PLUCKY CONSTABLE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20841, 7 April 1931, Page 11

PLUCKY CONSTABLE.

TACKLING AN ARMED MAN. PREVENTS BUS BEING ROBBED. Courage by Constable AT. T. McLaughlin was responsible for the failure of an attempt to rob a motor-bus carrying 11 passengers travelling from Paxton to Cessnock, New South Wales, on the evening of March 28. When a man rushed into the centre of a bush road and presented a double-bar-relled gun at the driver, Constable McLaughlin, who was a passenger, decided to attempt to get round the back of the bus and disarm the man. When the man ordered all passengers to leave the vehicle, the driver jumped down and tried to persuade him to abandon his attempt at robbery. The constable then took his opportunity of leaving the bus on the other side. While a man named Noland, who stated that he knew the alleged bandit, also began to argue with the armed man, Constable McLaughlin was moving to a position where he could quickly bo at grips with the man. The constable suddenly found that he had been noticed, and there was a shout that if he came an inch nearer a bullet would be put through him. He attempted to reason with the man, who was not prepared to go on with the talk. Then the constable dived at the man s knees, brought him crashing to the ground, wrenched the gun away from him, and placed him under arrest. While the man was being charged at the police station he collapsed and was admitted to the hospital.