CASHIER WOUNDED.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 279, 24 November 1931, Page 5

CASHIER WOUNDED.

Puts Up Brave Fight with Gunman. s RAID ON BANK. • (Special to the ” Star.”) LONDON, October 2. In a brave attempt to grapple with an armed stranger, who entered the branch of Barclay’s Bank in Beckenham Lane, Shortlands, Kent, during a quiet period in the lunch hour, Mr Kenneth Raymond Bryant, aged twenty-nine, the cashier, was shot and gravely wounded in the chest. The unknown assailant, who wore a dark cap and a light raincoat, represented himself as a Post Office official, and told Mr Bryant that he' had come to look at the telephone. This was apparently a ruse to ascertain whether the cashier was alone. After examining the telephone the stranger suddenly turned round' and, approaching the counter, demanded money and grabbed at some papers which he mistook for Treasury notes. Mr Bryant refused and pluckily leaned over in an attempt to grasp the intruder. The latter thereupon whipped out a revolver and fired two shots point-blank at the cashier. The first wounded him and the second crashed through a glass partition. Despite his grievous injury Mr Bryant was able to start the alarm bells and then, dashing to the end of the counter and through the flap to the front, he came to grips with the assailant and a fierce struggle began. The cashier’s injuries, however, handicapped him, and the man flung him off and escaped. Mr Bryant just managed to stagger to thd doorway and there, half in the bank and half on the pavement, he collapsed. Thanks to his gallantry, no money was taken. At that moment there was scarcely anyone about save children on their way to school, and the stranger was able to dart away unimpeded. A number of passers-by who heard the shots rushed to the spot and joined with the police in the chase, but the raider had had too big a start. It is believed that he had a motor-car down a side-turning. One of the first persons on the scene was Miss Williams, who is employed at a baker’s shop near by. “ I had just got back to the shop after lunch,” she re’ .xted, “ when I heard a shot and almost immedately after the noise of the alarm bell. I dashed out of my shop, followed by a policeman, who was seeing children across the road. Before I could get to the bank I saw a well-dressed man come out of the doors rather quickly. He wore a light coat and trousers, and had a muffler round his neck. He had fair, curly hair and was rather short.”

Detectives found at the bank a new leather bag with white metai fittings and a brown mixture cap, the tab of which, bearing the maker s name, had been torn out. The light raincoat and muffler worn by the man were found thrown over a fence, a short distance from Beckenham Lane. As the raider was believed to be still armed Flying Squad detectives engaged in the hunt were also armed in case of emergency. It is obvious that the raider had had the bank under observation for some time, as he chose early closing day and a moment when it was likely that no customers would be there. Mr Bryant, who worked on the premises alone, is a bachelor. He has been with Barclay’s Bank for several years, and was given charge of the Shortlands branch about eighteen months ago.