OUR AUSTRALIAN LETTER.

Otago Witness, Volume 25, Issue 2321, 25 August 1898, Page 45

OUR AUSTRALIAN LETTER.

(Fbost Oitk Own Coekespokdent.) MELBOURNE, August 13. STICKING UP A BANK.

Penslmrst, a small town in the Western district, has been the scene of a bank robbery quite in the style of the old bushranging days. At about 10 minutes before closing time a man entered the bank on pretence of business, and having overawed the manager (Mr Jamieson) , who was the only officer, with a revolver, tied and gagged him. The man wore a full black beard and dark glasses, and spoke in broken English. When he had the manager tied up, he shut the door and put down the blinds, and proceeded to ransack the bank. One or two persons came to the bank door and, thinking matters suspicious, looked through the window blind and saw the suspicious stranger. They wont off for the local constable, but lie was absent from the town. The man soon cam© out with over £500 in a black bag, and going to his buggy, which lie had waiting for him close by, drove off. So far his plans had been quite successful, but they broke down badly when he strove to leave' the district, He had cut the telegraph wires, but word was soon conveyed to the adjacent towns, and a stranger's movements were soon, known to the police. Consequently he was soon arrested, having proceeded by train to Ararat. He threw the bag containing the money out of the train as it passed along. When he was arrested he gave the name of James Ryan, but was identified as James Slattery, a man well-known m the Western district, and formerly secretary of a local Shearers' Union. At this period of his history he contested an election against Mr Shiels, the ex-Premier and author of the well-known Divorce Bill. In the middle of July, 1896, Slattery came to the front as the perpetrator of a very clever series of frauds on sharebrokers, by means of forging scrip of the Broken Hill Junction North Company, and selling it openly in the market. By this means he sold scrip to the value of £3600 to various brokers. Ultimately Slattery left Adelaide for Melbourne with 1500 sovereigns, and a bank draft for £1500. Within a few days the fraud was discovered, in consequence of a purchaser who desired his scrip divided into parcels forwarding his scrip to the office of the company in Melbourne. He was arrested in Melbourne through cashing the draft, and £965 was found in his possession. Of this £400 was lodged to the credit of a, young girl to whom Slattery was engaged to be married, but directly she learned how it was obtained she renounced all claim to it. Detective Macmanamny subsequently obtained a full confession from Slattery, and he was extradited to South Australia, receiving three years' and a-half hard labour. The girl to whom he was engaged was at one time in service in the bank at Penshursl, which no doubt accounts for Slattery becoming familiar with it.

ANOTHER BUSHRANGING RAID.

A regular bushranging exploit has been carried out in New South Wales, the mail coach running between the mining township of Captain's Flat and Bungendore being the cDject of attack. The outrage was planned with a view to capturing the large cheques and remittances which it was known were to be paid over by the mining companies at Captain's Flat on Monday, and afterwards to be sent by the mail coach to Bungendore to be lodged in the bank there.

The coach left Captain's Flat at half-past 4- in. the afternoon, with six passengers (of whom two were 3atlies) and the driver, and when within six miles of Bungcndore two men suddenly rushed in front of the horses and peremptorily ordered the driver to " bail up." The command came with such suddenness that in the semi-darkness of the evening tho mailman did not realise that a deliberate alltempt was being made to stick up the coach. He therefore continued to urge his horses up the hill which they were ascending. One of the robbers then presented a revolver at tho driver, and the other stood close by with a gun levelled at the passengers. The foremost

