New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-06-24
BOY INITIATES ALIENS
BY SHOOTING UP COURT
Judge Ducks and Washington
Crowd Wildly SCrambleS
Out of Room.
READER OF DIME NOVELS
Bullets Whiz Near Federal At
torneys and Detective
Mind Unbalanced,
Says Counsel.
from Tho Tribune Burcaul


Washington, June % Ray NJ. Stew
art eighteen years old. awaiting SEN
tence for attempted highway robbery,
whipped out a revolver and fred three
times i'm au attempt to shoot up" the
District Supreme Court this afternoon
when an application for parole was re-
fused Tic three shots went wild. al
though one Of the bullets rassed close
To Samuel McComas HaWken and Har-
vcy Given, the United States attor-
neys. and another barely missed a de-
tectivc.
Judge, lawyers. policemen and spec
tators scurricd 10 cover At the first
crack Justice Wendall +. Stafford dis
appeared beneath his desk. and in the
courtroom there was "a wild scramble
for places Of safety. Some sought ref
uge under tables on behind heavy
chairs, and others leaped 10 windows
and dropped TO the ground some fif-
teen or twenty feet below.
Counsel for Stewart said the youth
was unbalanced as the result Of read
ing cheap literature The hold-up for
which the boy was about To be SEN
fenced had many features Of the dime
novel variety. IT was said. and added 10
ii was an attempt To- initiate the Aliens
murderous attack on the Hillsville. We.
court
Stewart was brought UP for sentence
on Saturday for attempting to hold up
and rob colorcd man employed at
steel plant i'm a suburb last December.
He pleaded that the attempt to rob the
negro was joke. but Mr.. Hawken. the
prosecutor presented a second indie
mcut. charging that the defendant had
entered the home of Policeman Arthur
n Mofctt and so frightened Mrs. Mof-
fctt that she was sent TO the Govern
mcnt Hospital for the Insane. Justice
Stafford then continued the case until
to-day for additional testimony con-
corning the second charge.
The principal evidence against stew
art in the housebreaking case was a
pair Of large shoes found the morning
following the burglary. The shoes
we're identified ls belonging to the de-
PENDANTS father. but the young mans
father and brother testified that he was
home on the night in question. Two
physicians also informed the court that
the defendant was suffering from a
sore foot and could not have fled 81
fast as the burglar was alleged to have
run.
81 do not see how / can parole this
young man in view of this testimony"
declared Justice Stafford.
a bailin started to lead Stewart out
Of the courtroom. when the youth
whirled md pulled the revolver out Of
his hip pocket Hawken. Given and
Moffett were sitting near him. The
first shot was aimed at the prosecutors.
and came so near Hawken and Given
that they forthwith ducked under tho
table. The bullet lodged in the case
mcnt OF a window behind them. The
next shot went toward the jury box
and passed dangerously near Detective
Sergeant Grants head. II struck the
wall near the window and rebounded.
falling near Justice Stafford's bench.
The third shot struck the ceiling.
As the youth wheeled and faced the
bench Edwin Blaine. "A clerk in the
Department Of Agriculture, Who had
been a witness for the state, seized the
boy bv the throat and carried him TO