The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-08-04
BURGLAR WITH NERVE
WALLIS PRISONER CoNFEssEs TO
SEVEN ROBBERIES.
SERVED THREE TERMS.
WALTERS WENT ARMED WITH
FATHER OF BARLOWs."

Mr.. Lee Roy Myers Residence
Five Times, and who Was shot,
Told How He Did His work and
why He Visited the Same House
SO Many Times-Served Two Years
for RObbIng Mrs. Thomas House
and Visited 1t Immediately Upon
His Return Home.
Admitting that he is an old-timer
and has served in the penitentiary and
on the chatngang; that he went on
his midnight prowls armed with six
inch spring knife and would have used
the weapon if it had been necessary;
explaining how he walked the streets
during the early morning hours with
out arousing suspicion; how ne did his
work and why he visited the Myers
residence five times, William Walters.
alias Charles Milledge. alias Rubber,
alias Punch" alias 'Yamacraw," has
made a complete confession Of seven
burglaries committed recently.
Without reserve the negro told his
story last night in the "big room."
on the second floor of the police sta
ton house, 10 Chief Of Police Gar
funkel, Detectives Wall and Murphy
and a representative of the Morning
News. Walters only told about him
self in the cases where the officers
had accumulated positive evidence of
his guilt. The negro came out of the
penitentiary in May, and Claims that
since that time he has only commit
ted seven burglaries. The officers are
certain, however, that their prisoner
has not told of all of his crimes.
Robbed Mrs. Thomas House.
Under the name of Milledge the ne
gro served a sentence of two years
for robbing the house of Mrs. f. J.
Thomas, on President and Abercorn
streets He made a successful haul at
the Thomas house at that time, and
among other things stole a pearl
handled pocketknne from the room of
Mr.. John K. Young. A night or two
after this robbery the negro returned
TO the same house and got on the in
side. Some of the occupants of the
upper floors We're still awake, and he
sat under the steps on the first floor
70 wait until they retired. He had been
I ka
discovered by a servant and the police
were notified. Patrolnnan Nose Davis
arrested him as a suspicious charac-
ter and he was positively identified
as the man who had pawned the knife
stolen from Mr.. Youngs room.
Liked the House.
Walters had only been back from
the penitentiary a few days when he
determined to again tackle the Thomas
residence. He once more visited the
room of Mr.. Young and in the house
secured in the neighborhood of $50. He
said that he did not enter the house
twice afterwards, although it was
burglarized in the same way that he
had worked previously.
The home of N. Coleman, No. I'LL
Abercorn street, was entered after
wards and the Myers burglaries be-
gan The negro says that he kept go
ing to the house on CASTOR street for
several reasons. He found it was not
difficult to force an entrance, and that
the occupants were not easily awaken
ed. On each of his trips. he said, he
spent about twenty minutes working
on the window and thirty minutes in
the house. He always removed his
shoes in the hall and went upstairs
quietly. He said that he only visited
the house when he was short of
funds.
That the negro is a shrewd individual
is shown by the fact that he gives an
excellent reason for visiting the house
80 often. He realized at the start, he
said, that the house was an ideal place
to work on. After his first visit he
figured that no one would ever think
that he would return to the same place
He followed out this line of reasoning
and after each burglary felt all the
pSACi III returning.
Went Ready to XIII.
Armed with a dangerous weapon
known in police circles as the Father
of all Barlows," Walters was prepared
to take human life if attacked by
the sleeping inmates of the houses he
visited. He had the knife In his hand
when shot by Detective Wall, and had
he gotten on the inside of the house
he would have engaged in mortal com.
bat with the detective. In close quar-.
ters with an ugly knife, the negro
would have proven a dangerous foe
and Wall would probably have beer
SOUNDED.
A fight in the parlor between the
burglar and the detective was only
everted by the fact that Wall believ-
cd the negro was preparing to leave
when he fired upon him. As a mat
ter of fact. Walters was only follow
ing out a very careful system that he
worked with marked success. He
stated that il had been his habit tC
cut away some of the putty from the
window glass, then close the blinds
softly and wait a minute or two tC
see if the noise made by the knife
scratching the glass could be heard
on the inside. II no sound came from
within he again opened the blinds and
continued his work. He did not hear
the slight noise that Wall made when
the detective got up and prepared to
grapple with him. The shooting al
that time. however, probably saved