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MING ARMED ROBBEY OF N.S.W. TRAIN
Thieves Take £17,000 in Cash and Cheques
RAILWAY PAY ROLL TAKEN AT GUN POINT
?Whilst a train was travelling between Emu Piatas and Glenbrook,
N.S.W., ' last night two armed and masked men overpowered the guard,
disarmed the escort and took £17,000 worth of notes, silver and cheques.
The bandits threw their booty off the train, and in turn made their
. escape. The police are searching the countryside, and every traveller
' ?-?'? ' is suspect. .'
i -- ? . . -? ?
Descriptions of two men believed to b2
concerned In the sensational robbery last
-night when railway officials wsre held
' -t the revolver point in the van oi
the Mudsee mail train, and about £41)00
In notes, being wages for railway work
ers in the Mudgee district, was stolen,
have been supplied to detectives inquir
ing into the robbery.
Everybody travelling on the Great
Western-road between Penrith and Ka
toomba was under suspicion this morn
ing. . Police patrols were stationed at
various points along the road and every
body was interrogated
As the train was travelling between
Emu Plains and Glenbrook last night
two armed and masked men overpow
ered the guard and disarmed the escort,
and, taking the notes and silver dropped
off the train as it slowed down on an
up-grade.
Police officials are confident if the
two men are still in the vicinity, and it
is thought they still are, their chance of
escaos should be slender, as every pos
sible outlet is . being guarded.
Half an hour after the hold-up the
police drag net circled the district, and j
it is known that only one motor-car ;
passed along the Great Western-road be- !
tween the time of the robbery and the
arrival of the police. I
TWO SUSPECTS SEEN
. The driver of this car noticed two men
walking down Lapstone Hill, from the
direction of the hold-up. He has told
the police that they carried two suit
. cases and that when he drew near one \
man sat on his suit ea/e and averted his
face. The motorist has jiven the police
descriptions of the men. ? .
The robbers to reach Sydney ._ would
have either to cress the Nepean in a :
boat, to have swum the river, or to have
run the gauntlet of the police patrols at ?
Penrith bridge. Oth?r alternatives would
be an effort to make ? west on the road '
to Katoomba which is the only outlet
over the mountains, or to take to. the
barren gorges and dense scrub of the
. foothills where hunger would soon force
them out of hiding.
:Ui - -?? -'BAFFLING FEATURE^''''''
There are several baffling features
about the robbery. At 1 a.m. today a
shot was heard by Constable Grant . a
few hundred yards from ths railway
line at the viaduct. A search failed to
locate the cause, and it is thought the.'
bandits had accidentally fired a revol- |
ver. x
3 A new complexion, however, 'was put
on the. firing by Mr. Bray, of Penrith,
who, with the powerful spotlights of his
car, was assisting the police. He said
a shot was fired at him. and that he j
- heard a bullet whistle past the car.
Bray's car had been commandeered by
the police because of the strength of its j
spotlights. Ths spotlight beams swept
the countryside, and it is believed who
ever fired the shot did so to put them
out of order.
How the boxes containing the money
were taken away from the railway line
at the spot where they were thrown is a
mystery, as' just below Glenbrook tun
nel the railway passes through a steep'
cutting and a box thrown from the
moving train would almost certainly roll
back on to the line and be ' smashed.
A big squad of detectives 'and police
is searching the heavily timbered and
scrubby gullies. It has been reported to
the police that yesterday a car contain
ing five men pulled un at the side of
the road near the railway line, but no
, thing furth-r has been heard of them.
WERE NOT NOVICES
vAnother strange feature is that late
yesterday a young man was seen riding
z black pony along the line from the
direction of Glenbrook tunnel. How he
sucrr^ied in reaching the line and why
he should run the risk of being killed
by a train has not been explained.
It is certain the audacious perpetra
tors of the hold-up were no novices,
and th;y must have had intimate know
ledge of the working of the railway.
They knew when it would be advantage
? twjs to leave the train and apparently
i knew exactly where ' the cash would be
1 carried.' :
I ; ? ? GUARD'S STORY
A. E. Squires, guard, told a dramatic
story today of his experience. 'The train
had just left Emu Plains,' he said. 'I had
entered the van when I heard a voice say
'Put up your hands and keep quiet.' I
turned round and saw a young masked
man with a white handkerchief standing
on tne opposite side of the van holding
a levelled revolver. I did not raise my
hands, and he told me to get away from
the door. As I moved I was struck a
violent blow on the jaw, and fell to the
floor. The escort, a young man of 23.
was sitting down when the bandit ap
peared.'
From this point Squlres's story be
comes slightly confused, because he was
dazed by the blow. It appears the
second man, who came from behind a
partition, ordered the escort to put up
his hands. He did so. and his revolver
was taken from him.
BANDITS JUMP OFF TRAIN
Squires then struggled to his feet, and,
with the escort, was guarded by one of
the bandits while the other forced the
lock of the bullion chest, and a wooden
box containing cheques, notes and silver,
amounting to more than £17,000. was
taken. One bandit then waited his op
portunity and leaped from the train, the
other following immediately, while the
train was, travelling at 30 miles an hour.
Although there were nearly 500 pas
sengers aboard, most of them were sleep
ing, and the first knowledge of the rob
bery was when Squires told the night
officer at Glenbrcok station when the
train arrived, nine minutes later. In a
few minutes all was confusion, and hasty
messages were flashed to police, head
quarters and near-by stations for all
roads to be guarded. ' . ; ?
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