The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1904-02-05

his shoes, when the robbers tolK him to
proceed to the safe.
Never mind about the shoes, you'ref
all right as you are" the tall man said.l
The clerk walked into the drug store|
and in his excitement turned on theI
combination, locking the safe. He told
the robbers what he had done.
''You get tina thing open in a hurry.1
You have just 10 minutes. If the safe
isn't open then, we shoot to KILL hel
was told.
Couldn't Open the Safe.
In his terror Quirk missed opening,
the safe. He forgot the combination.
With teeth chattering on account Of
the cold and his fright he begged for
an extension of time. The robbers re-
fused, but the smaller one, taking pity
on him, went into the bed room, secured
a quilt and held it about Quirk's shak-
ing form as he twisted desperately
away at the combination. At length
the safe opened. The cash drawer was
pulled out and the robbers, seeing there
was only a few dollars In change, de-
clined to take it.
"The stuff is too heavy. Where's the
bills ?" the tall man asked. r.
There's all there is" declared the
clerk.
For the first time since the robbers.
entered the place the small man spoke:
ASSo oASAA S3AS ScoA ASoAoN~A 49,
said. The voice was high pitched and
to Quirk sounded feminine. He turned
his eyes toward the small man, only
to be met with the full glare of the
bull's-eye, and told to attend to his.
own business.
The men whispered together a few
minute and then told Quirk to rise.
The tall man acted as spokesman
again.
Get a bottle and put up some gly-
cerine," he ordered, slipping back Of
the clerk, the smaller mar follow
Ing the others example and hold
Ing the bull's-eye on the bottles in
the prescription case as Quirk FUN;
bled about them. After the clerk had
handed over the glycerine, Quirk was
told to get some ether. He was busy
filing a bottle with the drug when n
of the robbers thrust a tin cup beneath
his nose.
Forced to Drink Laudanum. ST
Drink that he commanded.
The trained sense of smell of the clerk
told him the stuff was laudanum.
My God, you'll not compel me to drink
that" he protested.
Drink it or we both fire." replied the
tall robber and two guns were pressed to
Quirk's temples. With what he believed
was certain death facing him on both
sides. the clerk shudderingly chose the less
painful one and quaffed the stuff.
Come with u.s. and the clerk was led
to his room and thrown roughly onto his
bed. From his pocket the tall man pro-
duced a ball Of Irvine. while the smaller,
one kept the bulls-eye and his pistol
trained on the clerk. First one foot was
bound to the bed rail then the other. Then
the clerks thumbs were tied tight and
his hands thrust above his head. He was
fast losing consciousness but he saw the
robbers tax a handkerchief, sprinkle
some ether on it and toss it over his face.
Quirk struggled as best he could and
held his breath as long as able, but at last
he succumbed and as the pungent odor
of the drug swept to his brain he lost
consciousness. The last thing he remem-
bers hearing was this conversation:
Maybe that stuff will kill him. said
the smaller man.
Let it: 1 don't care if he dies" re-
sponded the taller.
Search for the Clerk.
At $50 Wednesday morning, Gilbert Col
Inns, father Of Otis, proprietor Of the drug
store, stopped In front Of the place and
tried the door. 1t was still locked. AS
Quirk always opened up and was usuclly
there at that hour, Collins went to tEs
Vanderbilt hotel where the clerk takes
his meals and there learned the man
hadn't appeared. He called Charles B.
Voght, q painter, and the two returned
to the store, where Otis Collins met them.
The elder Collins went to the room Of the
clerk and there found him lying bound,
gagged and unconscious. A handkerchief
his own-lay over his face. The smell
of ether was absent. DR.. S. Wallis re-
vived the clerk, who was led to the Van
derbilt hotel and put to bed. He remained
there until Saturday when he went to his
homo at Highmore, returning a few days
later. He told the story to his employer
and other witnesses and to the doctor,
who, while engaged with Quirk, was sum
moned to the Henshaw hotel across the
street from the Vanderbilt. There Miss
Hattie Pitcher, once a school teacher and
for some time a boarder at both hotels,
was found with a bullet wound in her light
shoulder. She had bled considerably and
claimed to have been chloformed 5y a
sister-in-law with whom she had had
trouble.
On the stand near her bed was a letter
scrawled, she claimed, by the sister-in-
law. In substance the letter stated that
Miss Pitcher had been shot by the writer
and chlorofolmed and would likely die be-
fore morning.
Miss Pitchers Story.
It met her in the hall about $50 last
night Miss Pitcher said. She pushed
me into the room, after throwing a towel
saturated with chloroform over my head
and then shot me-"
She persisted in her story, but it was:
not believed, it being so obviously impos-
sible that the shooting could have oc-
CURED in a hotel full Of guests. Sheriff
Abbott and District Attorney Cole, q
brother of Cyrenus Cole of Cedar Rapids,
investigated. The girl changed her story,
claiming the shooting was accidental.
On Saturday, when she was arrested,
and after being locked up, she declared
she would confess If a Mrs. Sedan of ST.
Lawrence, where Miss Pitcher was born,
was brought over. The Sheriff sent for
her, but in the meantime Dick Rohmig,
formerly a telegraph operator for the
Northwestern Railway company here and
at Cakes, and with whom Miss Pitcher had
been keeping company, was admitted to
the jail. He had a conference with the
girl and when Mrs. Sedan arrived Miss
Pitcher said she had nothing to tell. Later
she sprang a suicide story and went with
Sheriff Abbott a few blocks east Of the
main street and near the railway track
and picked up a Hopkins & Allen revolver,
from which three cartridges had been
fired. Miss Pitcher admitted she stole the
revolver from Clint Crabtree's residence
Crabtree is a grocer-and had gone out
Tuesday night and after testing the re-
volver twice to see if it would do its work.
she turned it on herself. She is left
handed. The bullet struck her about two.
inches from the right breast and, ranging
upward, passed out at the apex Of the
shoulder. A piece Of fur, which matches
the fur boa Of Miss Pitcher was found
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