SENSATIONAL CHASE

Taranaki Daily News, 24 February 1931, Page 10

SENSATIONAL CHASE

WOMAN CASHIER WAYLAID.

BAG WITH £lOO RECOVERED.

Attacked in Yarra Bank Road, Melbourne, on January 30, Mrs. Annie Webb, a cashier, employed by Caldwell’s Pty., Ltd., ink manufacturers, was thrown to the ground and robbed of an attache case containing about £lOO in notes and silver. The money was part of the pay-roll of the company. As Mrs. Webb was walking along the road, a motor-cycle, on which three men were riding, stopped, near her. Two of the men, who had been seated on the pillion, ran toward her, and the other man sat on the motor-cycle and kept the engine running. The woman was seized by the arms and thrown to the pavement. The men remounted the motorcycle and set off in the direction of the Spencer Street bridgb. Pursued by a motorist along Yarra Bank Road, the thieves struck a motorcycle parcels carrier, and their machine skidded and fell. over. They sprang to their feet and . ran toward a narrow lane. Here they • were intercepted, by Frederick Towers. Who was ip charge, of a one..of. them a violent blow with his fist. The man stumbled and rose again, and presented a revolver. , , Towprs grasped the ■ revolver in one hand, and held, the man with the other hand until two men came to his assistance. The other two thieves escaped down the lane.

Later, an employee of a factory saw a man hiding in some grass on a vacant allotment off the lane. He jumped over the fence, but was not able to catch the man, who ran off, leaving on the ground the stolen case containing the money, which was eventually returned to the company.