The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-10-01
POLICEMAN SHOT
A DESPERATE MAN PUTS A BALL INTO
OFFICER CHADWICK
The policeman Was Trying to Arrest
Him For Shooting IN the street.-the
Terribly dubbed the Of1cer After
shooting Him Down.

AcEE1Dly IluDbCA NAO oAASCE Ill
shooting Rundown.
Last night between 8 and Q o'clock a
drunken man either white or very light
colored. came very nearly killing Police
man E. R Chadwick. who was on duty
in the southern part of the city.
Officer Chadwick heard some one fir
ing a pistol on Wright street between
Fifth and Sixth streets and went TO the
scene to arrest the party who vas vio-
Iating the law. When he got to the
scene a man who hal done the firing
was standing in the street with a pistol
in his hand. When the officer ap-
preached he said: Cd d-n you.
don't you come after me. I'll kill you"
The policeman continued to advance
and when the man put UP his pistol,
the officer also drew his. but before he
could get his weapon up. the man fired
three times in rapid succession
Seeing that the man was going to
shoot Officer Chadwick ducked his head
forward and one ball from the mans
pistol struck him back of the shoulder
and ranged down towards his spinal
column. The two men were right close
together facing each other and when
the man shot officer Chadwick also
fired three shots at him. He was, how
ever. weakened by his wound and fell
and the man bounced on him. Tney
grappled and fought desperately, the
officer using his club and h man his
pistol. Fearing that the man would
shoot again he succeeded in wrenching
the pistol from his hand and held on to
it, but his assailant in the meantime got
hold of his club and got it away from
Ito --1 boot him nyvnr tho hQad while
he was down. The ma then ran OIL,
leaving his pistol and cap behind.
Officer Chadwick was terribly injured,
not only having been o but having
been badly beaten and cut on he nose,
face and head. His nose was broken
and with the blood streaming. down his
face he struggled to his feet n reach
ed Mr.. George Burnett's store. on Fifth
and Dawson streets. or
the difficulty was ~telephoned to police
headquarters at the city hall and the
patrol wagon went alter him. Chle1
of Police John j. Furlong also went TO
his officer and carried him to the city
hospital where DR.. a. H. Harriss and
DR.. Thomas r. Little, the surgeon in
charge, attended him.
The surgeons found a pistol wound in
officer Chadwick's right shoulder blade
near the top of his shoulder and upon
probing found tina the ball passed an
inch to an inch and q half under the
flesh, making a track abou SIX lncneS
The ball was located near the
spinal column and was extracted by DIT.
Harriss. 1t was a IS calibre bullet.
The surgeons found That the police
mans nose was badly fractured and
gashed and that his face and head was
and confused in several
places. There were also several con-
fused wounds on his arms and body
- LnI +r1rn him wifi /
his own club. The blow on the nose
was from his assailant's pistol. The
state that officer Chadwick
is badly hurt but is not fatally IN
jured.
After Policeman Chadwick had been
taken to the city hal, a search was
made by the policemen for the man who
assaulted him. While Sergeants c. w.
Woolard and c.. S. Burnett We're scour-
ing the neighborhood of the assault
Woolard found a man appar-
emily drunk and leaning over on the
steps of a store at Third and Wright
streets. He had his head in his hands
and seemed to be injured. They arrest
ed him and found that he was an abb
negro named Charlie Fisher. HIS
face was bleeding from a bad wound
one cheek, there was a wound at the
back of his neck, and several bruises
both sides of his lee There were
also q cOupl OF red places on MS
scalp as if he had been struck by some
thing. Officer Chadwick says he knock
ed his assailant down two or three
times, and it is believed that Fisher
was the man. Anothe circumstance
against Fisher is that he had on no
hat or cap when arrested. He claimed
that he had a fight a few days Ago., but
after he had been taken to the station
house DR.. HarriSs examined him and
that the wounds were fresh ones.
Before Fisher was arrested officer
had said he believed it was
either he or another man who had
him.. With the man arrested in
two squares of the scene of the shoot
and all the circumstances, with
policeman Chadwick's suspicious, there
seems to be little doubt that the right
man was arrested.
Chief of Police Furlong, however,
never let up and was out with his men
all night looking for the a~ssasailant
md getting all the clues obtainable.
He finally got enough evidence to posi-
lively announce hat Fisher is the
guilty man.
The chief Of police speaks of Of
Chadwick in high terms,
that he is one of the best
men and most efficient officer on the
He has a wife and four children
resides or Seventh street, between
n Hanover streets.
|,