KNIFE VERSUS REVOLVER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20958, 22 August 1931, Page 14

KNIFE VERSUS REVOLVER.

LEVIN CAFE EPISODE. STRANGER WHO ORDERED FISH. "Put that gun away!" exclaimed Mr. Lurajud, proprietor of the Levin Cafe, emphasising the demand with the point of a big knife—and the stranger who had designs on the till hurriedly doparted, taking his parcel of fish and chips with him, but leaving his change on the counter, writes the Levin correspondent of a Wairarapa paper. The incident occurred at 11.30 o'clock in the evening, when the streets were almost deserted. Mr. Lurajud says that a man came into the cafe and asked for fish and chips to take away with him. This was brought into the shop and the purchaser put a 2s piece on the counter. The proprietor picked up the coin and was in the act of turning to the cash register—situated at right-angles to the counter-—to procure change, when the visitor drew something from his pocket and held it straight out. From the corner of his eye the cafe-keeper saw the handle of a revolver and he took instantaneous action which prevented robbery or* worse. A knife with a blade .over a foot long, used for cutting up fish, was lying concealed under a bundle of papers on the counter, and he thrust it forward until the point touched the man's ribs, at the same time calling on him to put the pistol away. Outsido another stranger, in a motor-car, was calling, "Hurry up!" But his mate needed no urging after the touch of cold steel. He left incontinently and jumped into the car, which disappeared northwards. The matter was reported to the police.