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The Shadow p3

In The Shadow by Vince Kelly, the story of the Canadian robber Cameron Bean continued.,,

Frank Fahy followed the robber and his teenage wife around Sydney. He rode on the ferry with them, to the harbourside beaches of Watson’s Bay and Nielsen Park. Bean hired a car from a service station near the Grosvenor and he and his wife drove around Sydney visiting various banks. They asked the bank tellers about the local currency, and about exchange rates. They charmed the bank tellers who were more than willing to help them.

The robber, Cameron Bean, started making regular visits to a bank in Belmore Road, Coogee, a beachside suburb of Sydney. Another detective, Wickham, who was an amateur wrestler, was sent to stake out the bank. He was disguised in fishing clothes. One day, Fahy followed the robber from the Grosvenor Hotel to the bank in Coogee. Some police were in other cars. The robber left the car engine running while he went into the bank. Fahy told Detective Wickham that the robbery was going down.

Wickham and Fahy followed the robber into the bank and watched as he went to the teller. The teller looked terrified. Wickham tackled the robber. He told Fahy that Bean had a gun in his pocket. Fahy grabbed the gun. Bean was arrested.

The police went to the Grosvenor Hotel and the robber’s wife was waiting with bags packed. She fainted when she saw the police at her door. The girlfriend received money from home and returned to Canada on the Niagara, without being charged. The robber was sentenced to three years jail. He received time off for good behaviour. Eventually he was deported to Canada in 1922.

One wonders if any descendants in Canada today know about their granny’s activities in Sydney in the 1920s.

The Shadow by Vince Kelly, published 1954.

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