ROBBER WITH GUN

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22966, 18 February 1938, Page 6

ROBBER WITH GUN

THEFT FROM BANK . . I}'U . ■ .. Vj CLERK FIRES REVOLVER DISAPPEARANCE OF THIEF [from otm owx corhespoxdext] SYDNEY. Feb. H * ■ A man armed with an automatic pistol, and wearing a grey dustcoafc with dark glasses over his eyes, held up the agency office of the Bank of New South Wales at Croydon, and escaped with about £l3. A shot was fired at him by the teller as he was retreating from the bank office. Thcutfffice is at the corner of Parra. matta Road and Byron Street, and i> known as the Fivedock agency. There is only one officer stationed there, Mr. K. Twigg. All day there is a continuoiis stream of traffic along l'arramatta Road, and customers are in and out of the Hank every few minutes. "About noon," said Mr. Twigg, «<i was behind the enclosure at the end of the counter, when a young man entered. Immediately I stepped from behind the enclosure to the centre of the counter, the man pulled out an automatic pistol and pointed it at my face, ordered me to put my hands up, and demanded all the cash I had in the bank."

"And no fooling about or I will let you have it," the thief said as he still> covered Mr. Twigg with the pistol. "Believing that he would fire," said Mr. Twigg, "I pulled out a bundle of 12 £1 notes, saying it comprised all the money in the bank. The man commanded me to hand over all the silver 1 had. With the pistol still pointing at my face, I pulled out a handful of 2s pieces and threw them on tha counter, saying that this was all the silver there.

"The intruder picked up the silverabout eight 2s pieces—which was nearest him, and then began to back out of the bank. Still covering me with his pistol, he ordered me not to move until he got outside, but just as he was disappearing out of the door I whipped the bank revolver out of a drawer and fired. The bullet missed him, and he ran up Byron Street and disappeared." Detectives were on the scene withm a few minutes of Mr. Twigg raising the alarm, but although the locality was carefully combed the thief had vanished. ■* • *"