The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-07-24
WANTON SLAYER KILLS GIRL
ESCAPES TIMID POLICE To 10
ANOTHER SHOOTING.


WtNVU0 Blt fEG0OH nc - WyIuH
Prom Bale Heek Blsw TO Check Him.
Frank II. Warner who used 20 keep
a hat store in East Forty-seoond street,
and who according to a despatch from
Batavia tried to shoot his father and step
mother in 1877 and got ten years in Auburn
for it. murdered yesterday morning Esther
c. Norling. a girl who had befnendcd him.
After escaping from the police he travelled
q couple OF miles and tried to kill . man
who had helped him ever since he lost his
grip. In the chase after he did his second
shooting OF the day he was knocked out
by a truckmsn. who was arrested for u.
but later discharged with the thanks Of tho
Court.
Warner hid himself in q doorway near
William q. Whites haberdashsry shop at
8 West Forty-second street early yesterday
morning until Esther c. Norling, Whites
cashier. came along. Then following her
on tiptoe, and without saying a word. into
the store he shot her very coolly and do
liberately. firing a bullet into her back.
In the few seconds that followed. whsn
A. X. Spioer. manager OF the store. was
so stunned and shocked that he could
do nothing but stare at the murderer
Warner stood watching a red stain spread
on the girls shirtwaist as she lay faos
downward on the door.
He was just as cool when he was stru9-
Cling with Spicer in the store. Spicer Nrik-
ing out blindly. Warner tryi~g to put a
bullet into him or TO hammer him over the
head with the butt OF the revolver and all
the time backing toward the door. A min
ute or two later Warner was driven up
against the wall around the new library
building across the street. Spicer and some
others trying TO down him
When he seized the chance, broke through
the crowd and ran into Spaiding's build
ing at 80 West Forty-second street no
body had the nerve TO follow him. A dozen
or more cautious policemen deliberated at
the front OF the building while Warner was
escaping az the back.
WARMERS SECOND ATTEMPT
Four hours later. composed and friendly.
he walked into the Office OF John c. Will
son 4 Co. hat manufacturers. downtown
at Waverley place and Greene street, nodded
pleasantly TO two or three statesmen and
clerks who knew him well and sat down to
talk with his old friend Wilson. Mr.. VII
son heard his tale of hard luck. asked him
how much money he wanted. got up and
started back to the safe to get 1t. Warner
fired at Wilson as soon a. his back was turned
and shot straight. MIR. Wilson is in st. Vim
cents Hospital with two bad wounds and
about one chance in three OF recovery.
Even during the hue and cry down Greene
street and along Washington place toward
Broadway. with a score Of truckmen and
drivers from the wholesale houses tearing
after him. Warner kept his nerve. stopping
every now and then and threatening the
crowd with his gun. There might have
been a chance OF his getting clear once
more il Big Jake Rose. a truckman and a
giant OF a fellow. hadn't jumped out in
from Of him and struck him a terrific blow
on the head with a bale hook. Big Jake.
with Warmers pistol leveled at his head.
didn't even stop TO think OF being shot.
He took a chance the police baked at.
That blow from the bale hook in Big
Jsss's hand knocked Warner cold and Il
may finish his career. He was still un-
conscious last night in Bellevue Hospital
with conclusion Of the brain and Q crack
hL Ln6 D89o Oh u1B 6kuU. ln0 8uTX0OnU
thought he might have a chance to recover.
but they gave the opinion Of experts that
Big Jake had done q mighty good Job with
the bale hook.
Frank H. Warner IL SO years old. but
several years OF hard drinking and loAAng
around cheap Tenderloin resorts have
made him DOL much older. He ID perhaps
8 feet 8 inches tall and rather heavily built.
Il uta hair and pnttafanhA ara UYaU thA hair
rather thin, but the mustache Q great doubls
tuft which spreads bushily over his cheeks.
He came to New York, his aoquaintAnoss
agreed pretty generally. about twenty years
ago. He used to boast that he had been .
deputy sheriff under Grover Cleveland
when Mr.. Cleveland was Sheriff Of Erie
county. but apparently IL was In 0enssse
county that he was under sheriff. Warner
used to tell Jake Mohr. who runs Mohr's
Tavern in Forty-second street near Fifth
avenue, that he was about a. good Q friend
as Cleveland ever had When he was very
drunk and wanted 20 make q touch from
some friend Of better days he never failed
to tell the Cleveland story
oNcE AN INDUSTRIOUS woRKKR
About the first job he had In THE city
was as a clerk for Callahan, the Bowcry
nHtttT, anu nt wan n bODeT, iuuuDtxtOh8
young man who saved his money and ran
straight. He held good jobs, made money
and finally. five years ago had enough
saved TO buy a lease on the store a Office
building at 3 East Forty-second street.
Shortly before that he made the scqusint-
ance Of Esther Norling OF Ridgefeld Park.
n. j.. who had some money OF her own and
was looking for a chance to iSsest IL. He
got her TO go into business with him and
they opened a hat store and h~aberdashery
on the ground floor Of the building he leased
The firm name was "Norling-W Warner. Hat
ters and Outftters." Until construction
work FOR the subway started and the tube
builders ripped up Forty-second street
the store made money, but when a fence
was put up within four feet Of the store door
and customers had to climb over dirt piles
and brick mounds to get into the shop at
all business dropped fast
II wasn't long until they owed moro
than thew could make good. John G.