Los Angeles herald., 1908-01-12
ROBBER SLAIN IN
DESPERATE FIGHT
WITH PASSENGER
BEACH CAR SCENE OF BLOODY STRIFE
Man Thought By Police to Be Confederate of
Dead Highwayman Arrested By Deco
tiyes After Several Hours Search.
Man Recognized as Old
Offender

CHARLES GRAY. a highwayman wht
1 attempted to hold up and rob th'
~ passengers of the Los Angeles aDt
crowned, "open to the sky, surrounded BY
Redondo railway car. 109 near How.ant
avenue at 1890 o'clock last night, wa:
shot and instantly killed by ]. C. Greer
the conductor.
Gray had two revolvers in his hands a
the time and was threatening the life o.
the conductor, and but for the interfer
ence of R. o. Williams, a passenger
would probably have accomplished his
purpose.
Gray was shot three times by the con
ductor and thet first bullet he fired, which
went through the neck of the highway
man, also perforated the hand of th'
plucky passenger who had grappied witt
the robber
There were but seven passengers on th'
car when 1t left RedondC or the trip t
Los Angeles. The open end of the car
was to the rear, and seated in the bach
seat on the left hand side was Gray. Two
seats in front of him on the righ
hand side were Mr.. and Mrs. r. B. David
son. Mr.. Davidson is the Los Angeles
city agent of the railway.
In the body of the car in the first seal
inside of the door was seated r. o. Will
liams, driver for the Standard oil com
pany, whose home is at Moneta.
Just forward Of Williams was seated
Greer. the conductor, who had completed
the taking up of tickets for the trip and
was making out his account of the trip
Robber Leaves Seat
In front of Greer were seated two mel
whose names are not known. as they lef
the car before the attempted holdup oe
Cured.
AS the car approached Rowland avenue
near Slauson Junction Gray rose from hii
seat in The rear end of the car and ap-
preached the door leading to the inside
of the car.
He stopped at the door for a moment
and adjusted a red bandana handkerchief
which he wore knotted loosely around his
neck over the lower part of his face. AS
he did so Mrs. Davidson. who saw the
action, gave a gasp of surprise and cried
to her husband, THAT man is masking
himself"
Apparently not hearing the woman's
cry, the highwayman threw open the door
of the car and walked into the central
aisle. He approached the conductor, al
the same time drawing from his coat
pockets on either side revolver.
Il. his right h;4nd he held short bulk
dog pistol of 30 caliber and in his left
an Iver-Johnson hammerless revolver OF
SS caliber.
Pointing the weapons at Greer he or
dered him to throw up his hands. The
cor -uctor turned to find staring him in
the face the two guns
Threatens Conductor
Slowly he rose to his feet and placed his
left hand on his coat pocket, pulling it
away from his body. Here is my
money" he said Take it," At the
same time Greer was trying with his right
hand to unbutton his coat so that he
could get at revolver which he carried
In his hip pocket.
damn you, throw up your hands or
will kill you" yelled the robber.
This is my money" cried Greer, still
struggling with the buttons of his coat
Take it."
Quickly the muzzle of the revolver in
the robbers left hand was pressed
against Greer's threat. up with your
hands OF you die hissed the robbsr
At that moment WILLIAMS. who was
behind the man, jumped to
his feet and throwing one hand around
the mans neck grabbed him by the
throat With the other hand he seized
Gray's right wrist and forced the gun
which he held in that hand ceilingward.
Almost at the same instant Gray fired
the revolver in his left hand, AS ne did
so, however, Greer seized the barrel of
the revolver with his right hand and
force it upward and the bullet sped
the front of the car.
Robber Falls
Then before Gray could lower and fire
the weapon again he wrenched his own
revolver from his hip pocket and pushing
the muzzle into the mans neck, fred.
The bullet tore through Williams hand
and then passed through Gray's neck.
cutting the spinal cord and lodging at
he base of the brain.
Lowering the revolver trifle as Will
Jams released his hold on the robber and
fray. staggered back, Greer fired sec
md shot which entered the body of
Tray just below and to the left of the
nipple. Yet third shot he fired, which
,ntered the abdomen an inch below the
navel.