SHOTS IN THE DARK

NZ Truth, Issue 975, 2 August 1924, Page 5

SHOTS IN THE DARK

Bank Clerk Lets Drive -

(From "Truth's" South. Canterbury Rep.) „ .;

'Whether an attempt \ toY job the Timaru branch of. the National Bank b£ New Zealand was'Veally-made'in the early hours of Friday morning last or whether the incident, as detailed, \yas created m order to. excuse a slight error of judgment on the p^^bf a sleep-bewildered bank clerk, whd'quite evidently was firmly convinced that his employers' coffers were imperilled, is a question at present taxing the deductive powers of the local police force. ■About 5.15 o'clock m the morning, so the story goes, Stanley Field, a clerk sleeping, on the premises, had occasion to go downstairs, taking with him the revolver usually kept m his room. Hearing a noise, his suspicions, were aroused, arid he decided to investigate. Preferring the cover of darkness to cloak his operations, the clerk walked noiselessly around the .main office m his stockinged feet, revolver cocked ready for action. He had not proceedod very far on his quest when the figure of a man loomed ahead. Picking up a chair, the intruder struck at him, /but the blow missed Kb mark. On Jts downward path, however, the chair hit the clerk's hand, , knocking it sharply against his face and breaking the skin en his left cheek, this causing the cocked revolver to explode. His assailant then made for the : back d00r,., through which he escaped. \Field Md& as he went, but;the bullet entered the back door. At the same time, he called to his companion upstairs, who flung up the window and looked out, but saw no sign of the intruder. The police were, immediately communicated with, and arrived shortly afterwards. On arrival, they found the doors padlocked, and concluded that access that way was impossible. They have also stated that the downward sweep of the chair aimed at the clerk would have directed the bullet towards the-floor, whereas it was discovered embedded In the ceiling. Another feature ; of the affair which they found hard to connect with Field's narjatlve was the fact that his companion, 'who saw the yard a moment or two after the shots were fired, saw no sign of the intruder, although at the time it was bright moonlight. At the Club Hotel, adjoining the bank, and the Windsor Hotel close by, guests were by the reports, and a number got up to investigate, but discovered nothing. The manager of the bank refuses to say anything regarding the matter, and the clerk, acting presumably under Instructions from his superiors, refuses to make any further statement. However. It is common knowledge that he still sticks to his original version. A recent attempt at a bank robbery m Waimate. some thirty miles distant, and several undetected robberies, m Timaru lend color to the clerk's story, but the police are of opinion that no such attempt was made. % ' In view of this affair and the prompt action taken by the Waimate .bank clerk, who took a pot shot at a suspicious character found on tho premises, it behoves persons visiting friends' at a bank after dark to rieralxl their approach m no uncertain manner.