Omaha daily bee., 1892-02-18
NEWS FROM COUNCIL BLUFFS
Great Capture Made Yesterday Morning by
officers Wells and Leuoh.
TWO BURGLARS TAKEN WHILE BURGllNG
Vicinity of the Boston store the Scene oi
Lively Encounter In which the
Law Came OF on Top
Easily.

An exciting time was had about o'clock
yesterday morning between O1icers Wells
and Leuch on the one side, gang Of burg
lars OIL the other and the residents in the
vicinity of the Boston store in the middle
The officers were trsnping through the alley
in the reur OF Main street when thev heard a
suspicious noise coming from the rear end Of
the Boston store. They at once surmised
that burglars were at work, as a crowd Of
suspicious looking characters had been
spotted earlier in the evening by the police
The burglars seemed to have caught sight of
the policemen in the moonlight at almost tho
same instant that the policemen saw them,
for they were still nearly half block away
when the burglars broke and ran for dear
life out of the alley and down Fourth street
Wells started in pursuit, while Leuch took
the alley, thinking to intercept them in case
they should leave the street.
One of the fellows ran for some distance
down Fourth street Wells firing his revol.
yer at every few steps. None OF the shots took
effect, but just as the last chamber of the
revolver was emptied the burglar went to
cross the parking in trout of one of the resi-
dences aud fell to the ground. Wells drew
his club, but the man surrendered AT once
and begged him not to use 1t.
Leuch in the meantime had not been idle.
He followed the second burglar down the
alley, firing three shots from his revolver.
and at last bagged his game. The patrol
wagon was summoned and Doth men were
taken to the city Jail, where they were
slated with burglary. AS soon as they were
captured a thorough search was III ade
through their pockets for any weapon they
might have One was found with large
revolver in his pocket, while the other had
thrown his away as soon as the chase CON-
menced. 1t was picked up later in the
morning
Wells man gave his name as Joe McDer-
mott. When he reached the station 1t was
discovered that he had sprained his wrist
badly by his fall and had also hurt one of his
ankles. In his possession were found COM
plete set of drills and drill machine which
for ingenuity and general effectiveness beat
anything that had ever been cornered by the
marshal's men. 1t consisted OF clamp
which was intended to fasten to the
placed in position it kept the drill
perfectly straight, so that hole
could be made in an iron door in a very short
time. An experiment was made by Marshal
Templeton on his own Office safe, and the
machine was found to work like a charm. A
heavy sledge hammer, a crowbRr, brace and
number OF more drills were found lying
near the WINDOW of the Boston store where
the pair had been at work. They had sue
Ceeded in getting the iron window shutter
and the cellar door pred open. and in n few
more seconds would have been pilaging the
interior of the store had they not been in
terruDted by the arrival of the officers.
There was not cent of money in the safe,
but there was about 80 in the cash drawer
which the burglars would have been very
apt to get If they had gotten inside.