carrying a blazing torch in one hand and a revolver in the other, entered the house, only to find it empty. It was next reported that the elder Heidder had made for the open country, where he had robbed two old women of a few pence under a threat that he would shoot them. Later reports said the man had returned to Cologne. The people are now in ii fever of excitement. Many fear to venture out in the streets until Heidder has been arrested. Seven hundred policemen are still searching for him.