The San Francisco call., 1903-01-06
ESCAPES PISTOL,
LANDS ON STOVE
Sailor Evades Revolver
and Plunges Through
a Skylight.
Charles Prindle Is Badly
Scared by Arizona
Cowboy.

Charles D. Prindle. a sailor. who ar
rived here from Australia on the Sonoma
about ten days ago, plunged through the
skylight over the kitchen at 3S1 O'FarrelI
street yesterday and alighted on a redhot
stove, much to his discomfort and the
alarm of the landlady of the house. Prindle
was making his escape from the revolver
of an Arizona cowboy. as he had been
wounded twice during the Spanish-Amer
lean war and had no desire to feel a bull
let again in his body. He was badly cut
on the small of the back by the broken
glass and singed by the redhot stove and
was sent to the Central Emergency Hos
pital, where his wounds were stitched
and dressed. 1t was lucky for him that
he did not fall through the skylight q
few minutes earlier. as large pot. of
boiling lye had just been taken from the
stove when he made his unexpected ap-
pearance in the kitchen.
TAKE BAD MAN HOME.
Prindle and Percy Morris, a carpenter
on the Sonoma, went into the Railroad
saloon, on Market street, near Montgom-
cry, about noon yesterday and met John
Walsh, who introduced himself to them
as cowboy from Arizona. Walsh invited
them TO take a drink and they accepted
his Invitation, returning the compliment.
Walsh was under the influence of liquor.
and as Prindle and Morris took a fancy
to him they invited him to their room, a
32S O'Farrell street, to sleep off his Jag"
Walsh had a belt round his waist filed
with cartridges and a revolver stuck IN
a holster.
When they left the saloon Walsh pulled
the revolver out of the holster and want
ed to show Prindle and Morris the way
cowboys made things lively in Arizona.
but they persuaded him to put it back.
They reached 329 O'Farrell street without
any mishap. but they had no sooner en-
tered Prindle and Morris room when
Walsh pulled the revolver out of the hol-
ster and showed the muzZle into Prindle's
face. Thinking he was going to shoot
Prindle Sprang through the French win
dow to the roof over the kitchen of the
adjoining house. and ]. r. Smart. a boy
who lives in the house shouted that the
cowboy was coming after Prindle.
PLUNGES THROUGH SKYLIGHT.
IN his desperation Prindle ran along the
kiicrse>l roof and suddenly slipped and
crashed through the skylight, falling upon
:u~ redhot stove in the kitchen. The
la~6lady screamed and ran out Of the
kitchen, thinking that a burglar had
adopted that unceremonious way of
breaking into the house. Policemen Clark
and Gruenwald were notified and Prindle
was sent 10 the hospital. Besides his
cuts and burns his back was badly
wrenched by the fall. After his wounds
were dressed he was taken before Cap
tain Martin. who heard his statement and
sent him home.
Walsh was arrested and booked on a
charge Of carrying a concealed weapon
He could give no satisfactory explanation
of why he pulled the revolver on Prindle.
saying he was drunk and did not know
what he was doing. He is only 21 years
of age and says he has been cowboy
for the last eight years. He has been
arrested twice within the last six weeks
I for being drunk. He has an ugly wound
on his left arm, which he says he got
during fight in a gambling-house in
Portland.
Prindle says that during the Spanish
American war he was a sailor on the
Badger and was the only one of the crew
wounded. He was shot in the right cheek
and on the back of the head His parents
live in New York.