The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1907-08-21
YOUNG GIRL
SAVES LIFE
OF MOTHER
Calls for Help in the
Face of Threat Of
Death.
BOLD MIDNIGHT ATTACK
BOLD MIDNIGHT ATTACK
Attempt at Burglary Which Came
Close to Ending in Murder.
intruder Puts knife Against
Woman's Throat..Is Iden.
titled and Arrested.

NEW YORK, Aug. 21.lThreatening
death to her and her three little chill
dren If they made an outcryy a burglar
armed with a long knife entered the
APARTMENTS of Mrs. Ella Weidner, 1888
East Forty-fifth street, just after mid.
night today and, half ~strangling the
mother, demanded that all the money
and valuables in the house be given
him.
That the mother and her three little
ones were not murdered is said by the
police to be due to the bravery and
presence of mind of Bertha, the Swear
old daughter of the household. AL
though she had been told a cry meant
death. the little girl slipped from her
bed while the burglar was
her mother and gave the alarm.
Mrs. Weidner's husband is employed
at night by the American Ice COM
pany, and was away from home when
the burglar made his appearance. Inc
Weidners live in the rear of a gro
Gerry store owned by Francis Plack. SIX
times in the past few months PACK
has been robbed, and to protect MS
property has been sleeping in the store
with a revolver close at hand.
Mrs. Wiedner and her three children
were asleep when the thief gained en-
trance to their rooms. The mother saw
the man rihing a drawer n sprang
from bed. She grappled with the man.
screaming as she did so. The man
clutched her throat and she was borne
to the floor.
At the same instant the ma whip
ped his long knife from his pocket, and
pressing the point of the weapon
- Aroa Gf said RI
the children:
"a veil and 1 will cut you three brats TO
ribbons"
Besides Bertha, the children were Henry,
eyed Z, and Ellen, less than 2. The man
seemed bent on strangling the mother into
unconsciousness before continuing his work
of robbery. He thought that he had the
children frightened into silence.
Little Bertha quietly slipped from her
he'd. She tripped to the door leading into
the hallway and gave shrek after shrek.
Then she hid away in a dark corner. TIT
man loosened his grip on the mothers
4broat and with an oath sprang into the
Ssil. Had he encountered the little girl
.*.en- the changes are he would nave
plunged. the knife into her. ~
Plack heard the child's screams. Re-
volver In hand, he rushed into the hall
lust as the man darted past him into the
street. The man turned east and disap-
peared.
Slipping on a kimono and house slippers,
Mrs. Weidner, weak from fright and pain,
her face and throat bruised, went to the
East Fifty-frst street police station and
TO Lieutenant Henry she told her story.
Policeman Fitzgibbons was detailed on the
case. He took Mrs. Weidner to her home
and then suggested that she dress herself
fully and come for a walk with him.
IT have an idea your man Is over In the
White Chapel District" the policeman
suggested. At the corner of Forty-seventh
street and First avenue Mrs. Weidner and
the police saw three men standing In the
doorway of a saloon.
''You go over there and look those
men over the policeman told her.
Don't be frightened. l will be close by.
If YOU identity any of3them walk straight
ahead and then turn and come back"
Mrs. Weidner did as she was told. So
frightened was she that she tottered as she
walked. She stopped before the three men
and then walked ahead. In q few minutes
she. was retracing her steps. Fitzgibbons
saw her and as she again passed the men
he was in front of them with revolver and
club drawn.
This is the burglar said Mrs. Weld
ner. painting to a stockily built chap. He
is the man who choked me and who threat
ened to murder me and my children"
Before the man could make reply the
policeman's revolver was pressed against
his head. Marching in front of the po-
liceman he was taken to the station. The
man said that he was Frank Doyle, of No.
3S1 East Forty-ninth street. He denied
his guilt. but the police held him on sus-
picion.
He was arraigned in the Yorkville Court
later in the day.