Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-01-09
HELD AS BANK THIEF
"Australian Mack" Arrested
by Police of New York.
ACCUSED OF CANADIAN JOB
Safe Blown in Branch Of Bank of
Montreal in September and
$4,000 Stolen.

NEW YORK, January 9.-John Nc
Namara, Of San Francisco. known to
detectives of half dozen cities as
Australian Mack" was arrested here
last night by central Office and private
detectives on a warrant charging him
with the larceny of $4,000 from the
Bank Of Montreal at New Westminster.
B. c., which was dynamited September
IA. Eleven hundred dollars was found
in his wallet, and detectives are search
ing the city for $4,000 of the banks
funds, which he is believed to have
brought to New York.
For ten days MCNAMARA has been un-
der surveillance by police here, after
travelling over the United States and
Canada for more than two months, it is
said Police headquarters here first
learned Of his arrival through tip that
some one was trying to exchange large
amount Of Canadian money for American
currency. Money brokers and the men
who approached them were Swallowed
until the trail. they said. led them to
McNamaras lodgings. No money, how
ever, was found there.
Negotiations for Arrest.
Negotiations for McNamara's arrest be-
authorities ended yesterday afternoon
with the issuance of warrant. Four de-
tectives arrested Mcnamara on a street in
Harlem. He submitted quietly. asked to
see the warrant, and. after reading it.
smiled and said: II am greatly relieved.
I thought it was some more serious
charge
In addition to larceny, Mcnamara is
charged with dynamiting the banks safe
and binding and gagging Chinese watch
man. Mcnamara jOked with his captors
when urged to confess, and said he was
travelling over the country looking for
good location to open cafe. He admit
ted. the police say. that he was in British
Columbia at the time the bank was rob-
bed. and had lived at the Strand Hotel in
Vancouver afterward, but declined to say
anything further.
For nearly fifteen years, the police as
sert. Mcnamara has been known to the
authorities throughout the country. His
picture. they say. is in the rogues gal
leries here and in Washington, Louisville
and Chicago. but there is no record of
any conviction.
Four Men in Job.
The crime with which Mcnamara is
charged, the police declare. was COM
mitted by four men, who entered the new
Westminster branch of the Bank OF
Montreal on the night Of September Il
and after binding the Waterman and
dynamiting the safe departed SO heavily
laden with loot that they wrapped 1t
in pillow slips and sheets, and had to
use an automobile to get away. They
dropped a five-thousand-dollar bundle of
bills in their haste, and. finding that they
had more than they could carry. hid
$4,000 In gold and bills beneath a
wooden sidewalk in New Westminster.
Two hundred and forty thousand dol
lars of the stolen money was negotiable.
lacking, however, the signature OF the
banks officials. A worldwide warning
was sent to banks to be on guard against
receiving this money.
Although the detectives trailing Nc
Namara could have arrested him at any
time within the past two months, they
say they held or in the hope that he
would reveal the hiding place of the loot.
Whether he had done so the police de-
Ctno m