The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-06-23

That the narrow escape UT IoliCS Sergeant William OLeary from deatt lat the hands of a supposed burglar Twas only incidental to a sensatfona- fplot to set fire to a gasoline soaked .building in which a large family was fsleeping. is the theory of the police fn stheir investigation of what they al first supposed to be only burglary a hittle more daring than the Ordinary. | As O'Leary and Patrolman James booley broke into the store of Mich Eolas Smith, Syrian dealer in Oriental Iwares. at 2O30 Main street, just before s2 o'clock this morning, James Hadad Ia husky youth of 19. pulled pistol bon the policemen.
 Twice he pulled the trigger. firing kpoint blank at the sergeant. Twice ItAe gun failed to explode. As he tug tsed at the trigger the third time. Doc Hey brought down his club on the lwould-be slayer's hand in time to Knock the gun away from the ser tgeant's breast
 The gun exploded but the bullet lwent downward and through the floor tof the store. O'Leary shot his left m Ito the face of the man and he fell with fthe two policemen on top.
 Eolas Emith, the proprietor of the store. left the place for a trip to New York. He left in charge of the establishment EMrs Edna Tbdo. a Syrian. living With ther husband and infant son at l96O ERailroad avenue. Her husband works fin the West End plant of the Crane Waive Go.
 She kept the store open yesterday iuntil g. and she says when she left, Eehe locked the place securely. , The store is located in the southern lhalf of a one-story wooden building, hear Commercial street. The northern half o6 the store is occupied by $. EKetai, 6 tailor. He uses the front this store and the rear for living room tHe has several children.
 E Tn the crowded quarters he found 1t Edhficult to sleep last night. Ordin- farily he retires at an early hour but kfhe oppressive heat of last night kept Ehim awake. and no doubt the heat Fsaved his life.
 ! He heard the back door of the store fsouth of him. occupied by Smith, open lat 10:3o. he says. and he was in doubt las to whether it could be Smith or an- lother. Smith. he said, had habit of lwaIking heavily, while the footballs of fthe person who entered last night im- tpressed him as being softer than Smith's.
 j He went to the rear of the building, land there he saw a stranger sitting Inside He said the stranger flung This hand in front of his face, to con- tceal his features when he saw Ketai Hooking in.
 He thought little of the incident. even ithen, for the Syrian visitors of the store keeper did not mingle with the Itailor. In fact, the tailor regarded them as strange sort of people, ana
 At 12:30 he said he detected the kumes of what he supposed to be es- kcaping gas. He and his wife were teieeping lightly. awakening once in lwhfle, partly from the heat and part fly from nervousness at the thought or the stranger next door, Ketai made a hurried round of all his gas fixtures . land found them closed. Then he went Unto the closet to the rear of the liv- ling room. which is shared in common between the two tenants. Here the lodor was so overpowering that he withdrew into his own part, then hur- ried into the street.
 He whistled and clapped his hands to attract the attention of neighbors, fearing perhaps the strange man was attempting suicide. Patrick Smith, Ewho lives next door, to the north, hur- fried out just after another neighbor Efron across the street had responded. fThey made cautious survey of the tplace. detected the odor of what they then recognized as. the fumes of gaso- line. and Smith. seeing a side window iOpen, dropped it and guarded the rear tdoor while the other neighbor hurried away to telephone to police headquar- ters.
 Sergeant OLeary and Dooley were despatched to the scene in the auto mobile patrol, and the two, with smith forced open the rear door which the intruder was guarding. They had shouted in that they were policemen, and the man then called back that he wanted no policemen.
 i He and OLeary braced their shoul- ders at opposite sides of the door, and O'Leary and Dooley bumped into the door. sent the insider reeling. He re- Ieained his feet in a twinkling, pulled his gun, and twice it clicked without explodfng. The third time, with the imuzzle close to O'Leary's breast, he twas about to try to fire when Dooley' night stick descended. The gun went off. and O'Leary's fist caught the ln- sider under the right eye.
 The two policemen closed in on the man. siezed him by the arms, and lO'Leary held him while Dooley snatch ed up his gun. Then the two held him while Smith went through ms clothing They found a big dirk, or hunting knife, thrust into a belt en- circling his waist, a silver watch, transfer punched for North Main St., about o'clock at night, keys, a candle and matches.
 But it remained for the more thor tough search of Doorman Ruggles at Police headquarters to disclose just what sort of a man the police had taken into custody. Then 1t was found that in the belt was a second pistol. The pistol he used on O'Leary was pearl handled hammerless Hop kins & Allen police special, loaded in all five chambers, with two cartridges showing the marks of the pistol ham, mer. and the shell of the third cart ridy~ which had exploded showing the same hammer mark.
 The other pistol, also loaded in ev- erv chamber, was a g calibre Iver Johnson hammerless. In his cartridge belt was a goodly store of ammuni- tion. The belt was girded close to his body. serving the double purpose of an ammunition belt and holster, and a trousers supporter.
 Tn the belt was found also a Y. M C. A. button. Sergeant Suckley lodged the charges of attempted mur- Her and burglary against him. In the city court. today, Prosecutor Redden lbrouzht out from the police just enough evidence to show Judge Fost-