BOYS’ CRIMES

Waikato Times, Volume 107, Issue 17984, 1 April 1930, Page 2

BOYS’ CRIMES

SYDNEY’S LATEST. JUVENILE RAZOR GANG. CALLOUS MURDER. A juvenile razor slashing gang—is that Sydney’s latest? Sydney was shocked during the week-end by two serious crimes in which mere" hoys figured, the most serious being one where a boy of 16 years shot and seriously wounded a girl of 14 years, and then committed suicide. This happened in the suburb of Bexley on Sunday night, the boy being James Harvey and the girl Maisie Thompson. As with most crimes of this nature it all happened with amazing suddenness. The girl badbeen playing cards with her mother and other members of the family, as well as with the boy Harvey. When the game came to an end Harvey calked Maisie , into the hack yard. The girl obeyed, and Harvey said to her tensely, “You won’t go dancing with me.” She replied, “No. What is the matter?” Immediately the boy pulled a revolver from his pocket. A shot followed and the girl was hit in the breast. She fell screaming. Maisie’s brother rushed out, and the girl, who was still conscious, said that Harvey had done the shooting. “Fancy Jim shooting me.” she said. The bullet had gone right through her body, which was not surprising seeing that tile revolver was fired at close range. Immediately after the shooting Harvey ran away, and about five minutes later another shot was heard. Some hours later the body of the hoy was found in some scrub in a near-by section. Members of the Thompson family are emphatic that there was no love between the birl and the boy. They are convinced that young Harvey must have, been mad, probably the result of intensive study, for he had just passed his school examination with honours. “It must have turned his brain,” they sav. There are hopes that the girl, though grievously wounded, will recover. Acts of Terrorism. A, story of acts of terrorism by a gang of youngsters in the thickly populated Alexandria district was told during the week-end by the mother of a seven-year-old boy who was slashed with a razor by another lad in tlie local park. Harold Webber was the victim of tlie attack. A few weeks ago, his mother says, his brother, aged 11 years, was ■ battered almost into insensibility. The brothers were in the "park on Saturday afternoon when three bovs, each about 14 years of age, punched Harold Webber and then struck Clarence. One of the attackers drew a sharp blade irom his pocket and.slashed at Harold, ripping through his coat. Both boys ra.u screaming to their home. Mrs Webber hurried to the park and saw a rnob of about a dozen small boys run away' as she approached. “Decent hoys have no peace in this locality,” said Mrs Webber subsequently. “All the boys who will not have anything to do with the gang arc made to suffer.” The police view with alarm the fact that members of the gang are armed with razors, and every effort will be made to subdue the gang.