The sun., 1910-09-04
PaymasteT and His Driver
Killed by Gang Of
Highwaymen.
THEY ESCAPE WITH $4,000
Denton Fowler of Atlas Building
Company Victim Of Oar
ing Holdup.

~ i'H'iNs y ' - 'NfIN y ! ~ liFlt'hFfAANNN
~ the Atlas Yards. north II this city were
waiting ~ lunch time to-day fr three
weeks pay. little over pOOO. which
young n'ut Fuv Ter. treasurer 10 thu
ATLAS Bulding and Material Company.
was bringing up from the hank at New
burgh. They were 10 have hecn paid a
week ago, but DELAY ia getting tho rollS
straigh'ened out mad" u necessary To
bunch three weeks envelopes.
Young Fowler was due To arrive with
the boRfuls of cash little after noon.
a. the men knew They were impatiens
Ia get their paw aud knock on work. and
as they sat in the sheds they expected
any minute To- seo George RagsdAls.
Fo~lers negro driver. whipping his
horse along the private road from tho
woods above the Firemens Home.
Rain was drizzling and It was very
quiet in .he neighborhood ~ the brick-
yards. The pistol shots that startled tho
mTloyees ont of their after lunch gossip
sounded ike the reports 81 small cannon.
The sound - firing came evidently from
the woods through which Dent Fowler
and George were bringing the money.
The brickmakers jumped up. listened for
more shots AMI then ran by ones and twos
toward tho thick timber and brush NORTH
Of the Firemen's Home.
Suddenly "A frightened hnrs.' burst frora
the woods az a plunRinR gallop. dragging
a covered buggy which bounced and rs-
bounded from side to side as II struck
stones and stumps along the edges Of thS
| rough, little used road The lines war0
trailing and the brick makers saw in
| stantly that there was nobody in ths
\ buggy. A dozen 81 the men caught the
horse and examined the vehicle. Therp
were bullet holes in the side curtains AMI
| the laprobe was stained with blood.
The employees hurried down the roah
and entered the woods. less than hall
"a mile from the Atlas yards az a point
wher" the trees and underbrush were -
dense that IL was impossible 90 see a dozen
yards on either sid" they found Ragsdals.
! th. driver. and Denton Fowler. They
| lay few feet apart. The negro was
dead. He had b.-n shot three times in
ia" head and chest. Mr. Fowler was
Unconscious and bleeding terribly. Thers
was a wound in his abdomen and he had
bscn beaten over tho head with club or
an iron bar
Of the money that he had brought from
New burgh IN AN oxford bag there was not
trace. and the tangled brush furnished
no signs ~ the direction th" bandits had
taken IN escaping But the brick makers
knew that the murder and robbery had
occurred less than half All hour before
the bodies were discovered hundred
Of them hastily organized into four par
ties and without weapons began to beat
mp the woods Two men ran To "a tela-
phone to notify the Hudson police and
the hospital. and the others remained
with MIR Fowler trying to stanch the flow
Of blood
DR. Collins 81 the Hudson Hospital
came with Supt. Luke Van Etten ~ tho
Atlas company. Dr Collins realized in
"A few minutes that young Fowler was a
dying man 4 bullet had torn through his
stomach. cutting an artery and had
puncturt-l the larger intestine IN passing
downward III. doctor had the young
man ylaC.-1 in an ambulance and taken
Ia the hospital
About o'clock h" regained cons
sciousne-- ". was able Ia tell sheriff
I.an" Deputy sheriff J"Hord- and this
Coroner what had happened His weak
ness caused frequent Interruptions and
it appeared likely that he would die be-
fore he finished the story Bit by bit,
though. h. described the killing of Rage
dale. his own wounding and the desperate
attempt the plucky negro had made to
dash through the robbers. He was 'nos
able TO give n description 81 th" msn
who held him up. He thought there wers
four or five of them and he was sure that
all were masked. hut ther. had been M
time, he said. 10 form any impression
of their appearance.
As the pay boss of the Atlas Building
Material Company. which has its offic"s
az Newburgh. he went Ia Sewburgh on
Friday night 30 as 10 get an early start
with the mems money. The season ~
work ended to-day. and there wer" iSp
employees waiting for their three weeks
pay. The pay envelopes had been mad"
up at Newburgh and placed in an Oxford
bag. This morning at o'clock h"
boarded the train from Hudson u" hal
a revolver in his pocket which h" carri-d
more from habit than anything elise. never
having had an occasion 60 u-" a pistol
The possibility Of being robbed hardly
occurred TO him.
He met his driver. Ragsdal". al ih"
depot here. and after they had eaten dIh-
nsr at the Worth Hou-" th"y got INTO
buggy and started n"rhward toward ths
brickyards II was raining Sharply ahh
RaRsials had buttOned th" SD" curtains.
A rubber blanket was pulled up toward
their ch,nz and they had an ordinary lap
rolls. under the rubber sheet They wero
: Ill ,.d from the rain that they
,,,,Id no, 49,. the road on either side.
a. 4. "A -