The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-07-19
HIS AIM QUITE SPANISH
Officer Neville Fired at a Thief
He Was Chasing.
HE DIDN'T HIT THE THIEF
But the Bullet Crashed Into q Cabin and
Grazsd the Head o. 14-Year-Old
Matte Dunckel, Who Was
Washing the Dishe


racy of aim came friehtfully close to
being the death Of little Matte Dunckel.
the 1~4-year-old daughter of Edward
Dunckel of 30 East Silver street. yes
terday forenoon. He fred at an escap-
ing thief and the bullet, going 80 or 40
feet wide of the mark. went through the
thin side of the cabin In which the
Dunckel family lives. grazed the sid Of
the head of the little girl, leaving a red
mark to show how shockingly close the
bad aim of the officer came to killing
the child.
During the early part of yesterday
forenoon Carl Engel, a clerk at Wehl's
gun store, In West Park street, was
alone in the store when a young fellow
came in and asked to see a couple of
41-caliber Colts six-shooters. The clerk
laid a couple out on the show case and
the supposed customer took them up
and looked them over. He approved II
them and said he o take one n
he kept his word. but not just as the
clerk would have a him do. He
asked for scabbards and a belt n
was shown them. They suited and he
stuck the guns into the holsters. Then
he called for cartridges and the clerk
left to go TO another part of the store to
get them.
Engel had no sooner turned his back
than the fellow ran out the front door
with the property. Engel followed. The
fellow turned up Main alley, which ad-
joins the store, and ran to the inter-
secting alley behind the Curtis block
and turned west and ran to Academy
street, followed by Engel. A crowd of
boys who had observed the robber cave
the store and go up the alley, ran west
on Park street, crying the alarm. Engel,
knowing the store was alone, turned
back at Academy street and let the
robber go. He ran south to Park and
west to Montana, where he turned and
went south. The boys followed close
on the heels Of the robber, shouting at
the tops of their voices. but no one at
tempted to stop him.
At Galena street the robber turned
east and went to Dakota, where he
again turned and went south TO Silver.
Reaching this street brought him on to
officer Neville's beat, and that officer,
seeing the chase, Joined in the pursuit.
He followed the fellow east to Main
street. and as the latter crossed Main
the officer. seeing the robber was gain
ing, fired a couple of shots in the air,
thinking to brighten him into stopping,
but the shots had no effect; the fellow
Kept RO1lS. lHtH oiiiCtl EtNhhC mNN
at him, but, either from excitement or
because he was running. his aim was
wild. The bullet went far to the right
of the mark and passed through the
side of the cabin occupied by the fam
lily of Edward Dunckel, a teamster. The
wall was but one thickness of thin
boards n offered no resistance to the
bullet. The little girl. Matte, was
washing dishes near the kitchen stove.
,-ftI Ear hooI ~ tho wall fhrnnOh which
the bullet passed, and the ball grazed
the side of her head, passing between
the right ear and head. 1t just grazed
the skin and buried itself in a grip in
another room.
The child was knocked down and
partially stunned by the bullet. Her
mother screamed and ran to her side,
thinking she had been killed as she had
heard the shot, heard the bullet crash
through the side of the house, and
knew 1t was the cause of the child fall
ing. A hasty examination, however,
proved the child was not hurt, and
! aside from the awful fright the whole
amily received no one was any the
worse for the unpleasant experience.
1t was a horribly close call for the
child, for had the bullet gone a quarter
of an inch to the left II would have
pierced her brain. The whole family
were terribly wrought up with nervous
excitement for some time over the
shocking affair.
The last shot had no more effect on
the fleeing robber than had the ones
fired up In the air, and he kept going.
The officer knew nothing of the effect
of his last shot until after the chase
was over, as he kept up the pursuit
TO a rise on a street where he robber
was lost sight of and succeeded IN
| making his scape. When officer Ne
| Vile returned and learned he ha
done, he was as badly frightened as
the family had been.
During the chase the robber threw
away the belt and holsters, and these
were picked up and returned to the
owner, but no trace OF the thief has
yet been found. When the belt and
holsters were found IL vas thought the
guns might have been thrown away
also, and a search was made and they
were not found, and the thief evidently
kept them. A small red mark just over
the right ear is the only trace the
Dunckle child bears of being hit by the
bullet, but il shows what ar alarming
ly close call she had.
The action of the robber In entering
the store in broad daylight and getting
away with the guns is n of the bold
est robberies ever committed In Butte
This robber 10 described by Clerk Engel
as a little taller than medium height,
| of medium build, about % or "a years
old, with a very red face as though
much accustomed to being out OF doors