The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-09-21
ASSAULT ON AGED CASHIER.
BOTH HE AND HIS AssAILANT ARE
EXPECTED TO DIE.

LaWtOn Claimed His Motive in At
lacking Filbert Was Revenge for
Alternating His Wife's Affections,
But the General Opinion Is That
1t Was Robbery--Man who Went
to Filbert's Aid Was BADLY Beaten.
Fight Was "a Severe One.
Chicago, Sept. 2O-Frederick ]. Filbert,
the aged cashier of the Palatine Bank in
Palatine, H., twenty-six miles north of
Chicago, is lying close to death as the lie
SUIT OF an attack made upon him to-day
by young man who gives the name of
Walter Lawton.
The latter, who is unknown to anybody
in Palatine, and apparently of good educa-
tion, is in the county jail suffering from
a bullet wound in the abdomen which will
probably prove fatal
Henry Plaggo, 70 years old, a farmer
whose intervention at a critical moment
prevented the ough,-right murder OF the
cashier is at his home west of the village
cut and bruised and disabled as a result
of his struggle with Lawton, whose mo-
tive for the assault, according to his re-
peated statements, was not robbery. The
attack upon Filbert was made with a tack
hammer, and the aged cashier was struck
at least a dozen times before Plaggo inter
fered.
Was a Severe Struggle.
The attack occurred at o'clock in the
afternoon. At this hour many residents
of the community were thrown into tu-
mutt by hearing the report of a revolver
and the noise of a fierce struggle in the
bank rooms. William Garme, a farmer,
was among the first to reach the bank
rooms AS he entered he almost STUN
bled over the form of Cashier Flbert,
who, with torn clothing and bleeding head.
was feebly endeavoring to crawl through
The open door.
Garme turned and ran into the streets
shouting "murderr' and then returned to
the bark. Sounds of a struggle still came
from the rear room and Garme hurried
to that apartment As he pushed open
the glass door he found the old German
farmer, Plaggo, bleeding from a number
of wounds. bur fighting vigorously with
stalwart young man who lay on the floor
with Plaggo on top of him. bloody
tack hammer and a revolver with broken
butt lay on either side of the struggling
men. The young mans clothing was stain
ed with blood in the region of the abdo-
men.
The crowd which had gathered rapidly
after the alarm had been given separated
the two men and took the supposed rob
Der to the village lookup.
He was too severely wounded 20 offer
any resistance, and this fact was all that
saved him from violence at the hands of
the excited crowd that followed him to jail
LawtOn's Alleged Motive.
Lawton's confessed motive for the as
sault was revenge on Fiibert, who, he al
leges, alienate ed the affections of his wife.
His story is not believed by the police,
however. They have no doubt the loot
ing of the bank was his ultimate design.
The robber says he tracked Filbert for
five years and that he discovered only
recently where the object of his pursuit
lived. He went to the bank, he asserts,
TO demand 81 800 in satisfaction of the Old
injury. The cash balance of the institu-
ton was 100000, all Of which was in the
vaults at the time the assault took place.
LawtOn was brought to Chicago on a
late train tonight and placed in the coun-
ty Jail. He denied that he had entered
the bank for the purpose of robbery, and
claimed that the alienation of his wlfes
affections by Filbert took place five years
aso at the Fifth Avenue Hotel in New
York city. Filbert declares he has not
been in New York for twenty years.
Late tonight it was announced that
both Filbert and Lawton will die. The
formers skull is fractured in two places,
and the latter cannot survive the wound
in his abdomen.