The Savannah morning news., 1903-01-04
SILVER SAVED HIM
DEPUTY SHERIFF GRIGGs SHOT BY
OYSTER PIRATES.
TWO M'oUEENS ARRESTED.
SHOT STRUCK SILVER DOLLAR IN
HIS WAISTCOAT POCKET.

Did the Shooting StilI at Large.
shot Were Extracted Inst Night mt
Savannah HQspitnI-The Wounded
Man lowed Abandoned Boat 10
Oyster Factory This Furnished
Clue Upon which Arrests Were
Made-The Older Mcqueen Known
rs a Desperate Man.
Several silver dollars in the pocket
of his waistcoat are probably respon-
sible for the fact that G. D. Briggs,
who was shot by oyster pirates at
Turner's Rock yesterday morning, is
alive -. was able TO give the tnfor-
nation which has resulted in the ar
rest of two Of the negroes, and will
no doubt result in the arrest of the
man who fired the shot, and two 9TH
ers. to-day. The shot struck the
silver, tearing the pocketbook to
pieces, and preventing the deadly mis-
siles from entering the stomach.
Adam Mcqueen and his son, Adam
Mcqueen, Jr.. were arrested during
the day for the shooting by Deputy
Sherfffs O'Connor and Westcott. The
father was arrested in the afternoon
shortly before o'clock, within htty
feet of where the shooting took place,
and the son, shortly after O'Clock
last night Neither resisted arrest.
The deputies covered their men ana
demanded a surrender before an OPP
portunity was given either of them TO
resist. The older negro is known as
a desperate character.
On Track of Assassins.
The same deputies will leave the city
at an early hour this morning for Tur-
ner s Island. where the men were ar
rested. They expect to capture the
other three men who were in the party.
One of these did the shooting. The
deputies on their return to the city last
night, learned of the whereabouts Of
the men during the day, but were un-
able to locate them, and an attempt to
find them at their usual haunts proved
futile.
At the city hospital last night DR..
Waring extracted the shot from the
arm and thigh of the injured man.
The wounds which he received con-
sisted of several shot in the left waist
and upper portion of the left thigh.
These arc not considered serious, and
it is thought that the patient Will soon
recover. The wound which would have
been inflicted. had it not been for the
money in his waistcoat, would have
have been of a very serious nature.
On His Way TO the city.
The shooting occurred at about $3.50
o'clock in the morning. Briggs. who
has for ten years been employed as
Waterman for the Oemler Oyster
Company, and is also a deputy sheriff,
was en- route to the city, where he eX-
pected to spend Sunday in order that
he might be in attendance on the City
Court on Monday, where he is a wit
ness in a case against Capt. Oemler,
He was rowing a small batteau.
When at a point between the oyster
factory and Turner's creek he saw a
party of men longing oysters on the
private beds of Capt. Oemler. AS he
neared them they pulled away. He
gave pursuit, and being in a lighter
boat. succeeded in catching up on
them. When the party consisting of
five negroes, who occupied three boats,
landed at Turner's Rock, so closely had
he pursued them that he was within a
few yards of them.
One of the negroes, who was tardier
than the others in getting out of his
boat, jumped out at the same time
that Griggs jumped from his. Seeing
that he would be captured, he opened
fire on the unarned man, when he was
but a few yards away He fired one
load of shot into his pursuer, and then
disappeared in the darkness.
shouted for Help.
Griggs called for help. but no one
heard him. Suffering and bleeding
from his wounds, he got out into the
water, and tied one of the boats to his
own, so that the negroes could not
come back and recapture their proper
ty, and so that he might have some
clue to the identity of the men. who
M no a
he could not recognize.
He made as careful an examination
of the boats as he was able to do in
his injured condition, and then pad
died the two boats back to the oyster
factory with his uninjured hand. He
made slow Roadway, and reached the
factory at daylight, after most trying
experience. He was both injured anC
unarmed, and had not the negroes
thought they had made way with him
there is little doubt but that they
would have overtaken him and killed
him.
At the factory he was made as com
Portable as possible and as soon az
the light permitted, was brought to the
city by Capt. G. W. Rossignol. He wa,
taken Immediately to the Savannah
Hospital where his wounds were dress
ed. Capt. Rossignol reported the mat
ter to the authorities, and Deputie:
ed. O'Connor and Charles Westcott
were instructed to investigate tn,
shooting
Live Near Scene of Crime.
They went to the hospital, where the
injured man gave them the names OF
the parties who owned the boats and
who he thinks were in the party. The
two men who We're arrested live with
in fifty yards of the place where the
landing was effected. Within the past
few weeks Capt. Oemler has had oc
casion to run the men from his beds
on numerous occasions.
On one of these occasions, when he
was unarmed, the older Mcqueen held
him up at the point of a shot gun and
threatened to kill him. Mcqueen is
well-known to the authorities, and
bears most unsavory reputation with
the people of his community. Both he
and his son disclaim any knowledge Of
the affair, and say that they were nj
home asleep at the time it occurred
Griggs himself is of the opinion thai
the men thought that he was Capt
Oelmer. He is a man of about the
same size. Capt. Oemler has several
times run the men from the same SPOT
where he found them yesterday morn
ing. On the other hand Griggs sell
dom goes in that neighborhood. rs
position or watch being about eight
miles distant at q place called oyster
Greek