DISCREDITED STORY.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume L, Issue 16496, 31 July 1924, Page 5

DISCREDITED STORY.

ATTEMFP TO ROB BANK,

AN IMAGINATIVE CLERK.

CHRISTCHURCH; July 26.—An extraordinary story of the alleged attempt to, rob the Timaru. branch of the National ■ Bank of New Zealand in the early hours of yesterday morning was told to tii* police by a. young man named Stanley Field, a clerk at the bank, who slept on the premises. The story was discredited by the police who had their suspicions aroused as to its veracity by some peculiar circumstances, and they were able to secure from the clerk 'later in the day a statement which was tantamount to a denial of the presence of a burglar. About 5.15 a.ni. the police received a telephone message frohi the bank to say that an attempt had been made to rob the premises, and Constable Sanvig was despatched to the scene. On arrival lie learned from Field that the latter had had occasion to come down the stairs from his sleeping quarters. As he passed the entrance into the bank premises, where business was conducted, he noticed that a door which had been locked with a Yale lock and bolted before he retired the previous evening was open. His suspicion being aroused lie groped into the bank in the dark and located his re-, jvolver on one of the •counters. This ho ( cocked and went in search of the intruder, still on the dark. Presently lie came across a man who rushed him and aimed a Slow at liim with a chair. This interesting article of furniture struck th© revolver in his hand and it went off. . The man then rushed out of the back door 1 , and as he went Field fired at him the bullet lodging in the woodwork. At the same time he called to his companion upstairs, a young man named Gibson, who immediately rushed to the window of the room and flung it open. Thrusting his head out from that elevated position he had a full view of the backyard, which at that hour was brightly lighted by a half moou. This is the story of the chief actor in the affair told to the police. On looking into the matter, however, the police found some strange features which they could not reconcile with the story. For instance the downward sweep of the chair when it hit the revolver would have directed the bullet into the floor or some low-level place whereas the lead found its billet in the ceiling. Another thing Was that the narrator’s companion, who saw the yard only a second or two afteh the shots were fired, saw no sign of a man, nor did he hear any noise as of someone making a. hasty “get-away.” The back door, too. which was bolted and locked, could hardly have been opened from the outride without assistance from inside. Suspicion was also aroused in the minds of the police, as to why Field did not switch on the electric light when he commenced- to search for th© burglar, for the switch was near at fiand rvs he entered. The revolver which he said hd found on one of the counters had been taken to his room when he retired the previous night. In view the these things the police 11 closely cross-examined the clerk, who ' fhen made th© repudiation referred to. It was stated bv the police that the clerk was of a highly strung nature, and had evidently been reading accounts of the nt.temot to rob the bank in Waimate last Saturday.