2-648-914 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

'Churchill giving evidence regarding the Sidney Street incident', 1911, (1945). The Sidney Street siege occurred after a gang of heavily armed Latvian burglars shot five police officers who attempted to arrest them as they broke into a jeweller's shop. Four of the policemen died. Three members of the gang were cornered at 100 Sidney Street and surrounded by police. A gunfight ensued, but the police had inferior weapons and reinforcements in the form of soldiers from the Scots Guards were called by order of Churchill, who arrived at the scene himself. After six hours of fighting, the building caught fire and Churchill controversially gave the order that the Fire Brigade take no action. Two of the burglars' bodies were discovered in the burned out building but no trace of the third was ever found. From Winston Churchill: His Life in Pictures, by Ben Tucker. [Sagall Press, Ltd., London, 1945]