ROBBERY UNDER ARMS

Taranaki Daily News, 18 July 1929, Page 2

ROBBERY UNDER ARMS

THEFT FROM A BANK SENSATIONAL CHASE FOLLOWS. MAN AND GIRL ARRESTED. A man entered the State Savings Bank at North Adelaide shortly after noon on July 3 and covered the bank manager anj his assistant with a revolver, saying: “Get into that strongroom beiore 1 count ten.” He snatched between £5OO and £6OO in notes and silver from the manager s counter and made olf in a high-powered touring car. The bank is situated in the busiest portion of North Adelaide and there were many people in the street at the time, including a policeman. The car approached the banK at a high speed and stopped suddenly. The man leit a woman seated in the ear and the engine was kept running. He emerged from the bank within a few minutes, jumped into the car and drove away quickly William Albert Painter;- who was standing next, door to the bank, heard kicks on the strongroom door and a voice calling, “Let us out.” He vaulted the counter and, on opening the stryngroom door, was confronted rvith the manager, Mr. L. Johns, and his assistant, Air. Digby Odium, both looking pale and scared.

SHOTS FIRED AT POLICEMAN. About 2.30 Mounted-L’onsUible Broad saw- a. car going toward the punt over the River Murray at Wellington. He approached the car and the driver baciceu away from the punt and turned round. Broad ordered him to stop and When he refused jumped on to the running board. The driver accelerated and drew’ a revolver, which he pointed at nie policeman. Broad jumped oil’ and fell to the ground. The man lired at the constable, who lired three shots at the retreating car. All country police within a radius of 100 miles of Adelaide were notified of the robbery and instructed to keep a watch for the car. Palmer, a small township overlooking the Alurray Flats, was visited by the lugitives toward evening. The ear drove into the town at live o’clock and a call was made at the store owned by Air. T. Newman, who was not on the premises when the couple arrived. They were served by the assistant, Air. W. Schwaz. The man showed no signs of being perturbed and his demeanour was characterised as perfectly normal. His first action on entering the store was to secure petrol and he had 11 gallons poured into his tank. He also purchased a tin oi petrol, which was placed in the Dark of the car. The man was somewhat talkative and said he was proceeding on his honeymoon. Biscuits, cigarettes, matches and cool ilrinKs were bought from the store and the man paid for them in florins. He had not sufficient silver to meet the bill and the woman took some cash from her handbag and gave it to the man. . It was apparent that he had not been injured by the shots of the constable at Wellington.

POLICE MAKE DOUBLE AP.REST.

About 15 minutes after their arrival at Palmer the pair made oil' toward Mannum. The residents of Palmer had not been acquainted with the robbery at this tin.- and it was not until two police officers drove into the place a few minutes after the departure of the couple that they realised that they had let the tugitives slip through their fingers. The police officers soon left in pursuit, travelling in the direction of Mannum. The police at Swan Reach arrested a young man and girl in a motor-car later in the evening. They had £473 in their possession. A large crowd gathered at Adelaide the, following morning to await the arrival ( of the young man and woman.

After a long wait in the rain the crowd saw two cars approaching. The first car, which contained the girl, ran straight into the police garage. When the second car, in which the man was seated, was near the entrance one of its doors was flung violently open and a man’s legs shot out, almost touching the roadway. The prisoner, who had forced the catch of the door with his knee, was forced back into the car after a violent -struggle. He was then taken io the cells.

Later Aubrey Loftus George, alias John Ronald Walker and Lorraine DeJanty .were charged with robbery, under arms. On the application of the police they were remanded until July 15. Bail was refused the man, but the girl was allowed bail in two sureties each of £5. Walker is a man of small build, about 30 years of age. He was neatly dressed. He is believed to have been a chauffeur to Sir Archibald Weigall, a former State Governor. He wore a pair of gold sleevelinks inscribed "Lady Weigall. Xmas, 1921.” The girl, who gave her age as 22, told the magistrate that she wanted to go back to her home, Mount Gambier, where she had lived all her life.