13. Lillian Armfield Beat Back an Enraged Drug Dealer With Her Handbag
None of the hurdles placed in Lillian Armstrong’s path by Sydney Police stopped her from becoming one of the country’s most heroic cops. Her employer’s refusal to issue weapons to female officers should have been a serious handicap to Lillian Armfield. Especially since she routinely interacted with dangerous and violent criminals, who had no respect for the police uniform – which Lillian had not been issued, anyhow – or police in general. For example, in 1929, an infamous drug dealer named May Smith, AKA Botany May, grew livid at Lillian’s interference with her trade.
The enraged Botany May grabbed a red-hot iron, and attacked Lillian. The policewoman’s only weapon was her handbag, but it was enough: she used it to beat back her attacker. Smith was arrested, tried, convicted, and received a stint behind bars with hard labor. As that encounter revealed, Lillian did not need a weapon to shine as Sydney’s best cop. In the 1920s, the city was wracked by The Razor Gang Wars. As the name states, they were gang wars fought largely by razors: new laws had introduced severe penalties for carrying concealed firearms, so criminals switched to razors.