Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1900-08-02
CHARLES MANY VICTIMS
Three More Killed by the Desper-
ate New Orleans Negro.
WAS HIMSELF SHOT TO PIECES.
The Desperate, After Killing Two
More Policemen and Boy, Is
Smoked Out of His Hiding Place to
Face the RulIefH nf fha Axanners

New Orleans, July 28.-After a des-
perate battle, lasting for several hours,
In which he succeeded in killing Ser
geant Gabriel Porteus, Andy Van Ku-
rem, keeper of the police Jail, and AL
fred j. Bloomfield, young boy, fatally
wounding Corporal John F. Lally, John
Banville, ex-POliceman Frank H.
Evans, A. S. Loclere, one of the leading
confectioners of the city, and more or
less seriously shooting several citizens,
the negro desperate, Robert Charles,
who killed Captain Day and Patrolman
Lamb and badly wounded Officer Mora
was smoked out of his hiding place in
the residence section of the city and lit
orally shot to pieces.
The tragedy was one of the most
remarkable in the history of the city,
and 10000 people, soldiers, policemen
and citizens were gathered around the
square in which Charles was finally
put to death. Tremendous excitement
reigned in New Orleans as the battle
went on between the police and citi-
zens and the negro with his Winches-
ter. After the tragedy was over and
Charles was dragged from the mud and
slush into which he had fallen, with
the mob bowling for the burning of his
body, statements were made that the
man killed was not really the despera-
do who had killed Day and Lamb, but
papers found on his person and the
fact that he had fought so desperately
for his life and shot so accurately seem
to leave little doubt that the right man
was put to death
Sergeant Gabe Porteus, one Of the
best known officers on the force, and
Sergeant John +. Lally, who has fine
record for bravery, were informed dur
Ing the day by a negro that Charles
was in hiding in house on Clio street,
near Saratoga street. Determining to
take him alive, if possible, the Of
ficers summoned a number of patrol
men to their assistance and went to the
house where Charles was supposed to
be in concealment. The negro inform
ant Of the policemen accompanied the
officers. They entered the side alley
of the house and were surprised in
practically the same way as were Day
and Lamb.
Before the officers were aware of
their danger Charles, who was hidden
behind screen on the second floor of
the building, raised his Winchester and
begun furious but accurate fire. Lally
| fell with bullet in the side of the alb
| domen. Porteus was shot through
the head and dropped dead across the
body of Lally. The other officers and
the negro fed from the scene. The
reports of Charles Winchester. and the
| fact that two officers lay bleeding in
| the yard raised tremendous excitement
and as fast as possible armed help was
| rushed to the scene. In little while
| there was an immense armed crowd
| encircling the square in which Charles
was located.
In the meantime Father Fitzgerald.
| Of st. Johns church, was summoned TO
! administer extreme JUNCTION TO the po-
| lice officers who were lying.in the al
| ley. The priest was amounting the
body of Porteus, with Alfred ]. Bloom
field, young boy, standing by his side,
when Charles again appeared at the
window The lad saw him at once and
begged the desperate not to shoot him.
| Charles Immediately fired his Winches-
| ter again and Bloomfield fell dead. The
| priest, unhurt, left the scene after
| pluckily performing the last offices for
| the dead officer At this time the am
| bulance arrived and two citizens volun-
teered to go into the alley way and
| bring out the body of Lally. They en-
| tered, and while they were attempting
| to take the body Of the dead officer
| from that of his colleagues, Charles
| fired again. The citizens nevertheless
| got Lally's body out of the alley and
afterwards succeeded in taking Por-
| teus' body out also.
In the meantime an immense throng
| had gathered in the vicinity, and
schemes were set on foot to get Charles
| out of the building. Charles, however,
| did not propose to be captured without
| selling his life dearly. Time after time
| he came to the window, and as citizens,
| one by one. entered the alley, he blazed
| away at them. In this manner Con-
fectioner Leclere, who was one of the
special police guard, ex-Policeman
Evans, John Banville and George H..
| Lyons, son of the head of the biggest
drug establishments in the south, were
wounded.
Andy Van Kurem was the next vic
tim of Charles to drop dead, while H..
| H. Ball. 65 years old, fell mortally
| wounded and Frank Bertucir and j..
w. Bofl were slightly wounded.
Somebody then poured gallon OF
| oil over the rear steps of the building,
| applied a match and the building was
| soon in flames. The negro was forced
| out. and young soldier named An
| derson shot him dead. AS soon as
the negro fell numbers OF people rush
| ed in and fired into the body. Charles
| was literally shot to pieces. After it
was certain that he was dead a mob
entered the yard and dragged the body
| into the street. The police and mob
| emptied their revolvers into it, while
a son of one of the murdered men
rushed up and stamped the face be-
yond recognition.
There were then loud howls that the
| body should be taken TO a vacant
square in the vicinity and publicly
burned. At this instant, however, a
| big squad of police dashed up In a
| patrol wagon. The police pushed the
crowd aside, picked up the body and
threw 1t into the patrol wagon. The
driver whipped up his horses and the
wagon started off, with 5000 people
running after it and clamoring for the
cremation of the body of the desperate,
The wagon, however, was tleeter than
the mob, and it ultimately made its
way in safety to police headquarters.
There an immense crowd had gathered
and great difficulty was experienced
in taking the corpse of the negro from
the wagon into the morgue. When
Charles body was Strtpped it was
ers OF the allies cannot reach an agree
ment as to who shall command, 1t may
become necessary for the governments
themselves to decide the matter.
The beginning of the campaign on
Pekin depends entirely upon the gath
ering at Tien Tsin of sufficient num-
Der of troopa Therefore, anxious as
1t is that the campaign shall be start
ed at once, our government is watching
the arrivals of the foreign legions and
is pressing Admiral Remey for reports
as to the military conditions. Not all
of his responses are given publicity