TROVE
Kalgoorlie
Miner – Friday 5 August 1898
Thursday
4th August 1898
Telegraphic News
DARING BANK ROBBERY
MANAGER GAGGED. TELEGRAPH WIRES OUT. ...
[By Telegraph]
(From Our Own Correspondent.)
Melbourne. August 4.
A daring bank robbery has been reported from Penshurst. Armed men stuck
up the local branch of the Bank of Victoria and bound and gagged the manager,
Mr. Jamieson. They took £600 from the strong-room and then decamped. A. post
office employee named J. Buckley called at the bank to make a deposit. He saw a
strange man in charge, and left to inform the police. Another resident saw a
man leave the bank, and he was threatened with a revolver. The man then got
into a buggy and drove away. The telegraph wires on both sides of the township
were cut. A man has been arrested at Ararat in connection with the robbery. Be
arrived by the Hamilton train muffled up, and on being arrested said, ' I did
nothing wrong.' A revolver and ammunition were found in his possession. A
portmanteau containing money was found near the station.
Later.
Later particulars of the bank robbery state that shortly before closing
time a tall man, with a dark moustache, drove up, and tying his horse to a post
nearby, entered the bank and asked the manager if he could leave some securities,
as he did not want to carry them about. The manager replied that he could take
care of them, and was in the act of re- turning to the counter when the man
suddenly drew a revolver, and presenting it at the manager's head, threatened
to blow his brains out if he called. He ordered him to throw up his hands, and
Mr. Jamieson had no alternative. Having bound and gagged him the robber locked
the door, and proceeded to ransack the strong room, placing the coin in a
Gladstone bag. The post office and railway employees mentioned knocked
vigorously at the door, but the robber proceeded with his work, taking no
notice. He then unlocked the door and passed out, the men who were standing
outside saying to him: ' What the devil have you been up to?' They made no attempt
to stop him and he jumped into a buggy and drove rapidly away. The man who has
been arrested at Ararat gave the name of Jas. Ryan. A small Gladstone bag was
found containing £450 in notes, £74 in gold, and £32 in silver. Ryan had £2 12s
in his pockets.
TROVE
South
Australian Register – Friday 5 August 1898
Thursday 4th August
1898
ROBBERY UNDER ARMS.
SIX HUNDRED POUNDS STOLEN.
A SMART ARREST. MELBOURNE.
Thursday. August 4.
A daring Bank robbery is reported from Penshurst, a small town in the
Western District, 209 miles from Melbourne. At about a quarter to 3 this
afternoon, a man entered the local branch of the Bank of Victoria, and covering
the Manager, Mr. Jamieson, with a revolver bound and gagged him. He then
obtained possession of the keys of the strong room, and abstracted about £600
in notes and gold, and made off. The robber had a buggy waiting a short
distance from the Bank, and with this assistance made good his escape. The
telegraph wires on both sides of the township had been cut previously, hence
there was no means of communicating with the police at Hamilton, which was distant
sixteen miles. The robbery was discovered by an employee of the Post-office.
Mr. J. Buckley, who went to the Bank at a quarter to 3 o'clock to deposit some
moneys for the Postal Department and found the premises closed. Upon looking
through the window-blinds, which had been let down, he saw a strange man in the
Bank, and he immediately made off for the local constable, Mr. K. McKenzie,
who, however, was absent at Hawkesdale, an adjoining township, on duty. The
robber was noticed by Mr. Lawson, a chemist, shortly after leaving the Bank;
but a revolver which was promptly presented checked interference. Mr.
Murphy, the Manager of the Penshurst branch of the National Bank, and Mr.
Lawson at once left for Hamilton to advise the police there. Last Thursday the
telegraph wires at Penshurst were similarly cut, and it is assumed now that
this was the work of the robber, who wished to find out how long it would take
to restore communication.
Upon the Hamilton police being advised this afternoon they
immediately communicated with all the police stations in the district, and an
arrest promptly followed. On the arrival of the Hamilton train at Ararat
tonight a passenger was arrested on a charge of having been concerned in the
robbery. He got in the train at Glen Thompson, and his neck was bandaged up as
if he was ill, but on removing the bandage the police could not find anything
wrong. On searching him they discovered a revolver and ammunition in his
possession. He gave his name as James Ryan, but declined to make any statement.
A portmanteau containing the stolen money was thrown out of the carriage window
at the junction of the Hamilton line near Alfred street, where it was found by
the police. The bag contained £456 in notes. £74 in gold, and £33 in silver.
Ryan had £2 12s in his pocket when arrested. When asked to explain his
possession of the revolver and forty rounds of ammunition, he said it was not
his, but had been given to him by a man whom he did not know.
£600 in 1898 is
about $85 000 in 2015
