New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-08-22
SHOT IN AN EIGHTH AVENUE OAR
A BOY MORTALLY WOIrNDEn


BOY MORTALLY WOUNDED.
GANG OF RUFFIANs BEAT THE DRIVER OF A
STREET cAR-FoUR SHOTS FIRED BY AN IN
KNOWN MAN, ONE OF WHICH TAKES rFrrcr-
sLowNEss OF THE POLICE
Oar NO. l4o. of the Eighth Avenue Line. running
-, rom central Bridge to Canal-st. is two-horse
"sget, car with box to receive the fares in
s,eao OF conductor. On Saturday evening il left
oonorai nridge about midnight. There had been a
pion'' - ., one Edward Reilly Association at Lion
fark, which broke mp at I3O D. m. and also ncn;c
of the employees of Brewster g. Co.. of Broome'st o.
Elm fark. From these two gatherings tbo aar tool,
on good load of passenger. Several of the nassau
gers got to quarreling the way down. and
some refused to pay their fares. The car
driver gave the reins to another person and
attempted to collect the fares, when he was set
upon and beatcn by the ruffians. but was rescued
from their hands by Jacob Beaver another driver
on the Eighth Avenue Line who happened to be on
the car The ruflians continued turbulent, and when
the car was nearing the southern end of Central
Park, about 1890 a. m., two shots were fired by
some person on the rear platform. which was
crowded with passengers The balls the driver
says, WINGED through the and near his head
Many OF the passengers were frightened that
they ran through the car and jumped off the front
platform. Two more shots were then fired
Among those on the rear platform were Hugh
Bruton, age eighteen, of No. 143 West Fortv-ninth
ST.. and Thomas Kelly, friend of his. living in the
same house. Another friend of Brutons, Theodore
Edwards of No. 139 West Fiftieth-st, is said TO
have been passenger also. The two former yonne
men had been TO the Brewster g. Co picnic. They
were riding on the steps of the rear platform on ac
count OF the crowd and when they heard the shots
Jumped of, they say, TO keep out of the trouble
Two shots were fired after they left the car and the
last struck Bruton in the abdomen just as he
reached the sidewalk on the west side of the avenue
near Sixty -frst-st
The wounded boy exclaimed, II am shot~
with the aid of his companions he tried to walk
nome, but fell when he reached Fifty-eightll-st
HIS friends and the bystanders then carried him to
the Roosevelt Hospital at Ninth-ave and Fifty
nmth-St. In FItty-cghth-st. they met Policemen
Crowley aud Burke of the 1wenty-second Precinct.
who assisted them in carrying the injured bov.
ne car was not stopped, and the driver was so
frightened that he whipped mp his horses and hur-
red To the depot without trying 70 ascertain who
Iid the shooting. or trying TO find a policeman
e nIiver John kane, was reluctant TO talk of the
alair Yesterday. lie said to TRIBUNE reporter
that he heard the shots. hut did not know
who tired them or when the ruftans left the car He
SAID he saw no policeman TO report the affair TO-
or his own rough usage he did not care to speak
Kane is about twenty-one years old. James LYONS
n youth who says he frequently accompanies Kane
on bis last trip up when crowd is expected in or
der 10 drive the horses while the latter collects the
fares said that he drove the horses SATURDAY. 1ihf
from One-bundred and-tenth-st. down. some rnffi-
ans tried 70 beat Kane and several shots were fired
WHICH, he thought We're intended for the driver as
the bullets wh2Zed by his head. There were about
Twenty-Five persons on the ear. He could rot tell
who did the shooting. The rowlies he said. were
not drunk. TAomas Kelly, Tho young man who
accompanied Bruton, said he could not see who did
the shooting. RrutOn and he had not particiDafed
in the qnarrel, nor had they boen drinking, aud
Bruton's family consists of his father. mother one
brother and several sisters They live on the top
noor 3f tenement house and are evidently in re
duced circumstances. They all say Hughvr wasa
sober boy, not quarre some, and one who could not
be prevailed upon TO drink even ger beer He lad
not been ont after o'clock i'm the evening for long
Sandsa No. Ss4 Eighth-avc. and he left fhe store
about o'clock saturday night TO attend the picnic
Last evening the doctor at the hospital said he
Shonld not be surprised if Bruton died in the night
He had vomited considerably and suffered from
peritonits lie Law under the influence Of morr,hinr
The ball, a 32-ln0 calibrc, entered the abdomen
Coroner Brady was called Yesterday afternoon
70 take m antemOrtem statement. Bruton sold he
bad not participated in the quarrel, and did not
know who shot him.
The police have been worry slow in investigating
the affair, so that last evening nothing had been
learned as 10 who did the shooting. The police of
the Twenty Precinct at first reported the
ahar as occurring IN their precinct which cxteuds
the Sergeant sand. "it was ascertaincd that fho
shooting occurred in the Thilty-frst Precinct"
How it was ascertained when all witnesses
was not stated. Tho Sergeant at the Thirty-tireii
Precinct station in West One-aundredth-st., said
from the pwentysecond Precinct of the affair until
1850 a. m. He then detailed two policemen 10 hook
np the case, but yet they had not got on the track
OF thh person who committed the crime. 4 police
man ot tins precinct was standing at Eghth-avc
marked 10 some persons near that il had bic load
lie did not hear thc shooting, and said il could NOT
have occurred between ,Sixty-seventh aud Sixty
cighth-Sts, rs the Twcnty-second Precincts
officers now say. The Sergeant of the Thirtv-Grst
Precnct said j. looked ms if .he other precinc- was
trying TO gerid OF the case, because il was difficult
TO investigate, but he proposed 10 do all in ms power
d nr1..at ihn crlminal -