A Dastardly Deed in Lefroy Street

SENSATIONAL SHOOTING.

Attempted Murder by Four Armed Men

A party of shop workers was held up in Forrest Street Coolgardie
by two armed and masked men.
There is so far no known motive for the dastardly
crime and no arrests have been made. The police are baffled.

One of those strange and almost inexplicable shootings which have gained in its brief and chequered history for this centre of the goldfields an unenviable reputation almost akin to the half-truths and mostly romance of the Wild West in the early and unsettled days of ’49 in California, occurred last night when almost at the door of the private residence of the Rev J, A. Burns, the popular incumbent of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Phillip Maybury, cashier and assistant manager of the Bride Cake House in Bayley Street, was on his homeward way from business and carrying with him the day’s takings of the restaurant, shot in the broad glare of the electric light with two bullets, out of four shots fired at him by a gang of so far unknown ruffians. One shot hit him in the arm and the other in the chest. His bag with the takings was snatched but almost immediately dropped as it was found a few yards away intact.

The facts as gleaned by ‘The Miner’s representatives up to the time of going to press, showed that Mr. and Mrs. Fiddes, Miss Hughes, sister of the last-named lady, and Mr. Maybury were at the close of the day’s business, about 11.15 pm., walking towards their residence in Toorak. Nearing the corner of Lefroy and Forrest streets, Mr. and Mrs. Fiddes, slightly in advance, and Mr. Maybury and Miss Hughes following, the former of the second couple carrying the bag containing the day’s takings, two men, masked from the eyes to the nose, stepped into the light and without warning fired two shots at Mr. Maybury, followed by a further two shots at Mr & Mrs. Fiddes which missed.

Messrs Hall and Plummer, returning from the swimming carnival heard the shots, and the former locating the locality of the shooting called on his companion and turned just in time to see someone or more men running away. Mr. Plummer mistaking the direction from which the sound had come paced himself for all he was worth in the direction of the Grand Hotel, his mate, finding that something serious had happened, ran at his best sped for the police station and reported the affray. Sergeant Sellinger was promptly on the alert and proceeded, in company with a couple of constables, to the scene of the tragedy. In the mysterious way in which such matters leak out, the story of a shooting —  the supposed murder of a number of persons — had leaked out, and was becoming common talk, and within a few moments half the town was on the spot.

Surely such another motley gathering of half-dressed women and night-dressed men could have been seen in no other city in Australia —Coolgardie. Men, loud of voice and long and strong of limb, wanted only to start after the criminals, to save the police the consideration. In the centre of the angry crowd an apparently dying man, who had staggered some yards after receiving the bullets fired at him, leaning on the arm of the half-fainting girl who had been his companion. Through the exciting gathering, hopeful, sympathetic, and comfortable strode the Rev Burns and ordered the immediate removal of the wounded man to the manse.

He was placed on a bed until the arrival of Dr. Tynan, by whose orders he was subsequently taken to the hospital. Almost the first man to be aroused by the firing of the shots was Mr. Horton, who had but recently returned from Mount Malcolm to spend a few days with Mr. Archibald, the well-known mining engineer, of this city. He jumped out of bed and at once gave chase to the flying figure of a runaway, but dog and damper – are no better diet to train on than they were of yore, and he soon had to give up the chase.

‘Why didn’t someone stop them asked a bystander”

on being informed: that the shooters had been seen. Well, it appears someone did. Mr. Trotter, a well-known citizen, attempted to stop the runaways. But any arguments he may have felt disposed to present were refuted by the production of a pair of guns and the prompt intimation that Trotter would be drilled if he did not step out of the way, and in the face of the opposition offered Trotter stepped aside, and the men proceeded. It is not an easy thing to stop two armed men at dead of night on the Queen’s highway. Not for one unarmed man. Even the rusty-haired, Robert Fitzsimmons would prefer an easier task. At an early hour this morning, the police were without information as to the perpetrators of the outrage.

THE SCENE. The scene of the occurrence was in the lane at the rear of Mr. Archibald’s residence at the corner of Forrest and Lefroy streets. Between. Archibald’s and Scott’s Chambers in Forrest-street, there is a vacant block -which persons bound for the north-west of the town pass, through and across the lane at the back, and thence cut another vacant block at the corner of King and Lefroy-streets.

Miss Alice Hughes, upon being questioned by a representative of this journal, stated that Mr. and Mrs. Fiddes, James Maybury, and herself left the shop for home. The two former walked in front, while she and Maybury were a few yards behind. They proceeded up Hunt street, down Forrest street, and across the vacant block next to Archibald’s into the lane at the back. They had just crossed the lane when two armed and masked men appeared before them and fired three shots in quick succession at them. The men then turned, and one of them fired a shot at Mr. and Mrs. Fiddes, and then made off across Lefroy street towards the west of the city.

Miss Hughes stated that she did not know Maybury was shot, although he cried ‘Help’ when the shots were fired. She screamed herself and continued to do so until several persons appeared upon the scene. She could swear that there were two men, although there could have been more. She could not recognise the men as she and Maybury were directly facing the glare of the electric light at the corner of Lefroy and King streets, and any object before them and the light was merely a black mass. The first intimation she received of anything wrong with Maybury was when he said, after having walked a few yards further on, that the arm on which he was carrying a basket of cakes and fruit, was hurt. She took the basket and found its contents to be splattered with blood. The Rev Burns and several other persons then arrived. She can offer no explanation of the occurrence whatever. She knows of no quarrel Maybury has had with any person, and says he seems to be a general favorite with all who know him.

The police are baffled as to a motive for the crime. Should robbery have been the idea it would have been Mr. Fiddes who was assaulted as he was the manager and was holding the bulk of the day’s takings. Mr. Maybury had only a small change on him. After firing the shots the men did not succeed in acquiring the takings. It is also strange that they should choose a well-lit corner amongst residential premises to conduct their attack when there were several dark places where the party would have to cross to get home. It can only be presumed that it was a case of mistaken identity and Mr. Maybury’s group was not the intended victims.

POSTSCRIPT:  Mr. Maybury made a full recovery from his injuries but needed to receive medical assistance for some time. No one was ever arrested for the crime and it remains unsolved.