The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1911-01-06

SlST SIEGE Ten HOURS FIN
ALLY BURN THEIR FORT-MEN
SET FIRE TO HOUSE AND COM
NIT SUICIDE.
London, Jan. 4.-Lying in the NOR
tuary of the London hospital in the
east end, only n couple of hundred
yards from the scene of their death,
are the charred bodies of two men
who for more than ten hours held at
bay hundred picked guardsmen and
1,500 London police and then perished
uncaptured.
amazing spectacle to its dramatic
close.
After the night when five unarmed
policemen tackled a banG ,-f-.TTeH5 5pera.
does who escaped after killing three
of their assailants, three arrests were
made of men who the police were con.
fident were members of the numbering
gang. Two others and woman re.
mained.
The police believed they had tracked
y
house in Stepney. The other tenants of
the suspected dwelling and the adjoin-
ing houses were quietly withdrawn.
The woman accomplice of the suspect
ed men was arrested by a ruse. the po-
lice getting one of the inmates of the
house to call her downstairs on the
pretext of helping with an invalid rel
ative. Armed detectives took posses
ton of the adjoining houses. while
armed police surrounded the house.
Every loophole of escape to the neigh
boring streets was cut Off Then in the
dark of early morning, when it was
hoped their prey would be asleep, a
party of armed police approached the
house.
The suspected men were alert and Il
fusillade of bullets poured through a
window. The detectives retreated and
more police were summoned.
The besieged kept up a desultOry
firing, which the police returned inef-
fectively until Z o'clock. Then Ser.
geant Lesson headed an attempt to
rush the house from the back. He fell
at once, severely wounded in the chest
His comrades carried him off safely
and the idea was abandoned.
Squad after squad of police arrived
Every point of vantage was occupied
First from one window and then an
other of the two upper stories the he
sieged fired, from time to time in1lict
ing slight wound on policeman OF
civilian. Bullet after bullet crashed
through the windows, but none found
it's mark.
At 10 o'clock the police communicat
ed with the home secretary. In less
than half an hour a hundred Scots
guards, quartered in the tower of Lon
don, and with them a Maxim gun
swung into the action to aid 800 men
in their attack on the fortress held by
two. Every guardsman was a picked
marksman.
The soldiers rapidly took up theil
positions. Some opened fire from win
dows of an opposite fortress. Others
lay at full length in the street, while
the crack shots occupied loft in a
DlCNSINB httplhS up q
steady fire.
The defenders did not lack courage
Now at one window, then at another
a smoke blackened hand holding a
Mauser pistol was seen, and half a
dozen shots would be poured at the
assaulters, while the bullets of the
guardsmen and the police shattered
the woodwork and pitted the sill. Still
the defenders remained unhurt, still
they replied with shot after shot, but
the end came at last.
At / o'clock smoke began to Greer
out of the windows of the tenement
The besieged had preferred death tC
surrender. The smoke grew denser
and flames appeared. The fire the be
sieged men had created was left to ac
complish what the soldiers and police
had failed TO do. The soldiers con
tinued to pour a rapid fire into the
blazing house, but now there was NJ
reply.
For fifty minutes this continued
Then two shots were heard within
This was the last sign from the two
desperate defenders. A few minutes
later the roof and copings We're fall
ing and the ground floor windows were
belching flames.
Then a fire engine hurried up, ant
detectives with revolvers pointed
sprang to the front door, which was
still standing. They smashed it in
but the heat was too great for them tC
enter. Water was applied, and wheI
the fire and heat were subdued tive
charred bodies ait last rewarded the
day long efforts of the police and sol
diers.
When all was over two guns, witt
wagons In full martial array, were
driven up. Never before in all theil
record of long centuries of service haC
the Royal Horse artillery been callet
Mr. 1utV In I on1pO