Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1907-09-12
ARREST THAT WAS
NOT HEARD OF


out again and their visits have been
associated with all sorts Of prospective
arrests These rumars were traced TO
an tigin Tuesday, when an alleged
and seli.assertive member of the con.
stahulary appeared IN Danvile and
proclaimed his errand. which had been
IN effect the arrest Of three Of OUT
townspeople NJ alleged members of the
Black Hand organization.
Ne one at first seemed to know
whether 60 take the man seriously
or otherwise. He was rather strik.
ing fellow of nearly middle life. He
was in citizens clothes, his headgear
being q very conspicuous automob lie
or German cap He dropped into one
ut the hotels and later sought barber
shop. where he was careful to ascertain
hefote taking the chair whether the
barber could curl his mustache prop
erly. At no place did he make a secret
OF the fact that he was member Of
the State constabulary. He seemed
plentifully provided with money.
About ten o'clock Tuesday morn
ing man answering the above de.
scriptior entered the Globe Warehouse
and approaching one of the sslesladies
asked to be shown some haudkerehiefs
80 y five-cent handkerchief. he ex-
planned, | always throw them away. &"
1t was observed that the man held
his hand over his lower lip as he EN-.
tered the store. He had met with "A
slight injury, he explained. and said
that he needed handkerchief. Re.
moving his hand he displayed a swoll-
en- lower lip, which looked as if il
might have been bleeding.
II am not in the habit of talking
, about such things, " he said. but that
you may understand how l sustained
this injury il seems necessary for me
to explain. lam member of the State
Constabulary and have just made an
important arrest on-I believe you
call it Welsh hill ,"
He then proceeded 60 tell all about
it. a man named Blake living in Col.
umbia county had received charact-
eristic Black Hand letter. The State
constabulaiy got busy and finally locat-
ed the sender along with two other
notorious members of the Black Hand
gang on Welsh hill, this city. Tues
day morning himself and two other
members of the constabulary, mount
ed on horses, rode down to Danville
to make the arrests.
By this time the narrative had reach.
ed point of much interest and the
State constable" had the sympathetic
ear, not only Of the saleslady he was
addressing, but of half dozen others
in the store. Continuing, he said
Locating the man who had written
the Black Hand letter / went to the
house. The man was not there. | ask
ed the woman for something to eat
and much to my surprise she cooked
me nice piece of sirloin steak and
two fried eggs. l was much touched
by her kindness. had no appetite.
could not get away from the thought
that | was there to take her husband. 1"
Whether he attempted to partake of
the meal or not was not made clear
for something ,else happened The
husband and Black Hand Suspect ap-
peared. This was just as was expect.
ed. The officer was ready with his
revolver, but the man of the house see.
ing that he was trapped drew a long
knife and made a lunge toward the
officer.
A sigh of relief went up from the
listeners when it was learned that the
knife had missed its aim and that in
the hand hand conflict that ensued
the officer had sustained no injury
more serious than bruised lip.
But we got our men, all three, :"
the officer went on.
One OF the clerks timidly inquired
where the prisoners We're at that mo-
ment.
"Oh there're all right the man re-
piled; we've got them. AS soon as
our horses are done eating we will
leave town by the same road over
which we came. "
By this time the handkerchief was
selected and paid for Before leaving
the member of the State constabulary
remarked:
g | am sorry for your police. You
see we can not cooperate with the
local officers in these matters, for we
have authority to shoot mon down in
their tracks, while your policemen
have not -
The mans dramatic recital created
thirst for more details and everyone
who heard Of the affair began to make
inquiries. The town police, however,
were utterly oblivious of the fact that
anything of the kind had taken place.
On Welsh Hill where such stirring
scenes should have occurred every
thing was serene and no one could be
found who had heard Of arrests or who
seen any members of the State con-