POSTMAN ATTACKED

Waikato Times, Volume 114, Issue 19052, 16 September 1933, Page 12 (Supplement)

POSTMAN ATTACKED

Mail Bag Seized by Daring Gar Bandits. Fortune Missed by Few Seconds.

By an error of a few seoonds, a trio of London bandits, who attacked a postman In the heart of the City, probably missed a substantial fortune. They got away with a bag containing registered mall for one of the banks, but delayed their coup until the postman had delivered at an adjoining bank other bags that contained far greater treasure. The bandits—one of them dressed like a chauffeur, In blue livery—used a high-speed eight-cylinder car, and two of them successfully escaped In this. Their associate “lost” himself in the crowd, quickly attracted by the commotion, and so far, in spUe of the most searching investigation by the police, there have been no. arrests. Evefy morning about 8.15 a Post Office van, with a driver and two postmen, draws up where Blrchin Lane Joins Lombard Street in the City. Blrchin Lane is too narrow for the passage of the van, and it had been a custom of long standing for one of the postmen to carry on foot the bags of registered mail for the various banks In the little thoroughfare. Postman Cyril Mitchell was detailed for the duty on this particular day. He went without incident to a branch of the Commercial Bank of Sydney, and left the valuable part of his load there. Returning into Blrchin Lane he turned his steps towards Williams Deacon’s Bank, and then the unexpected happened. Not far from the bank a blue saloon car had been standing for some time. Chauffeur in Livery. \ A chauffeur in blue uniform sat behind the steering wheel, and two other men who had alighted gave the impression that they were connected with building operations on the- other side of the street. Postman Mitchell' walked unsuspectingly past these two men. Swiftly they turned upon him, and one jumping on his back knocked the postman off the narrow pavement into the roadway. The other man seized one bag containing registered mail, and dashed for the big saloon car, then already on the move. More by good fortune than agility he managed to scramble inside. The Hue and Cry. His companion—apparently the postman’s assailant —was not so successful. He made a frantic leap for the running board, missed it and slipped up. Quickly on his feet again he ran back along the street and was lost to view in the crowd. -Meanwhile the oar, travelling at top speed, mount-

ed the pavement at the Junction of Birohln Lane and Lombard Street, cut across the road into Nicholas Lane, again ran on to the pavement, and turned right into Cannon Street. The driver ignored the traffic policeman at the Mansion House, drove fast down Queen Victoria Street, and got' away. Police commandeered a private car and chased the bandits, but they had too good a start and got clear. Apparently nobody saw the actual attack, although the lane was filled with shouting men a few seconds after it had happened. The liftman at Williams Deacon’s Bank related that he was standing Inside the doorway when he heard a shout and a crash. “When I got to the pavement,” he said, “I saw the postman lying on his face surrounded by mail bags. Two men were scrambling Into a car, which was moving off rapidly towards Cannon Street. Porters and messengers ran out of the bank and offices, somebody blew a whistle, and we all shouted. Pluoky Polios Officer. "I ran as fast as I could, down the lane after one of the men who had been unable to get Into the car. The roadway was full of people running and shouting, and in the general confusion the man got away.” A police-inspector "who was approaching the corner along Lombard Street heard the commotion and saw the car mount the kerb. He made a desperate attempt to leap on the running board, but failed. As the car turned Into Nicholas Lane a City Corporation dust-cart was nearing the corner. “I saw a car being driven very fast out of Blrchin Lane,” the driver of the dust-cart stated. "Hearing shouts and whistles being blown, I tried to get my van across the road in front of it. It was going too fast, however, and the horse, frightened by all the sudden noise, was more Inclined to back than to go forward. If I had been a minute earlier I am sure I could 'have forced the car to run into the dustcart.” When the next mail-van containing bags for various banks drew up in Lombard Street it was closely guarded by police. Constables stood in pairs in Lombard Street and at the corner of the lanes leading off the street. On the authority of the General Post Office, the stolen bag contained 30 registered packages for Williams Deacon’s Bank, but they held nothing that the bandits could convert into cash.