New Britain herald., 1917-01-24
REPORTED HOLD-UP CARRIED IN MYSTERY Joseph Farrell Claims His ASSail-
 ants Stole His Roll CAN'T LOCATE THE VICTIM

Intoxicated Man, With Blood Stream
 ing Down His Face, Searches for Police to Report That He Had Been
 Robbed of Several Hundred Dol lars Last Evening.
 Mystery surrounds the numerous 1 and conflicting reports regarding an l alleged hold-up said to have occurred l early last evening in the driveway
 south of the Hotel Clarendon. Joseph l Farrell. a workman in the Bristol 1 fled the authorities that he was at | tackled by two young men, one white
 and the other colored, who after
 knocking him down, relieved him of a
 roll of bills The inability of the po- 1 lice to locate the victim of the alleged
 robbery this morning served to make
 the case more baffing and the au- l thorities were today inclined to ques- 1 tion the truth of some of the features of the story which he told last even ing.
 That the man was assaulted is not questioned, a bdly bruised face and q cut over his eye, from which blood streamed in copious quantities as he walked around the streets in search of policeman, testifying to the treat l ment he had received. He was badly intoxicated at the time and not d great deal of attention was paid to his claim that the men who attacked him stole over s4O0 which he had on his person. It was this feature of the case that made the police authorities particularly anxious to locate him this morning that they, might have more information in proceeding with their investigation before ordering any arrests.
 Farrelrs alleged assailants are we'll known to the authorities One of them formerly lived here but is now working out of town. He left Plain vile short time after the assault was committed, but. accordding to his friends. his disappearance had noth- ing to do with the case, as he had previously arranged to get out of town. having come here to see some friends. His alleged accomplce is a young negro who is well known in town.
 The police heard of the affair in rather indirect fashion and they do not place much confidence in some Of the reports concerning 1t.
 Farrell was in cafe during the evening" He drnnkenly boasted of having considerable money on his per son. He showed a. rather fat roll and, after pccling off few bills, con- cealed the balance in his undercloth- .l~ on his person.
 Early in the evening boy entered the Plainv1lle Hardware company's store and reported that a drunken man was being assaulted in the drive way. Sylvester Mason, who was in the store at the time. went out to in- vestigate, at the suggestion of Grand Juror M. A. Norton and found Far rell lying on the ground. Farrel and Mason are well acquainted and when The former cried out "they have my roll" he hurried after the two young men leaving the alleyway. Recogniz- ing them, he returned to find that his | friend had departed.
 Farrell wandered about the streets | looking for an officer and explaining to people whom he approached that he had been robbed of several hun l dred dollars. Because of his intoxi- | cated condition, not great deal of attention was paid to his story His l talk was of a bling character, ] although he insisted that the men who l struck him had taken his money.
 When the constables heard. of the | alleged assault short time later they l were unable to locate the victim. He i could not be found around town this | morning and his absence served to l strengthen the belief that he exag geratcd the affair in describing it last 1 night The authorities were hopeful | of getting in touch with him before l night, however in order that warrants 1 might be issued If the evidence made 1 arrests advisable.
 Friends of the young man accused l of the holdup today gave the opin 1 ion that they had an argument with ! Farrell which ended in a fight, and ! that the robbery feature was born in | the latter's imagination. The affair i caused considerable talk around town | this morning and there was a strong l demand that 1t be investigated thor 1 ouGhly. reports of robberies of a sim 1 liar character and the taking of money 1 from the pockets of intoxicated men | by "painless extra ction" methods haV- 1 ing been so numerous during the paSf 1 few months that the townSpeoplc be- 1 lieve it is time some action was l taken. In this particular case the |, police had insufficient evidence today 1