MASKED MAN HELD

Waipukurau Press, Volume XXVIII, Issue 65, 10 March 1933, Page 5

MASKED MAN HELD

CAUSED SOME ALARM t IN AUCKLAND BANK A young man, wearing a black velvet mask beneath a black' slouch hat, which was pulled down well over his eyes, entered the Auckland Savings Bank in Queen Street, one afternoon at 3.30 p.m. * There were a number of people in the bank transacting business at the time. Mr. Barker, second teller, looking across the desk where deposit and withdrawal slips were made out, noticed the man wearing the mask, and immediately gave the alarm to the bank's commissionaire, Captain Harrison Lee. “Captain, captain!" he cried “There's a masked man!" The commissionaire immediately ran towards the man with his right hand on his revolver, which was in a holster. “I could see that the man had nothing in his hands at the time, otherwise I might have fired at him,” said the commissionaire. “Catching hold of him with my left hand and wheeling him round, I asked him what he meant by entering the bank wearing the black mask. The man then explained that he had been engaged by the manager of a local picture theatre to exploit a mystery picture, and that he was merely distributing blotting pads advertising the picture in city offices.” The man said that he was sorry if he had caused any trouble. “He was ‘meat’ for anyone who might have been a little bit ‘windy,’” said the commissionaire, who was formerly in the Seaforth Highlanders.: “Since the hold-up. at Remu.era eighteen months ago and the recent sensation the Greek gipsy in city banks?bank officials have been on their toes, so to speak.”