Omaha daily bee., 1907-12-13
William Fauce Confesses to Staying
Joseph BOwles, sharpshOOter.
HITS HIN IN HEAD WITH BRICK
Tragedy Occurs I'm Negro Quarters
of the Third ward and Fauce
Says He Acted I'm self
Defense.

of colored men and women IN thS hope
Of getting the right one. Fauce who at
tenpts to justify his deed as one of self
defense. says he dealt the death blow
with brick. Fauce was captured in South
Omaha by officers Of both cities.
With hts head caved In and life almost
extinct. Bowles was found in the back
yard Of A. JsnEer's plece. I14 Davenport
street, at a. ,. by NJ JanAsr. The po-
lice were notifie and Boxles As taken to
the police surgSen's office IN the patrol
wagon. He died thirty minutes after reach
ing the station without regaininE conscious
ness.
When found he was lying on a pile Of
ashes and over his body had been
thrown the head Of a bedstead and
all that was visible of him was his head,
which protruded from under the bedstead
He was clad only - his underclothes, which
were covered with blood. The ground was
covered with blood N several different
places within a radius Of twenty feet from
where he lay. His army overcoat. shoes,
cap. clothes and leggings were found in
the next yard. which is occupied by the
Brown hats, oolored rooming house.
high board fence separates the
two yards In the yard occupied by the
covered with blood and hair. In front OF
the Brown fats is a pile Of such bricks.
His socks were dusty and had fresh holes
In. as did the knees of his underclothes.
which, the police think. were made by
dragging him along the ground There are
other indications that the man was injured
in the other yard and dragged to the place
where he was found.
Police n0 OufcIr VvorIr
Five hours after Bowles was found the
police had his slayer behind the bars,
where he made a full confession
to Chief of Detectives Savage. He
lives at Twenty-seventh and
streets, South Omaha He is a hod
carrier by occupation. About forty colored
men and women had been arrested on sus-
picion of knowing something Of the murder,
but after putting them all in the sweat
box Chief Savage was satisfied none
had been connected with the crime or knew
anything about It and he sent Officer
Joe Hiel back to the scene Of the crime
to dig up some moro clews, II possible
In a bunch OF weeds Ofacer Eiel found
corduroy cap about twenty-five yards
from where Hosles was faiipa lying.
He then n1adSs inquiries as TO who
owned the cap. Julia Rose, a coIored
woman living at 800 North Twelfth street,
told the officers colored man had come to
her house about a. m. and remained till
a. m. and that he was hatless and had
a pair Of abnormally black eyes, and said
he had been in q little mix-up He re-
quested her TO say nothing to the police
about 1t. She loaned him her hat when
he left. From her description Of the man,
the officers knew who he was and Detec-
tive Devereese went to South Omaha.
Find Him in south Omaha.
Detective Shields had visited some pawn
shops in South Omaha and learned col
ored man wearing a womans hat had been
in and tried to pawn a watch.
When Mr.. Shields learned of the fellow
he reported to the station and Detective
Devereese Joined him in South Omaha,
where the hunt was continued which re-
suited in the capture.
When the man saw the oficers he
"ducked" between two houses, but came
nearly meeting the detectives face to face
on the street.
. He denied all knowledge Of the crime, but
when put into the sweatbox he confessed he
was the man. In his written statement to
Captain Mostyn and Chief of Detec-
tives Savage he said he was the
only one implicated in It, He
said he met Bowles about O'Clock We'd
nesday evening and the latter was drunk
and asked him II he knew a place
where they could go and have a good
time. He took him, he said TO
the Brown flats at Twelfth and Davenport
streets and as they. were about to enter the
building he says Bowles struck him with
his FIST and then they sot into -fight He
says they fought IN front of the house
and up the alley and that Bowies was
getting the better of him and he picked up
brick and hit Bowles on. the head with
1t.
When arrested Fauee had the dead mans
watch and chain and knife on his
person. Whether he took any money
from Bowles Is not known. The
police are strongly Of the opinion
It was a cold-blooded murder and robbery.
Wednesday was pay day at Fort Crook
and It is thought Bowles had some money
about him and that Fause inveigled him
into the alley. slugged him and then
stripped him of his clothes IN a search for
money. Bowles' shoes were taken Off by
cutting the shoe strings.
The police say It is the custom of some
of the soldiers who come to town on pay
day to conceal part OF their money In
their shoes or sew II up on the inside OF
their clothing.
Details of the Capture.
The report of the murder and the des
cription OF the negro did not reach south
Omaha until after Detective Shields had
made his morning round OF the South
Omaha pawn shops. Therefore he was
simply inquiring after the usual articles
placed in pawn, He discovered. however.
that fFauce had attempted TO pawn a
valuable watch, supposed afteFwnrd to have
belonged to a soldier Taking It for granted
a negro would not own so good a watch
the detective investigated the case thor
oughly and learned the Identity of his
man positively and had the right clue to
his place of concealment He went to Onicer
d. d. Ringer on N street and told him 10
be on the lookout for Fauea. While they
were at the police box Oficer w. L. Dew
erese Of Omaha called from the South
Omaha station to the officer and thus got in
communication with Shields Shields noted
at once the connection between his casual
suspect and the murderer. He met Deverese
at Twenty-seventh and l. streets and the
two started north toward X street; when
they met the man they sought hastening
down the street toward them Fauce saw