bushranger (so the driver alleges) snapped his revolver at the horses, evidently with tho intention of sliooting them, whereupon tha loam was pulled up. The men took the mail bags, and specially asked for the registered mail bag, so that they had evidently been on the look-out for it. The registered mail is supposed to hava contained cheques, drawn principally by the Lake George Mines Company, of the value of over £1500. One business firm sent away by the same mail a cheque for £550, and other lesser amounts ranging up to £250. Tho mail bags were found burnt, and portions of the cheques amongst them ; so that it is difficult to know what the robbers expected to gain. .•V ycui'.g won' an on the coach displayed .p-wt* bravery, oucl it is alleged that she upbivJded the mailman for giving up the bags without demur. She also took charge of large sums of money from the male pasEeiigerf, which she secreted about her clothes. A man lumied King has been arrested on suspicion, and some of the money found on him has been identified as portion of the contents of the mail bags. The pistol found on the accused was a liny one of the kind used by children in firing flat percussion pellets. It is also reported that what the other man presented was not a gun, but a stick. ,

A PLUCKY DOCTOR

Mr Stirling, one of Melbourne's best known surgeons, had an exciting experience with a burglar the other night. The burglar was a French criminal named Emil Dubois. He broke into Mr Stirling's "house in Richmond at about 2 a.m. The doctor woke up to find tho man in his room with a dark lantern, and he sprang out of bed after him without a- moment's delay, and chased him downstairs. In the hall he overtook him, and knocked him down, then catching Mm by the throat and holding him safe on tho floor. Presently the rest of the household came on the spot, and two doctors from next door were aroused, and the Frenchman handed over to the police. He had £25 of Mr Stirling's money on him, and a gold watch and chain. He had taken the money alone first, and was putting on his boots m tho hall preparatory to leaving when he decided to go back for the watch and chain, which proved his undoing.

FAITH HEALING.

A peculiar case of " healing " has been made public in Adelaide. A few weeks ago Dr Poulton decided that MiBS Annie Amelia Taylor, a patient of his, should undergo an operation for hydatids. Instead, however, of going to him to be operated upon she went to the "Home of Truth," a building recently presented to the Christian Metaphysical Society by a rich member of that organisation, which has sprung into existence as the result of addresses delivered some time ago by Dr and Mrs Mills. Last week tho girl came out of the Home of Truth, and Dr Poulton found it necessary to send her to the lunatic asylum, Ms certificate being supported by Dr Giles. Dr Poulton states that the hydatids have not been cured, and were not the cause of the girl's madness. Mr Glover, the professional healer, who holds sway at the Home of Truth, says that it was fear of the operation which upset the girl's mental equilibrium, and adds that his treatment mitigated the disease from which the girl was suffering. He further states that he recently went to her house, and directly he mentioned his name a young fellow, about 23 years of age, came out, and time after time knocked him down, eventually driving him off tho premises. The truth of this statement the girl's brother admits. Glover expresses his willingness to have the case inquired into by an independent committee of pressmen and doctors.

DANGERS OF CYCLE RACING., One of the suburban councils in the neighbourhood of Melbourne has prohibited bicycle road races on account of the danger to traffic. Some definite action towards controlling road races and protecting riders against accident is likely to be taken also by the League of Wheelmen. Last Saturday a 25-mile road race was held, in which there was a field of 78 riders. A series of accidents occurred, some of which were serious, these being due to the absurdly large field permitted to compete on a roadway, only a small portion of which was, owing to the bad weather, fit to ride on. Dr Adams has made the following report to the league on- the matter :—" As medical officer at tho 25-mile Championship on Saturday, I should like my opinion to be recorded, and it is that, in future, unless the race can be run in heats, or several Saturdays taken for the heats and final, no 25-mue road race should take place, as where 76 men are starting and racing the road is too narrow. Cattle are about the road, and farmers carts are continually obstructing the track. Linsted's Hotel on Saturday was nothing elso .than a hospital, the ambulance men and myself working for about 1£ hours, attending to men seriously injured. I saw seven men myself, one unconscious for iia.lt an hour, another with a dislocation of tie left shoulder, and others with injuries too numerous to mention. I say it is asking men to attempt suicide in a novel manner to rac e under the conditions as on Saturday. With-threc-quarters of a mile of the start 19 men fell." '