BURGLAR AT BAY.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 21, 8 January 1912, Page 2

BURGLAR AT BAY.

MACHINE GUNS USED AGAINST " him;

' Full . accounts Have, reacnci ‘St. Petersburg of |( the forty, tours’ . seige sustained ~|jodz by, a notorious robber named |Ean,asiak, who took rpi'nge, in : tiie. ’gurj-et,' and jipkl at fifty i a, lai'ge, force , ’ pis wijbh jwo, plnbr his 11, had been recognised by some detectives in one of tne chief streets of the town. The detectives ordered them to hold up, their hands. They replied by drawing their revolvers and firing at the detectives, and continuing a ihpre or less’;, .icpidoni fire, whereby two men I ,''two women, and a boy aged 10 were wounded. Banasiak’s companions escaped in some way or other, for, as it subsequently transpired, Banasiak hihishlf was iilpnd^htrapped^' jn 1 [ He ! rail' tip, to',U .garret'fh"the lieusc, and received’ lifs : purshers l! i,Vith' a JiaiJ of billlets. Th’q'jc'liief of p'olm’e arrived on the ■ scene atid summoned him : to surrender. Ba'riasiak replied that he would' never lip captured and v/oilld light until the end, keeping his last bullet for himself. This was between lour and five o'clock in the afternoon. Troops were called out, and a regular seige began, which histed 40 hours. Fcii£ht to the End. The’inmates' of the house were told what was to Occur, and left thoir homes with whatever valuables they possessed. After exciting episodes, the authorities decided to use machine guns, and either two or four—the accounts vary—were brought up. They were posted on the . roofs of the. opposite houses, and poured a hot fire into Banasiak’s “fort.” When the order “Cease fire” was given, no one imagined that Banasiak could possibly have survived. Nevertheless he went on firing, and it was determined to blow up the garret with pyroxeline. A powerful cartrdige was exploded in the house, and wrecked part-of the roof and staircase. But Banasiak was not yet hors de combat, as was ,'showii when a straw figure dressed in policeman’s uniform was placed in a window facing the garret and drew several shots from him. The machine guns were again turned on the house, and with such tin effect’"that no human being could have escaped the fire. There was complete silence in the house, and when after an interval of several hours the . police entered the garret, they found Banasiak lying dead on a 'sofa with several wounds in' different parts of the body, but still grasping a revolver_ju one hand, and a Mauser pistol in -the other. Empty cartiriges wore strewn over the floor.