TWO FUGITIVE GUNMEN

NZ Truth, Issue 998, 10 January 1925, Page 7

TWO FUGITIVE GUNMEN

Alleged Murderers

Report that Buckley Has Been Seen.

"Truth" readers will remember the article recently published on the danger of one-man bank branches m Victoria, where robbers attack the staff m preference to the safe. BOTH PRINCIPALS AT LARGE. Following on the warning concerning such banks, fh'st published m Melbourne "Truth," the tragedy at Hampton occurred as detailed m New Zealand "Truth" of December 27. At Hampton, William Charles Frederick Almeida was shot m the bank, and ultimately died, after bailing up on the street Francis Perkins, one of his two assailants, but • not the one who fired the fatal shot.

The murder 1 of Almeida, who was m charge of the Hampton branch of the Commercial Bank, was an almost exact repetition of the killing of. R. T. V. Berriman, manager of the Glenferrie branch of the same bank,' m October, 1923. Between these two Victorian bank outrages there is, however, this difference: Berriman was robbed of £2100, whereas only £170 was stolen from the Hampton Bank. But m each outrage the official was callously shot down and his assailants relied on a motor car m making their getaway.

The plan was successful m the case of the Glenferrie murder, and Richard Buckley, credited to be the prime mover !in that killing, is still "m smoke." , He has effectively hidden himself from the world, but lately began -to. -find his self-mado prison a trifle irksome, and only recently the Victoria C.I.D. received what they believe to be an authentic report that he had been seen taking nocturnal exercises.

Angus Murray, Buckley's partner, J but not the man who fired the shot which killed Beiriman, was leas successful m evading the police. He was arrested soon after the outrage, and was hanged. So far the same story is to tie told of the Hampton affair. Francis Perkins, who is committed for trial; on the capital charge, was not the slayer of Almeida. The actual gunman escaped, and has been able to avoid Capture so far. POSITIVELY IDENTIFIED. At the coroner's inquiry \ into the Almeida murder eight women witnesses "positively identified" Perkins as one of the two bandits who left the Hampton Bank immediately after the shooting-, and as the one who was pursued and captured by the dying Almeida. They all state that Perkins was not out of their sight . for a second, but strangely enough not one of the eight is able to give even a fair description of the missing murderer. Almeida, when his life's blood was fast flowing from him, and he was on the verge of falling into that unconsciousness from which he passed into eternity, had the following conversation with Detective McPhee m the presence of other detectives. Detective McPhee: How do you feel, Almeida? — I feel very bad. McPhee: Was he the man who fired the shot? — No, nor the man who. said, "Put them up!" McPhee: Did he have a gun m his hand when he was m the bank? — I did not see a gun m his hand. He stood behind the man who fired the shot. . ■ McPhee: What was the description 'of the man who fired the shot? Almeida, at this stage, was m such great distress, physically, as the result of his mortal injury, that he could not reply, and he died without being able to g-ive a description of the murderer whose every feature must have been impressed on his mind. PERKINS DENIES. / Perkins, m a statement to the police, said he was down at Hampton on the afternoon of the robbery for the purpose of finding a house, when Almeidn held him up near the bank. He denied that he had been m the bank or had had any part m the robbery. James Myer Davis, committed for trial for wilfully and feloniously aiding and abetting Perkins and an unknown man m the murder, is a taxi driver, and his car was identified by two witnesses as being m the vicinity of the murder, and as the one m which the missing man made his escape. Davis pleaded not guilty, and Perkins declared: "I have no statement to make. I am absolutely innocent of this charge."

With regard to the report that has reached the Victorian police concerning Buckley being seen, it is said that he was recognised m a street at Collingwood (Melbourne). The man who saw Buckley knows him well, and he is regarded as a person whose word can be relied upon. He says that Buckley was followed at a short distance by a member of the underworld, who appeared to be acting as a guard or escort.