STRANGE WEAPON.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 600, 2 November 1932, Page 5

STRANGE WEAPON.

Fountain Pen that Shoots Gas Shell. SEIZURE IN SYDNEY. (Special to the “ Star.”) SYDNEY, October 26. By the discovery of a weapon, shaped like a fountain pen, said to be capable of firing a gas-filled container, police believe they have revealed a new underworld terror.

Darlinghurst detectives were recently told that a man well known to them was carrying a pistol. They searched him, but found no firearm.

“That’s,a nice fountain pen in your vest pocket,” a detective said to the man, off-handedly. “ Yes.” was the reply. “-It’s a present.” and he calmly smoked while the police examined the pen.

Suddenly a detective touched a filler spring, and the top flew open. Then it was revealed that the pen was really a new type of weapon containing a gasffilled cartridge which at a distance of 40 yards would render a person unconscious.

Two loaded cartridges were seized, but the man was released, as the police had no power to hold him on a charge of having carried a concealed firearm. Detectives think that the weapon was brought from Germany or the United States.