The morning news., 1899-03-13
SHEA DID GOOD WORK.
CAPTURED BURGLAR TWELVE
HOURS AFTER THE CRIME.


Store of kiser Bros, IF Brunswick,
Robbed of Between $4OO and $500
Worth of Clothing and Merchan-
dise-POIice Here Notified and De-
tective Shea Detailed 10 the Case.
Thieves and Their PIunder Ar
rived on the Midday Train From
Brunswick-FOIIoVved to a Board
ing House on Orange Street and
Shea Attempted Their Arrest-The
Negroes Resisted and One Escaped.
Detective Shea effected a capture at 2
O'Clock yesterday afternoon that does
credit to the officers skill, bravery and
acuteness. A crime was committed in
Brunswick at 1:9O O'Clock yesterday morn
ing. and at 2 O'Clock in the afternoon one
of the criminals had been arrested and
locked up in the station house here.
The department store of Kiser Bros, the
Leading merchants of Brunswick, was
broken into and robbed of between $500
and $500 worth of merchandise. The burg
larly was discovered in the early fore
noon and was reported at once to the
Brunswick police. The matter was inves-
tigated by them, and from the circum-
stances of the crime and some Information
that the police there gathered 1t was con-
cluded that the thieves had come to Sa-
vannah on the train leaving Brunswick at
GAS o'clock.
Supt. Screven was called up by tele-
phone by Chief of Police Beach and noti-
fled of the crime and of the belief that the
men by whom 1t had been committed had
come to Savannah. supt Screven gave
the matter his immediate attention and
detailed Detective Shea upon the case.
When the 1:27 train from Brunswick ar
rived at the Plant System depot Shea was
on hand. A large and new trunk, that
was the ostensible property OF two ne
groes, aroused the detectives suspicious,
and the negroes were followed to the
boarding house of c. Lane, co.ored, at the
corner of Orange and Ann streets. The
two negroes and the trunk were admitted
into the house and shortly afterward were
followsd by the detective. He went up TO
the room and knocked at the door.
The door was opened and Shea entered
the room. The guilty pair seemed TO un-
derstand at once his Office and purpose,
and as he grasped an arm of each and
announced that they were his prisoners,
they resisted and began to assault him.
Both of them jerked loose from the de-
tectives grasp and sprang upon him. With
one blow of his fist Shea felled one of his
assailants TO the floor. The other looked
once upon his fallen comrade and jumped
through the window to the ground, pur-
sued by a shot from the detectives re-
voiver 1t is not known whether the shot
took effect, but IL did not stop the flying
and frightened negro, and he made his es-
cape. The one that had been struck by
Shea was taken to the station house,
where he gave his name as George
Thomas
In the trunk and a bundle that had been
brought by the negroes from Brunswick
the plunder that had been obtained from
Kiser Bros store was found. 1t embrac-
ed mems clothing, valuable pieces of cloth,
shoes and many other articles, all of 1t
amounting in value to between s4OO and
$500.
The police in Brunswick were apprised
of the capture by Supt. Screven, and he
was requested to send the thief and the
plunder back to Brunswick. The request
was complied with and Detective Shea,
with his prisoner and the recaptured
trunk, left on the afternoon train.
The capture is certainly a feather In
Sheas cap, as it was effected without
description of the thieves, and with only
meager clews upon which to work. Thom-
as had not been an hour In the city be-
fore he was behind the bars, and all of
the stolen property recovered. Had the
detective not had one prisoner on his
hands he would have effected the capture
of the other. The police are now at work
on the case, and expect to land the second
thief before he has had an opportunity to
get out of the city There is a chance
that he was struck by the ball from
Shea's revolver, and If this is the case
he Will find locomotion difficult, and in
consequence the possibilities of his capture
will be doubled. 1t Is possible also that
the jump from the second-story window
of the house may have caused some in
jury, though certainly the rapidity of his
flight would not have caused one to sus-
pect its presence.