BANDIT KILLS MAN IN CAFE

Taranaki Daily News, 13 March 1935, Page 12

BANDIT KILLS MAN IN CAFE

Enraged When Someone Hurls Beer Glass At Head

GIRL ASSISTANT COLLECTS THE LOOT

A MIDDLE-AGED man accom•rX panied by a young woman walked into the Golf Grill, 855 Amsterdam Avenue, near 100th Street, New York, at 3 a.m. on a, recent day, drew a revolver from his pocket and ordered 10 customers to raise their hands and line up against a wall. The girl ran behind the bar, took $45 out of the cash register and then searched the men, taking from them jewellery, watches and about $lO. in cash. As she and her companion neared the door on their way out someone threw a beer glass at them. It crashed against the door close to the gunman’s head. Enraged, he turned and fired, fatally wounding Michael Cuniff, 45 years old, of 598 West 177th Street, a brother-in-law of Mike McTigue, the former prize-fighter. The bandits escaped in a motorcar. As scores of policemen searched the neighbourhood in radio cars a man and a woman answering the description of the two who had held up the grill entered another restaurant, the Penn Diner, 265 West Thirty-fifth Street. The man, showing a revolver, ordered Harry TakSler of 1141 Elder Avenue, the Bronx, the counterman, and six customers to line up against the wall. The girl walked over to the cash register and about $8 in bills and coins. As the bandits left their victims threw a barrage of cups, spoon and napkin-holders. In the confusion the girl dropped her pocketbook, in which was found the $B, which Taksler later told the police he put back in the register. The woman was described to Deputy Chief Inspector Frank J Hear, commanding Manhattan detectives. and to the police of the West 100th Street and the West Thirtieth Street stations, as about 25 years old. She was said to be tall and slender, with dark hair and wearing dark clothing. The man was described as about 40. The shot he fired at Cuniff hit him in the eye, took an upward course and came out through the top of the skull. An ambulance from the Knickerbocker Hospital was called to the Golf Grill where Dr S. Hollingsworth gave first aid and ordered Cuniff taken to the Reconstruction Hospital, where he died three hours later.