Omaha daily bee., 1906-01-21
HoLDUP MEN COMMIT MURDER
NeIs Bausten. n saloon Keeper at
Twent'-Fir.t aud ot~inS
the Victim.

Nels Iausten. a saloonkeeper. was shot
and almost instantly killed by two holdup
men In HIS saloon at nOl Cunning street. at
about rs O'Clock Saturday night After
rifling the cash register the robbers escaped
from the vicinity. leaving Lausten lying
where he fell behind the bar.
The police have one man under arrest
whom they have reason to believe was con-
nected with Me murder and robbery.
There were two witnesses to the crime,
one OF whom, Henry Boney, was in the
saloon at the time and was kept covered by
a revolver, and the other. Ben Persinger,
no lizard street, saw what was going on
through the window, and then ran across
the street and gave the alarm According
to the story OF Boney. the men entered by
the front door and passing TO the bar or
dered three drinks. While Lausten was fill
ing their order they both pulled revolvers.
which they waved in the air. but said moth
ing until Lausten started TO walk away.
They then called to him, and as he turned
deliberately shot him down in cold blood
He fell with bullet through the breast
Boney started to go out. but one of the rob.
bers commanded him TO stay. saying they
were not through yet. and while one Of
them compelled him to keep his hands above
his head the other emptied the contents OF
the cash register into his pocket. They then
went out Of the rear door and disappeared
Boney hastily left the room and made his
way to a telephone and notified the police
station. Meanwhile Persinger bad looked in
at the door on Twenty-first street and also
the window on Cunning street, and seeing
what was happening inside. hurried across
the street to the saloon OF Hans Nelson and
excitedly told what he had seen. Nelson
Immediately called up the police and then
locked up his place.
Nels Lunden, 1412 North Twenty ninth
street, who was in the saloon and heard
Persinger's story. went over to the scene
! Of the murder and holdup and entering saw
| no one but could hear the heavy breathing
of a man behind the bar. The sound fright
ened him and he hastily withdrew. Before
| he left Nelson's saloon, two strange women
raped at the locked doors for admittance
and upon being let in asked to have pdi
which they carried filled with beer. They
| were accommodated, and were just coming
| out again as Lundell was coming out OF
the saloon where the dying man lay. Lun
dell says that he plainly heard the womer
| discussing the murder. and that one o
! them remarked: .
When / held his head H. my hand, h,
| surely was dead 49, "
This would indicate mai the pair haS
entered Lausten's place first, and discov
cred the proprietor lying on the floor be
hind the bar, although they said nothing
about 1t when the came into Nelson's sa
loon. The women were strangers TO al
| who saw them.
AS soon as the alarm reached the station
a wagon load OF policemen was dispatched
on a gallop to the scene. When they ar
rived Police Surgeon Wills. who accom-
panied them, found Lausten dead. The cor
oner was notified and the body removed L
the morgue.
Lausten was about So years of age an,
had a wife and three children living at 81
Charles street. Mrs. Lausten was told o
the fate of her husband by the police. Laus
ten had run the saloon at Twenty-frst an
Cunning streets for a number of years an
had wide acquaintance The affair fol
lowing in the wake of frequent robberies o
the last few days in Omaha and Sout
Omaha, has reused the police TO the great
est pitch in an endeavor 10 bring the Grim
! inale to iusficA