GANG HATE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20958, 22 February 1930, Page 25

GANG HATE.

DESIRE FOR VENGEANCE. PENNILESS COUPLE. - FEAR ’ FOR THEIR LIVES. . (From Our .Ojra Correspondent.) . -■ SYDNEY. February 13. . A strange story from Perth- brines with it irrefutable evidence that criminal gams u- a i ] * the Australian. States are interalhed to such :an , extent that any lawabiding citizen who dares to do his duly as. a witness, in a criminal prosecution niay be. subjected to merciless persecution wherever he may seek sanctuary, A.L,ULi“' e v- OU tL ®J rdn . e y- Melbourne, and the re » r . lßa3a of revengeful underworld Gangs-—driven across Austra-uAhscs-\bl °P d hunt-Sydney York fe ,’ whc save damning evidence Sydney to convict a razor sangster. William Smiley, in September, 1928, are Tb'l. v. tamn,r i and P? nn ilesß in Perth, They have made a pathetic appeal to the naWvp f?F n p \’ P l SSaeeß from tliei r native land, m which they no longer dare

rl „ Y °\. k Y as fo ™ er] y employed in a Sydthp virfhn 6- ft HC i a ? d his wife witnessed the vicious attack by razor-slasher William Smiley on two men named Lloyd and Scott at Surry . Hill, Sydney. In, the subsequent trial York was the vital wit® ness the 'gangster., York had pome an unblemished character, and tlm’ long sentence that was impoaed on Smiloy was mainly the result of. his evidfenc/ Even before the trial the gang swore vengeance . and adopted many ways to dissuade Vork from appearing in the witness box. They instituted a reign -of teironsm. Ou one occasion York’s home was raided, he was the victim of a vicious street attack, and he received many threats of violence.

Finally York had to appeal to the police for protection. A barbed wired entanglemeet was thrown around his house, and a constant day and night watch was kept. Constables escorted him to and from his work and even sat near him at lunch, ieo, despite attention from the underworld. York carried out his public SHK am cave evidence at the trial. With such fear and terror did York contemplate further _ life in Sydney that the V ‘ c l!* n * E 0 Melbourne, ihe news of his coins preceded him, however, and in -Melbourne the gangs carried on a ruthless persecution. Again he n was ,f lven , police protection and he T3 S ,| fi - D i a 'V ch 7 se - d - t l ° P ove fur ther on. Adelaide pToyed similarly hostile, and so he went on to Perth. He is now firm m the belief that, life will be safe only when oceans separate him from the farflung vengeance of the razor gangs. But the various changes have left him penniless. and.he and his wife are stunned Hence; their appeal to the Government to assist them to go abroad.