DARING ROBBERIES

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19758, 27 March 1934, Page 11

DARING ROBBERIES

JEWELLERY VALUED AT £l5O STOLEN By Telegraph—Press Association WELLINGTON, March 26. Two daring robberies, in which jewellery valued in the first instance at £SO and in the other at between £loo* and'£lso was stolen, occurred in the city within a few hours on Saturday evening, and Sunday morning. The first took place at Clark and Morris, jewellers, Cuba Street, when the intruder gained admission to the shop in broad daylight by smashing a glass panel of the side door, without apparently attract! lg the attention of passers-by. The other robbery was cairied out in the busiest part of Willis Street shortly after 0.30 a.m., whil many people were still bout the street. It held all the elements of the audacious “smash and grab” variety. A man was observed by a number of bystanders to deal two heavy blows at the plate glass window of the premises of Waite.' Smart, pawnbroker, using an instrument believed to have been a piece of piping. He then seized two trays containing diamond rings, and dashed up the street. The night porter at the Duke of Edinburgh Hotel, whu’i is a few doors further up the street, confronted the robber with a broom, and called on him to stop. The porter says the robber drew a revolver, and called out “get out of my way or I’ll fill you full of lead.” The porter stepped back, and the robber bolted past him. Pccple who had been attracted by the sound of smashing gla ; and the shouting, joined the porter in pursuing the man. who ran up a side street, disappearing in the darkness. The crime appears to have been carefully planned, the thief having apparently waited urt'l the * -nstable on the beat had gone c :ral hundred yards down the street. So loud was the .sound of the breaking window that the constable came running back. A sergeant also arrived in a few minutes, and the police were given a description of the thief, who is stated to be about 35 years of age, wearing a blue overcoat and a felt hat. He was seen by least two witnesses. He wore a mask, improvised probably out of a pocket handkerchief. Later in the night a number of persons advised the police that they had seen the man in various parts of the city, but investigation in each case led to nothing. *.’« . The police consider it likely that the two robberies were the work of one person, or of confederates.