37. Beating a Crazed Drug Dealer With a Handbag
Sydney police’s refusal to issue weapons to female officers should have been a serious handicap to Lillian Armfield. Especially considering that she routinely came in contact with dangerous and violent criminals, who had no respect for the police uniform – which Lillian had not been issued, anyhow – or police in general.
In 1929, an infamous drug dealer named May Smith, AKA Botany May, grew livid at Lillian Armfield’s interference with her trade. So the enraged drug dealer grabbed a red hot iron, and attacked the policewoman. Lillian’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.