BOY WITH PISTOL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20723, 17 November 1930, Page 10

BOY WITH PISTOL.

SEIZURE IN SYDNEY. - INCIDENT ON A MOTOR-LORRY. " What would you do, mister, if you wero bailed up with a revolver ?" " Oh, I suppose I would give them a go for it." This was tho prelude to a remarkable incident at Newtown, Sydney, recently when a 15-year-old boy presented a pistol at a. motor-lorry driver who had given him a ride. The lorry driver, Kenneth Shead, was driving home from tho city shortly before 5 o'clock, when at a spot near the Deaf and Dumb Institution, he was hailed by a shabbily-dressed boy, who was •wearing short pants, and had neithor boots nor stockings. " Any chance of a lift ?" ho called out. " Righto, son," said Mr. Shead. " Hop on board."

They were passing through Newtown, when tlio boy asked his benefactor what he would do if ho was bailed up by bandits. Mr. Shead's hand went instinctively to' his breast pocket, for ho was carrying a considerable sum of money. Ho laughed, however, and said that ho would not part with his money without a struggle. Tho lorry was traversing 11 crowded section of King Street.' Scores of pedestrians were hurrying along tho footpaths and the road traffic was heavy. Then Mr., Shead saw , the boy draw an automatic pistol from his pocltet. Retaining his grip of the steering wheel with his right hand, he seized the weapon with his left. For a moment he was speechless. Tho incident occurred so swiftly; it was so unexpected, that he was lost for words. Then ho said that he intended to hand his passenger and the gun to the police and tho boy commenced to cry. " I found the revolver, and I was going to give it to my father," he said. " Give it back.to me, it's mine." * -To a detective, the boy persisted in his statement that he had found the pistol near tho vegetable markets and was taking it homo. He had no intention of bailing-up tho lorry driver, he said, but was merely showing him tho pistol.