The sun., 1919-06-14
OLD MAN SHOOTS
BANDIT;R0UTS5,
SAYING $4,000
Ammonia and Blackjack
Used in Attack on Two
Aged Bank Messengers
ROBBERS FLEE IN MOTOR
Daylight Attack Made on 'L"
Stairs at 81st Street and
Columbus Avenue. y

Some holdup men with ideas Of their
own about publicity chose the day
light hour Of IL o'clock and the corner
at Eighty-frst street ana Columbus
avenue to blackjack two bank mes
sengers yesterday and attempt to get
away with $4,000. That they were
unsuccessful was wholly due to the
nerve of one OF the messengers. a man
Of fifty-eight, Daniel Ryan, who shot
one of the robbers and recovered the
bank satchel.
In a general roundup Of suspicious
characters after the attempted rob
berry, four men were arrested at Sixty
sixth street and Amsterdam avenue
They were taken TO the West Sixty
eighth street station and questioned
for several hours. One Of the group
showed fight when detectives APP
preached and drew a revolver. He
was disarmed by Detective Sergeant
Thomas Donohue.
The affair showed the most careful
planning and llghtning-like action
which brought it perilously near success.
It was all over in two minutes apd the
Loldup men were in their automobile,
taking their wounded comrade with
them. speeding through Central Park
toward safety. 1t was some time later
before a policeman appeared and found
no trace of trouble except excited spec
tators and two old men, the messen-
gers, who had taken their employers
money back to the bank
The robbers had evidently counted on
the age OF the messengers of the Colo
NAL Bank. which Is on that corner. max
ing their work easy for them. Ryan's
companion was Henry Boylan, who Is
IS. aud the men have been carrying
money for the bank for years without
any trouble. They started out yester-
day just before IL o'clock to go to the
Federal Reserve Bank with $4,000 in
bills.
Robbers Await Quarry.
A few minutes before an automobile
with four or five young men In It drew
up near the elevated stairs on Eighty
first street Just west OF the avenue.
Two of them got out and went part way
up TO the platform. just around the
turn, which partly cut of view from
the street and from the station. When
Ryan and Boylan came along they saw
nothing in the presence of the auto
mobile to call for more than q passing
glance and. the satchel between them,
went up the stairs.
AS they turned at the end OF the
first flight. a man jumped at Boylan.
who was carrying the bag. and flung a
sponge soaked in ammonia into the mes
senger's face. Blinded by pain, Boylan
Involuntary let go OF the bag and
flung up his hands to ward or a blow.
The robber grabbed the bag and went
down the stairs with swift leaps. Ryan.
who for twenty-six years was on the
police force, pulled out his revolver
with the speed OF long practice and start
ed after. but the other man then leaped
on Ryan and with a vicious blow of a
blackjack laid open the back Of his
head and for a moment staggered him.
Ryan did not even turn, but after an In
stant's weakness jumped down the stairs
and fired two shots at the man with the
bag. who was only q few feet from the
waiting automobile. The robber sagged
forward. threw up his hands and the
bag rolled into the gutter. The other
men In the car jumped out, pulled In
the wounded man and drove toward the
park, Ryan letting go a few shots al
them in the hope that he might hit
others. He thinks he did.
Boylan had partly recovered by this
time and as Ryan stood over the bal
in the gutter Boylan stumbled out into
the street, almost falling from pain ant
nausea, but with his revolver in his
hand. What became of the man who
threw the sponge nobody seems to know
Money Returned to Bank.
The two messengers were soon joiret
by one or two OF the bank officials ant
the bag with the $65, 900 was taken bacl
TO the bank. Ryan had his heat
patched up and in a. short time BoylaI
was himself again, but the attempt t.
send the money downtown was given VI
for the day.
The holdup took place with such rap
idity that only a few persons near by
realized what was taking place. TIL,
bootblack on the corner thought an au
tomobile had backhred and did not ever
fook around, although Henry Sedley al
actor. OF ia West Seventy-ninth street
who was having his shoes shined diI
stick his head around the corner
and get a glimpse of the affair. HI
said he thought 1t was moving pictur'
rehearsal until he saw the wounded
man fall at the foot OF the stairs.
Nobody in the bank would talk abou
the holdup,- except to remark that tn,
money was recovered. They said the,
had /been asked by the police not to Civ,
the daring attempt any publicity ant
they were obeying orders.