PARIS EXPRESS HELD UP

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 793, 14 October 1929, Page 11

PARIS EXPRESS HELD UP

MAILS SAVED BY MISHAP TO ENGINE BANDITS SCARED AWAY Armed bandits who were plundering the mails on the Riviera express from Ventimiglia (in Italy near Nice) to Paris early one morning recently, had their plans frustrated by the breakdown of the engine. The train is one much used by British tourists. The express,' which was due in Paris at 8.15 in the morning, was between Lyons and Dijon when, about 1.30 a.m., the guard in the van just behind the engine was suddenly confronted by two men who. revolver in hand, shouted “Hands’up!” One man kept his revolver pointed at the guard while the other bound him with cords. Having placed their victim in a corner of the van, the bandits began to ogen the postal bags. some of which contained money and valuables. Then the disturbingly unexpected happened. , The train, which had been going at 60 miles an hour, suddenly stopped. The enginedriver had discovered that an important part of the engine was broken, but, thinking he could reach Macon, he moved on again. The bandits breathed once more, and resumed their work at the mail bags. But a few moments later the express stopped again, and the driver shouted to the guard, “You had better call the reserve,” -which is raihvaymeu’s language for “signal for another engine to be sent.” While one of the thieves kept his revolver pointed at the guard the other, putting on the guard’s cap, put his head out of the van and blew the guard’s trumpet in the hope that the driver would start the train again. The angry driver, however, rushed up to the van shouting:—“l tell you to signal for another engine! Can’t you understand?” Thereupon, the two bandits, abandoning most of their booty, jumped to the track and disappeared in the darkness.