TWO MEN SHOT DEAD

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 89, Issue 86, 12 April 1945, Page 5

TWO MEN SHOT DEAD

AFFAIR IN BAR OF A SYDNEY HOTEL MIDDLE-AGED SOLDIER ARRESTED. Recd. 7 p.m. Sydney, April 11. Two men were shot dead in the bar of a Surrey Hills hotel, Sydney, shortly after 6 o’clock last evening. Early this morning a large squad of police raided a house in the district and arrested a middle-aged soldier. A revolver of Japanese manufacture was found in the house. Later, the man was charged with having murdered Cecil Miller, aged 35, an ironworker, married, with four children, and Arthur Graham, aged 31, a labourer, married. The tragedy brought the number of shooting victims in New South Wales since January 1 to nine. Four of the shootings have taken fflace in the Surrey Hills area. Police investigating the latest shooting were told that a dispute developed about the serving of beer. A soldier was knocked down in a fight. As he lay on the floor, tar*e shots were fired from a revolver, killing Miller and Graham almost instantly. In the confusion the soldier jumped up and ran out of the hotel, leaving his hat and kitbag behind. Thirty police m? '<e the arrest at 2 o’clock this morning. Graham, one of the victims, was himself a returned soldier. He fought with the A.I.F. in Greece and Crete, being captured at Suda Bay, but later escaping in a fishing smack. CRIME WAVE FEARED. Following the shooting, high police officers last night again emphasised that they feared that the number of unlicensed revolvers and tommy-guns in the possession of private individuals in Sydney would, cause an unprecedented crime wave. They described as “totally inadequate” the present penalties for carrying unlicensed guns, declaring that the only real deterrent would be a five-years’ gaol sentence. At a conference with representatives of all branches of the fighting services in Sydney yesterday, the police urged stricter control of ser-: vice weapons, hundreds of which were finding their way into the hands of notorious criminals, whose armouries included hand grenades as well as sub-machine-guns, pistols and revolvers. Recd. 9 p.m. Sydney, April 11. Francis Alexander Walls, aged 46, ,an Australian soldier, was charged today with having murdered Cecil Miller and Arfliur Gra'nam. Walls, who was remanded until April 19, was also charged with having in his possession an unlicensed Japanese automatic pistol. Walls took the Court proceedings calmly and did not attempt to speak.