The Savannah morning news., 1902-01-21
PASTOR PURSUED A THIEF.
Rev. j. A. Smith Ran Down a Burg
lar He Had Frightened Away.

lar He Had Frightened Away.
Seymour Brown, colored. was landed
in the Police Jail shortly after IL
o'clock last night on a charge of bur
glary entered by Rev. ]. A Smith. pas
tor of Epworth Methodist Church. That
Seymour is behind the bars is due to
the pastor. Mr.. Smith pursued him on
his bicycle. after frightening him from
the parsonage, and assisted by Mr..
John B. Fitzgerald of No. Ala Thirty
fifth street, west, placed him under ar
| rest.
Rev. and Mrs. Smith were sitting in
an upstairs room in the parsonage, No.
2009 Jefferson street, when they heard
a noise I'm the yard below. 1t sounded
as if it might be at one of the windows.
! Presently there was another noise, and
this the listeners located at the back
door. Mr. Smith went down stairs to
investigate.
In the hall he confronted a negro,
who could have been there on no other
than a felonious mission. What are
you doing here?' Mr.. Smith demanded,
and the burglar wheeled and made his
exit by the door through which he had
entered
Losing no time, but bent upon his
rapidly-formed determination to follow
the negro until he had run him down,
Mr.. Smith caught his bicycle from it's
place against the wall and followed
into the yard, out of the gate and down
Jefferson street.
| Mounted on his wheel, Mr.. Smith kept
within easy distance of the burglar.
Fearful that the negro, a strapping fell
low, might have a weapon, Mr.. Smith
was careful not to approach closely
enough to subject himself TO attack.
His object was to dog his footsteps un-
til he should meet some one to whom
he might appeal for assistance. Thus
the pursuit continued for three or four
Nblocks, pursued and pursuer watching
each other closely, the one anxious to
escape and the other anxious to pre-
vent escape.
Mr. Smith presently met Mr.. FitZger-
aid, who was on his way home. Hur-
riedly acquainting him with the facts,
the two started after the negro. AS it
CHANGED, Mr.. Fitzgerald had a revolver,
and this he drew when within few
feet of the man. To let him know
that he had a weapon, Mr.. Fitzgerald
! fired two shots in the air, and the ne
| gro came to a halt. He pretended
| TO be drunk, and said that he had been
looking for some one. Then he grew
belligerent, but was quieted by threa t
reinforced by Mr.. Fitzgeralds pistol,
At the point of the revolver the ne
| gro was marched on Jefferson street
to Park avenue. The police station was
called up by phone, and the patrol
wagon was dispatched. Detective Muir
ply accompanied it, but before IL ar
rived the negro attempted to escape,
being prevented by Mr.. Smith and Mr..
| Fitzgerald only with the assistance of
| two other men. When the wagon ar
rived it was driven back to the par
| sonage, where an inspection of the
premises was made.
1t was found that Brown had forced
his entrance by the back door. the bolt
/ of which had been bent, seemingly with
an ak that lay hard by. The detective
made the prisoner remove shoe, and
| it fitted exactly into footprints that Rad
/ been made under the window, where
the noise of an attempted entry had
| first attracted the attention of the pas
tor. With this additional proof of iden-
tity Brown was driven to the police
station and locked up.