CRIME IN SYDNEY.

Waikato Times, Volume 103, Issue 17384, 21 April 1928, Page 14 (Supplement)

CRIME IN SYDNEY.

Before they could get their captives to police headquarters detectives had an "all-in fight" with three men whom they detained in connection with the robbery at Buckingham's, Ltd., Oxford Street, Sydney.

Following the discovery of the robbery of several hundreds of pounds worth of goods, the policemen from all stations were engaged in the search for suspects. Detectives Alford and Morgan, Sergeant Lynch and Constables Walker and Lambert toured the city in a motor-car. They went along George Street, and, reaching the railway, went down Gastlereagh Street, as far as Circular Quay. The police party then turned into George Street again, and had not gone far before they saw three men engaged in what appeared to be a confidential conversation. The features of one of the men struck Sergeant Lynch as being familiar, and it was decided to stop the car and interrogate the men. No sooner had the car come to a standstill, however, than the three men separated and bolted in different directions. The police were quickly after them, and the men were taken to the police station. Although the police had their quarry in the car they did not get them to police headquarters without a struggle. The men, who are alt of powerful build, showed fight, and it was only with the greatest difficulty that they were kept on the scats. At one stage it appeared likely that the captives would escape, and the driver of tlic car, realising that his companions were in difficulties, pulled up and took a hand in the struggle. A civilian who was on the footpath came, to the aid of the policemen, and offered lo drive the car to police headquarters. This was accepted. BOY SLt„7M. DISCOVERED ROBBERY. Tommy Harrison, aged nine, a pupil at William Street Public School, played a. prominent part in the discovery of the Dibbery at Buckingham's. Thieves got away with hundreds of pounds worth of goods, and but for the action of Tommy the firm’s loss would have been considerably greater, as other articles valued at £IOOO were packed ready for removal. it is believed that the robbery was carried out by a well-organised gang, who bad an intimate knowledge of the building. Everything points to the fact that they secreted themselves on the premises before the departure of the last employee. Constable 1. Rowney, of the Darlinghurst Station, found' one of the rear doors of the premises open. As lie approached he saw a man, whom he asked what he was doing, there. The man replied, “I am the caretaker, ‘ and promptly walked inside and slammed the door.

MEN BOLT BUT ARE ARRESTED

GRIM FIGHT WITH SUSPECTS.

The policeman was not satisfied with 1 the man's behaviour, and hung about the premises. 'While he was in the back lane Tommy Harrison, who lives in Wainc Street, at the rear of Buck- { ingham's premises, rushed up to the | constable, dressed only in pyjamas, and j said, "Burglars were in that place i yesterday." Constable Rowney got into touch with the Darlinghurst Station, and in a j short time two patrol waggons were on the scene. The bui'ding was surrounded and a thorough search was made of the premises, but the intruders I had escaped. [ Tommy told a pressman that he had I been playing in a lane at the rear of Buckingham's, with Kenny Corrigan and Harry Keys, when they saw a man I drive up to the rear of the building. "I've Caught You." "The man, who was in a motor-car," said Tommy, "swore at us and told us to go away. We got over a gate and watched the man in the car. lie drove away, but a few minutes later came back, and the door of Buckingham's was opened. Immediately several cases of goods were passed out and loaded on the car." When this was done Tommy said he jumped over the gate and cried, "I've caught you jn the act." The in the car, he said, drove down the lane into Pelican Street, then down Oxford Street into College Street. "I chased them as far as I could," went on Tommy, "and I got the number of the \ car."

Tommy said one of the men had been dressed in a navy blue suit, and he had given the police a description of him. lie was not so sure about the second man.

"I'LL GET YOU." A SHOOTING AFFRAY. Gunmen made, their appearance in Sydney one night, last week, when Thomas James O'Brien, painter, of O'Sullivan Street, Surry Hills, received a bullet wound in the abdomen. The police believe that the shooting is a recurrence of the sensational gun incidents of the past few weeks. They have been told that O'Brien was outside a hotel in the afternoon, when a man approached him and said, "The mob intends lo get you." O'Brien, it is said, replied, "I'll get you first," striking ttic man in the mouth with his fist. It is alleged that later, in Riley Street, a number of men walked up Lo O'Brien, and one of them produced a revolver and fired a shot which lodged in O'Brien's abdomen. The latter ran away, and a second shot was fired at him, but the bullet missed its mark.

O'Brien was taken to Sydney Hospital.