BUCKLEY IS CHARGED WITH SEVEN-YEAR-OLD CRIME.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19237, 26 November 1930, Page 5

BUCKLEY IS CHARGED WITH SEVEN-YEAR-OLD CRIME.

Detective Relentlessly Trails Wanted Man For Three Years And Gets Him.

(United Press Assn.—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright.) MELBOURNE, November 25. There is tremendous interest in the trial of Richard Buckley, aged sixtyseven, a bootmaker, on the charge of murdering Thomas Berriman, a bank manager, who was shot dead on October 8, 1923. Angus Murray, a notorious criminal, was hanged in 1924 for his part in the crime. The police arrested Buckley on September 30 last under sensational circumstances. The Crown alleges that Buckley actually fired the revolver shot that killed Berriman, and stole the bag containing £lßsl, since when he has eluded arrest. The Crown Prosecutor pointed out that Buckley, in„ the meantime, had grown a beard and moustache, which made identification by witnesses more difficult, and the request to Buckley’s solicitor that Buckley should agree to be shaved had been disregarded. Buckley had told the police that he did not know Murray,% but admitted that he had been in hiding for a number of years, though he had never been out of the State. The trial is likely to last for four days. Crowds waited from 6.30 am. to gain access to the Court.

A DRAMATIC ARREST. The search for Buckley was the most relentless and painstaking ever carried out by the Victorian police, said the Melbourne “Age” recently. Their efforts never relaxed during the seven 3-ears that have lapsed since Berriman was killed, and the climax was dramatic. From time to time news filtered in from the underworld concerning the wanted man, and many fruitless raids were carried out. The failures were heartbreaking. At last, three years ago, a detective caught sight of Bucklev- in the crowd at Melbourne and then they felt certain that after all he had not left the State. Shortly after that Detective Lacey was put definitely on the job. He was much handicapped by the silence of the underworld, but the trail was gradually narrowed down. Often he was absent from police headquarters for da3*s at a time, and at one time nearly suffered a nervous breakdown. About a year ago a definite clue was obtained, the following months being spent in most painstaking investigation. At last the hiding-place was located where Buckley and his granddaughter were living, and the raid was planned. Doors Broken In. So that there should be no suspicion caused by a force of police in cars, the raiders in two private cars assembled in a side street and drove down to the suburb of Moonee. where they divided into two parties. It had been arranged for the raiding parties to make a simultaneous attack on the front door and the back gate with blacksmith’s sledge hammers. It was known that the doors were always kept locked and heavily barred. Upon a prearranged signal being given one party smashed the back gate from its hinges while the front door was similarly dealt with. As the doors fell in with a resounding crash, the detectives heard a young

woman screaming to somebody inside the house. With revolvers drawn they rushed along the passage and encountered Buckley, as he was running through the kitchen, presumably to the back of the house. He threw up his hands when commanded to do so and submitted quietly. Upon searching Buckleys room the detectives say they seized two fully loaded automatic pistols, and an old-type “Bulldog” revolver, loaded in six chambers. A tin containing a supply of cartridges was .Iso found. The clock-work precision with which the raid was carried out may be gauged from the fact that from the time the signal was given until Buckley was arrested, only ten seconds elapsed. Berriman Killed. The actual crime takes one back to October 8, 1923, when Glenferrie railway station was the scene of a most daring and sensational hold-up In broad daylight, Mr T. R. V. Berriman manager of the Hawthorn branch of the Commercial Bank of Australia, was accosted by two men, shot in the SVI-J’ an< " r °bbed of a bag containing in bank notes. Mr Berriman, who was fifty years of age, was on his way to town about 11.10 a.m. to take the bag of notes to his head office. the subway to the station he was approached by two men. One man, short and stout, and dressed in a blue suit, said, Can I carry 3*our bag?’* Mr Berriman replied, “No, thank you. I can carry it myself.” The short man then grabbed the bag. " A struggle ensued, in which Mr Berriman’s assailant drew a revolver and cold-bloodedly shot Mr Berriman in the chest. Mr Berriman collapsed, his assailant wrenched the bag from his grasp and passed it to a companion, “a tall, thin man, in a grey suit,” and both ran down the narrow alley leading between Swinburne Technical School and the railway. The “tall, thin man,” who was Angus Murray, ran ahead while the stout man covered pursuit from the rear by flourishing a revolver. They then jumped into a waiting mQtor-car, with a third man at the wheel, and subsequently drove towards St Kilda, via Glenferrie Road, during which time several collisions with other vehicles were narrowly avoided. On one occasion the car nearly ran down a constable on point duty at Riversdale Road. A large force of detectives was detailed to trace the perpetrators of the ruthless shooting, and on October 12 some excitement was caused when, accompanied by Superintendent Potter, they raided a house in Barkly Street, St Kilda, at 5 a.m., arresting Angus Murray, Leslie (Squizzy) Taylor and Ida Pender. Angus Murray was an escaped convict, having climbed the wall _of Geelong Gaol several weeks previously. He was charged with the Glenferrie robbery, and with escaping from custody. Taylor and Pender were locked up on holding charges, but later were released. Murray was hanged for the crime. No action was taken against Taylor, who subsequently met his death in an underworld revolver duel staged in a house in Barkly Street, Carlton, three years ago.