Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1901-02-26
A LIQUOR HOUSE RAID
PROBABLY COST A LIFE.
A BAND OF ARMED MEN ATTACK A
WHOLESALE LIQUOR STORE
IN TOPEKA.
A CARPENTER SHOT TWICE.
REST-POLICE BLAMED nth
THE SHOOTING.

TOPEKA, Kan, Feb. 25.-J. ".
Adams was fatally wounded in a bat
| tie between three policement and a
band of citizens, who made a midnight
raid upon a North Topeka wholesale
liquor house. A large quantity of
| cased beer was destroyed before the
crowd was dispersed. From three to
| sixty citizens armed with revolvers,
sledge-hammers, ~crowbars and a bat
tering-ram, broke into the wholesale
liquor house of Cash" Curtis.on West
and Jackson street, last midnight, and
smashed the beer bottles found there.
| Three policemen drove the crowd back.
Both policemen and the ciL4zens fired
their revolvers, and ]. w. Adams, a
carpenter, was shot twice in the
breast, and was taken in a hack to the
Riverside hospital, where he lies in a
~precarious condition.
DR.. Nj. r. Mitchell and the Rev. f.
w. Emerson were arrested by the po-
lice. The Rev. Mr.. Emerson was taken
to the police station, where he was
booked under the charge of resisting
an officer. ae was allowed to go upon
his own recognizance. DR.. Mitchell
took Adams to the hospital, and was
allowed to stay and administer to him,
without giving bond. The three Off
cers-Patrolmen Downey, Boyles and
Private Waterman Connors-claim
Adams was shot by his own crowd
while he was r~etreating from the point
of attack. Adams declares, however,
that he was shot by a policeman. OFF,
Ger Connors says his revolver, a So
ca4IDre, was knocked from his hand.
Officer Downey says he did not arrive
on the scene until the trouble was
about over, and Officer Boyles, who car
ried a 44-calfbre revolver, claims that
the two shots he fired were aimed up
ward.
DR.. Mitchell and DR.. Charles w.
Hammond, who cared for Adams at
the hospital, say he was shot with a
80 or 3S-caliber revolver. One shot
took effect in the center of his chest
and the other in the right shoulder.
The crowd which did the smashing
met in West Curtis street, about two
blocks from the Joint" Estimates
of its size vary from thirty to sixty.
A few minutes past IL O'Clock the
crowd moved east in Curtis street to
Jackson street. The wholesale liquor
house is a small frame building at
the rear of Curtis home, which faces
on Curtis street. The crowd turned
south on Jackson street and crossed
the rear of the lots between the street
and the liquor house. In one of the
yards was a log a foot thick. A half
dozen men seized the timber II used
it as a battering ram At the first
blow the door gave way and the crowd
rushed in. A lantern served to light
the interior, but it was accidentally
eXtinguished and the work was done
in the dark. Three men stood inside
and passed the cases and kegs of beer
to the men in the doorway, who threw
them into the yard to be smashed.
The crowd used heavy sledges, axes,
mason's hammers and crow bars. The
owners of the beer made no resist
ance.
4 LII alAQ "NbRARAIoA
Connors were called from the Union
Pacific depot, two blocks away, and
were the first officers there. They en-
tered the yard and drove the crowd
back. Before the officers arrived 30
cases and two kegs of beer had been
smashed. The crowd fell back slowly
to a ditch near Jackson street, where
the leaders succeeded in rallying their
forces.
While the crowd was being driven
back twenty or thirty shots were fred.
When the crowd retreated to Jackson
street the officers were nea the build
ing. and Adams was between the off,
GERS and the crowd. When he was
shot he fell beside a pile of wood. Off
Ger Boyles claims Adams was facing
west and running toward the crowd
when he was shot. When Adams fell
the crowd thought he had fell over the
pie of wood. He lid not rise. and
several men raj to his assistance. A
carriage was called and he was removed
to the Riverside hospital. When the
crowd learned that one OF the number
had been wounded, it quickly dis
persed.
OHltIio DOs itS anu DOWU6 arrested
DR.. Mitchell and the Rev. Mr.. Emer-
SON. A patrol wagon was called. and
the Rev. Mr.. Emerson was taken to the
police station. There it was found that
his left hand was cut and bleeding.
He was booked and allowed to 90 to
his home.
Chief of Police Stahl was summoned
from his home, but did not arrive un-
I'll the crowd had left. Broken cases
and the smashed beer bottles were car
ried back into the building, and a man
stood guard the remainder Of the night
with a shotgun.
The Rev. Mr.. Emerson Is pastor Of
the First Christian church and was
Mrs. Nations manager on her recent
lecture tour. Mrs. Nation heard OF the
raid this morning after breakfast. and
was very much pleased. She said: II
am so glad the home-defenders urov-
ed that they don't need me to helm
them. and my children are not going
10 neglect this work. Bless God. we'll
have hell holes wiped out OF here. af-
ter a while. Smash, smash. smasht'
ought to be the motto OF every home
defender"