The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-04-27
KILLS A BURGLAR
Marshal of Caldwell Gets a
Robber
WHO CONFESSES CRIME
Held Up M. 0. P. Operator
at Anthony, Kansas.

The numerous depot robberies and
'burglaries in Southern Kansas and the
murder of the operator at Winfield re-
Gently, have commenced to develop
sequels. Wednesday night Marshal
Wanenwetsch of Caldwell, shot man
on suspicion of having held up the Mis-
souri, Pacific operator at Anthony. The
man died in two hours, having confessed
to the Anthony robbery. 1t is thought
that he Is the same man that killed the
| operator at Winfield. The following dis
| patch from Anthony gives the details of
| the hold up:
The night operator of the Missouri Pa
| cific depot here was held up by a lone
| highwayman at midnight Tuesday, and
| robbed of about so in money and
handsome gold watch. He had just re-
ported the westbound freight, and was
closing up the office preparatory to going
home, when man, masked with a piece
of black cloth, entered the open door of
the office and presented a big revolver
at his head and demanded his money and
watch. The instant the robber vanished
into the dark night the operator, Oscar
Bayne. reused Agent Hedger, and arm
ing themselves, they called out City
Marshal Law, and every alley and by
way in town was thoroughly searched
but no trace of the robber was found
A general alarm was sent over the county
early this morning, but at this writing,no
clue has been discovered. The robber
was middle sized man, poorly dressed
and ware an old black soft felt hat He
is supposed to have come in on the
freight and to have crossed to Harper
in the night, getting out Of that town
on an early morning train.
After the burglars death. an inquest
was held, which completely exonerated
the officer.
The coroner's jlry consisted of F. A.
Dinsmore, o. Beesen, W. P Rarick, I NJ.
Horton, H. B. Lowe and H. NJ Collins
of Caldwell The verdict was as fol-
lows:
I'VE find that the deceased came to his
death from a gunshot wound, and that
theh same was inflicted by Fred Wanen-
wetsch and H C. Holdridge, while act
ing as peace officers, and in endeavoring
to arrest the deceased for the commits
sion of felony, of which he was guilty;
and we further find that the said homi-
eide was justifable and exonerate the
said officers for the same" The yelling
ton Mail says:
Oscar Bayne, the agent at Anthony,
who was robbed the night before, was
present and identified the watch found
on the dead man. A full kit of burglar
tools, two watches, three or four watch
chains, a lot of s and 10 cent stamps, n
number of gold and silver trinkets, maps
of Oklahoma and Kansas and a black
silk handkerchief, which he had used for
mask, and 1886 in money were found on
the robber.
Further details of the shooting show
plainly that it was case of shoot or
be shot, and the officers did their duty. |
The news of the holdup at Anthony was
brought to Caldwell by an engineer on |
the Frisco, and he said that he had |
passed a suspicious looking man up the |
track The marshal and constable went (
I'D the track to a trestle about two miles /
above town where they discovered tracks /
leading down a ravine. They followed /
the tracks until they lost them, and be- 1
gan looking about for a fresh trail when
they discovered a man lying on his
stomach When they spoke to him he |
got up, and being asked where he came
from, replied: From the north One
of the officers sad: Didn't you come
from Anthony But before he could
say Anthony the fellow pulled re-
volver and shot at Holdridge, the bullet
going so close to his head that he was
knocked down. Wannenwetsch pulled
his gun and fired, the robber shooting at
him at the same time He kept on shoot
ing until his gun was emptied. Mean
time Holdridge got up and gave chase.
firing three or four shots. Seeing that
the robbers pistol was empty, Holdridge
chased him to prevent his reloading and !
finally hit him over the head with the
butt Of his gun. The fellow fell and then
1t was discovered that he was MORALLY
wounded by a ball entering just above
the collar bone and ranging downward,
piercing the lungs. Even after he was
down he snapped the empty revolver a
half dozen times, trying TO shoot.
He lived over two hours, but could not
be induced to talk, even to tell his name.