Watertown leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1909-1911, 1909-11-12
BANDIT KILLS
a BANKER
C0LORED CHAUFFEUR GETS SHOT
IN BACK FOR FAILURE TO
START MACHINE.
MURDER DONE IN COLD BLOOD.
Officer Tells Crowd Desperate Swallowed
Poison When He Feigns Death and
They Reach Jail.
MOB'S LAW MAY YET PREVAIL.

| LOUISVILLE, KY, Nov. III.
Garry Fawcett, cashier of the Merchants
National bank in New Albany. Ind, was
shot and killed, and President j. X.
Woodward of the same institution was
seriously wounded by an unknown man
who entered the bank today and attempt
| ed to hold up the officials and their as
| SistantS.
The assailant, aged about u, ran
! quickly to the Ohio river and started
for the Kentucky side in a skiff. The
! New Albany police were notified and
! after a hot pursuit in a motorboat cap
tured him near the Kentucky and Indi-
ana bridge and placed him in the New
! Albany jail.
The robber came to New Albany in
an automobile, the property OF Mrs.
! Walter Escott, a resident of one of the
most fashionable districts of Louisville.
! The chauffeur, James X. Tucker, ne
gro, who was arrested, declared that the
man who did the shooting took posses
sion of the automobile this morning in
! front of Mrs. Escott's residence and
/ forced him. at the point of a revolver, to
drive to New Albany.
Desperate Enters Bank.
/ The desperate, who is a stranger to
the New Albany and Louisville police,
entered the bank by rear door, re-
yolver in each hand. He gave the single
command:
Hands up! Everybody Get into the
vault!'
There was a rush for safety by the
clerks and several persons who were
| transactng business in the bank.
| President Woodward quickly taking
in the situation, advanced toward the
robber, and attempted to talk to him, or
| if possible, capture HIM.
To a question by Mr.. Woodward as
to what was wanted, the robber respond
ed with two shots which struck the OIL
cial in the arms and stomach, mtilcung
! dangerous wounds.
Cashier Fawcett rushed forward, but
before he could reach the fallen president
the cashier was shot in the neck and
| breast, dying within a few minutes.
Returns to Automobile.
The robber, without speaking a word,
walked quickly out of the front door,
dropping one of his revolvers just outside
the bank building. Turning the corner to
where the automobile stood, he jumped
| into the rear seat and commanded the
negro, Get out of this as fast as you
can"
gro thoroughly frightened at the course
of events, refusing to move. Without
parley, the robber jumped to the ground,
! drew a revolver and sent bullet into
the negros back.
An instant later the robber was run
ming at top speed down the bank to the
Ohio, where he jumped into skiff. He
had pulled out some distance into the
stream before people on shore realized
what had happened. A dredge boat en-
ploye seeing the robber rowing frantically
for the Kentucky shore, gave the alarm
| through megaphone.
~, doc hnn
employee roared up and down the bank:
Catch that fellow! He's killed
MANI
Police in Motorboat.
Owners of river craft then engaged in
a race for the desperate. The police,
| however, in a motorboat, kept i'll readi-
ness for just such emergencies, distanced
all followers, and brought the robber to
| bay on a bit of an island just south of
the big bridge connecting New Albany
with West Louisville. They covered
| him with revolvers and the arrest was
made without q fight.
The prisoner was taken on board the
| launch, and after a ten-minute run was
at the dock in New Albany. Here the
police were awaited by 200 men endeav-
oring to take the prisoner from them.
Only by strategem was the prisoner
saved.
Mob Seeks Slayer
A chorus Of Hang him. Lynch him.
He killed Fawcettl' greeted the police
who were thus first made aware of the
extent Of the prisoners deed. Capt
Davis of the New Albany police, in
charge of the capturing squad, was equal
to the occasion. and ordered the prisoner
| to lie down. The PROSTATE form OF the
prisoner was carried from the boat and
! in a iiffy. was resting on the bottom of
the patrol wagon.
The crowd. however, wanted to see
the prisoner, and surged around the
! wagon. With his foot on the captive S
neck, Capt. Davis stood up i'll the wagon
and addressed the persons who were
noisily demanding vengeance
The man is dead; we saw him take
poison Just as we nabbed him." said the
| police officer. And to the driver: Go
ahead"
The patrol wagon drew away from the
threatening crowd, but instead of going
to a morgue, went rapidly to the New
| Albany jail.
The crowd OWNED that the officers
! statement was q ruSe, for IN few min
utes the Jail was surrounded by mob.
Once more the police probably saved the
prisoners life. An automobile was sum
mOned by telephone, and through a back
door. the captive was being whirled
through the streets and leaving the mob
| far in the rear.
The state refOrmatory at JeffersOnvilie
was FIVE miles away, but the prisoner
was safely behind the walls in less than
! twelve minutes.
Woodward Will Die
With almost equal expedition, Mr..
| Woodward was taken to st. Edwards
hospital and an operation begun. 1t was
found that his intestines had been per-
| forated. There is scant hope Of his re
! coyery.
| The negro chauffeur was also operated
| on. He was found to have a dangerous
wound in the spine
Mrs. Escott waited patiently in her
| Third street home all morning for the
| return of her automobile. and knew moth
| ing of what had happened until called ON
to come across the river and identify her
| machine.
BEN ARNOLD, Tex, Nov. 1.-THE
safe of the Ben Arnold State bank was
blown open early today by three men,
| who obtained $4,000 and exchanged
dozen shots with citizens. The burglars
| escaped in an automobile.