Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1882-09-21
Nearly Murdered d.

The following account of the at
tempted robbery and murder of J.B.
James, at DesMoiues, Ia, last Sat.
urday, will be interesting to most of
our readers; for "Johnnie" is well
known herc--he was raised in this
city. We clip from the Chicago
Sunday Tribune and Tuesdays daily
Itn,es.
Dies MONIES, Ia, Sept. lG.-This
afternoon at 1 o'clock man entered
the grocery sore Of J.BJames and
finding Mr.. James alone, struck him
down with an iron tiSh-plate bar in
order to rob the store. Just at this
junctUrc Il clerk who had been out
of the store returned, and the robber,
alarmed by this, ran away. The
clerk, seeing Mr. James lying pros
trate aud bleeding, instantly gave
chase TO the robbcr. The latter
turned several times while running
threatening to shoot him if he still
followed him, but the clerk followed
him down through the city, and
finally was reinforced by other men,
and after running over a mile he
was captured and lodged in Jail
Mr.. James was taken home still un-
conscious, with his skull fractured
by the hard blow dealt him behind
the ear. The doctors say he cannot
live till morning
IL is thought now that this is the
man who killed Henry Scribner last
week, AID assaulted and cut the
cashier Tuesday night, who is eX-
pected to die. At this hour (nine
o'clock James is reported as dying,
and the streets in the city not far
from the jail are filled with crowds
Of excited men, threatening to lynch
the assassin. He gives his name as
Rob Harris, and is a man over six
feet high and very athletic
II James should die it VIII be
almost impossible to keep him from
'tlhS b'HNAA ''ltl' lilpllllIl1. 1 Nv
city has been in a tumult for ten
days over the many acts of lawlesS-
ness which have been committed.
The James grocery, where the trag-
edy occurred, is in the outskirts,
some distance from the main bust
ness part of the city.
\ crowd of Il thousand or fifteen
hundred men have been to the Jail,
and, providing down through the
halls to the rooms in the basement
where the prisoner was first confined,
demanded of the Sheriff that he be
produced. Sheriff Littleton mounted
a box and pledged his honor to the
crowd that the man was not there in
the jail and that he had been taken
elsewhere. The crowd grew more
boistcrouS at this, and the Sheriff,
fearing thu they would batter down
the doors and let all the prisoners
out, offered to let in a committee of
three men appointed by the mob,
and 90 with them through the Jail
aud show them that the prisoner
was not there. This was done, and
one of the men who had aided in
pursuit and capture of Mr. Harris
was one Of the committee. The
three then passed through the Jail
and all the rooms and cells, and
came out and reported that he was
not in the iai'. Then the cry was
raised that he had been taken to the
State Arsenal, and the mob have
Just gone there. 1t is said by the
officials that he will not be found
there, and they assert that he has
been sent cut of the city under 4
strong guard. The city is intensely
excited, and thee is little doubt but,
that the man Will be lynched if he
can be found. This is the third
assault Of this kind in ten days, all
made with an iron tish-plate, and it
is now though that this man com
mitted all Of them.
At midnight the mob had not
found Harris at the arsenal and re.
turned to the court house, where it
hung about lie jail, believing that
the man was there concealed in
some of the vaults of the county
offices. 1t has largely dispersed,