The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-02-04
FOUR SHOTS FIRED.
Excitement Caused by the Flight OF Two Sus-
picious Charactsrs.

Bang, bang, bang, bang, went four shots
in quick succession about o'clock last
night in the alley between Market and
Main streets and between First aud Doug
las avenue. The sound of that many shots
drove terror into the hearts of the deni
zens of the neigbborhood, and their first
thought was that a dark and bloody deed
had been committed which would go down
to posterity as the Tragedy Of Schnitzler's
alley" Men and boys rushed to the scene,
but, fearing TO venture into the darkness,
they stood in the four openings of the alley
and watched and waited to see the
mangled body Of some unfortunate indi-
Vidual brought forth, but they were dis
appointed, for the only body that appeared
was the ponderous living, breathin e,
walking body of Officer Snyder Then
everybody became brave and entered the
alley and in five seconds about 500
persons, ranging in station from
a bank clerk to bootblack, were huddled
together in rear of Schn itzler's. discussing
the cause of the excitement and interro-
eating one another as to how many were
killed. There was only one man in the
entire crowd who had any idea as to what
had occurred. and he was too scared to tell
what he knew. He had been passing
through the alley when the officers artil
lery began pouring forth stream of lead
and fire, and. thinking himself was the
target, he dropped to the ground and
Rugged the earth very closely till the voice
of the officers gun ceased to be heard.
The facts in the case are about as fol-
lows: Officer Snyder was walking his beat
near Divers barn when couple of young
men who were making horse trade at
tracted his attention. Some question arose
concerning the character of the men, and
it was limited very strongly that the chat
tells they were in the act of disposiIg
OF were stole. He asked the men
to accompany him to the Western
Union Office where he thought he could be
able to ascertain by wire whether or not
they were all right. When he reached the
alley on Market street one of them darted
into the darkness while the other one
made tracks in the opposite direction,
crossing Market street, jumping over the
fence near the City hotel and disappeared
IN the alley beyond The officer didn't
take chances on killing two birds with one
stone so he made a speciality of the man
that disappeared in the alley. He followed
him as rapidly as he could but as nature
didn't endow him with as swift pair Of
legs as the other man he sought to bring
HIM to standstill by sending few shots
after him. The man did not halt and as
Mr.. Snyder had only four rounds of amuni-
ton, that is all he could afford to send
after the fleeing horse trader. A lively
search WAS then instituted but the men
could not be found.
In view of their action in running away
from the Office it is now thought, beyond
doubt, that the men were horse thieves
They claimed to have hailed from Waco
township and that they were the sons
of farmers. Officer Snyder did not have
the men under arrest legally; it was what
might be called Il contingent arrest and
their Incarceration in the bastile depended
altogether on what he could ascertain
from Waco, over the wire, relative to their
character