A Narrow Escape for Laou Kung Mow Mill The story of how a robbery was frustrated by a fire in the Laou Kung Mow Mill, 40 Yangtszepoo Road, was described by Det.-Sub.- Insp. Quayle at the Mixed Court on Thursday, before Messrs. King and Loh, when three men were charged with attempted robbery and arson.
The three men entered the mill with other workpeople at 5 p.m. on Tuesday and hid themselves, intending to steal the worker's' clothes from the lockers. At 5.30 on Wednesday morning a fire broke out as the result of one of the men throwing a lighted cigarette amongst some cotton in their hiding place. Fortunately the fire was soon extinguished by the workers, who discovered the three men and the police were notified. At the Police Station two of the men admitted that they entered the place with felonious intent, and the third said that he threw the cigarette amongst the cotton.
The charge was a simple one, said Sub.-Insp. Quayle, but if the fire broke out at one or two o'clock in the morning it would have been a very different matter. Property valued at nearly $2,000,000 would have been destroyed and some 7,000 workers would have been thrown out of employment.
Two of the men pleaded guilty but the third denied the charge.
The Court said that there was no doubt as to the guilt of the men, but there was no evidence to show that they were guilty of arson. One of the men, who had been previously convicted twice, was sentenced to six months' imprisonment jand the other two to four months each.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.