Los Angeles herald., 1907-04-26
.HEELPLATES MAY
LEAD TO PRISON
SENSATIONAL RUM0RS RESULT
FROM EXAMINATION
Policeman SWears That When Fleeing
Burglar VauIted Fence He Saw
the Mans Face and Rec
ognized Wells
Pasadena Agency,
n North Raymond Avenue,
Phones: Sunset 1907, Home 2124.

| PASADENA, April 25.-In Robert
Wells have the Pasadena police acci-
dentally captured a second Fleenor
the man who robbed a hundred homes
in Los Angeles? Is it possible that
Wells can have known the Los Angeles
negro and been following out his meth
ods? Has the man now under arrest
had anything to do with the barefoot
burglaries? Does he know anything
of another notorious case?
These are the dark suggestions the
outgrowth Of the examination of Wells
this afternoon before Justice Mcdonald
on a charge of having attempted to
burglarize the home of V. H. Denton
at 1868 East Orange Grove avenue at
an early hour Tuesday morning.
Or has the negro lived the clean life
which is credited to him by many of
his neighbors? Is it possible that he
can be enmeshed in such web of cir
cumstantial evidence by mere coinci-
dence?
Never in the history of Pasadena has
there been a more sensational exam
| ination of an accused man than that
this afternoon. 1t was thought that
| the police had a very weak case
against the man, and his attorney was
sure that there was nothing to the
case. Many, even, have believed that
the police had made terrible blunder
when they arrested Wells, many who
are now loudly saying that Wells is the
man guilty of the barefoot burglaries
and that he surely will be bound over
for trial.
Calls Unexpected Witnesses
So important did the examination be-
come in the eyes of the deputy district
attorney that he called many unex-
pected witnesses, so many that the ex-
animation was not conducted at
o'clock, but goes over until next Mon
day morning
First came the members of the Den
ton family They told of the effort to
rob their house at about o'clock
Tuesday morning. None of them saw
the would-be burglar, however. The
next witness was Policeman Joe
Nicholl, one of the two who made the
arrest. His testimony took all the
balance of the afternoon and was SEN
sational to a degree.
Nicholl told how he had gone to the
Denton home on his wheel when noti-
fled over the phone from the central
station of the attempted robbery and
then he told of having found easily
seen foot tracks across the yard and
down the streets to the old steam laun-
dry at Villa street and Wilson avenue
where he had seen a man skulking in
the shadow.
He told how the man had made q
dash and how he had chased him, fir
ing at his retreating form. He told
how the man had vaulted a fence
when not over thirty feet from him and
then, with dramatic force, he told how
he had recognized the face in the early
morning light as that Of Wells. He
did not hesitate about his Identified
ton. He said he had seen the face
Of the fleeing man and that It was
that OF the defendant.
Tells of Footprints
He told how he had seen in the foot.
prints the mark of a metal heelplate
and how when he arrested Wells, the
negro had on shoes with such plates
The shoes were introduced as evidence
He told hov' the man had lost his hal
when he vaulted the fence and the hal
was introduced. In the band are tho
initials &C. j. L." made with cut
fino machine while the firm sellinf