GIPSIES RUN RIOT.

Waikato Times, Volume 102, Issue 17220, 1 October 1927, Page 14 (Supplement)

GIPSIES RUN RIOT.

TURMOIL AT ENCAMPMENT. CAR SWARMED BY MEN. A band of gipsies ran riot at Liverpool, Sydney, last week. Police were called, and on arrival at the camp they found 50 or 60 gipsies under the influence of liquor. A Bacchanalian orgy was in progress. Drunken men were quarrelling, while the shrill screams of semiintoxicated women added to the pandemonium. Police' began to make their inquiries with mixed feelings, as a serious situation was feared. This did not transpire at that time, but when the police decided to make an arrest the situation changed. Sergeant Gibson, with two constables, arrested a young gipsy about •20 years of age. He resisted violently, and screamed out to his comrades. The police struggled with their captive, and eventually succeeded in dragging him through the scrub to a waiting car. By this lime, urged on by their womenfolk, the other members of the band had decided on a definite plan. They charged after the police, yelling obscenities and threatening dire penalties if the officers persisted in making the arrest. Police Fight Fiercely. They rushed Iho car, and climbed all over it, clawing, punching, and yelling, in an effort !o separate their comrade from his captors. The police, though handicapped by great odds, kept a firm grip on their charge.. The driver of the car got the engine started and commenced to move slowly off. An amazing spectacle was witnessed in the quiet Liverpool Road. The police car was literally overwhelmed ,villi gipsies, who were failing off gradually, as the vehicle gained in•rensed speed. It was not until the car had attained a speed of over 25 miles an hour that the last three would-be rescuers humped heavily to the ground. The police carried otf their man. At Liverpool station a charge of using indecent language was preferred against him. The police decided to re-visit the ncampmeut, in view of the condition o' the men. Their second arrival in the '.ciip, which was in darkness and very ;uict, was greeted with sullen silence. . he police made a round of the encamp men l and departed after issuing warnings to several of Ihc men.