Norwich bulletin., 1917-06-14
HASSEN ALI, MANIAC, ATTACKS PoMFRET POSTMASTER

Later Fires Five Shots at Warden,
 One Taking Effeet-AIi, Captured,
 Committed to Norwich State HosPi-
 tai.
 Attacked by a madman, who was
 armed with a wicked looking dirk, Postmaster Frank o. Davis of Pom fret battled for his life at his home near Abingdon. early Wednesday morning. Postmaster Davis emptied the contents of his revolver at his as sailant in the thrilling encounter, one of the five shots taking effect, But even this did not deter the maniac, who continued his attack until he ap- parently had Mir. Davis at his mercy, only, for some n-understandaole
 reason, to cease abruptly and walk out of the house.
 The man was later captured on the highway not distant from the barn on the Joseph Elliott place and was if George F. Holbrook. He proved to be Hassen Ali an Albanian, 32 years of age, who has been employed for several years in the mill at North Grosvenordale and who Is violently insane.
 Later Ali was turned over to First SeIectman Leon T. Walker of tnet
 town of Thompson. During the day
  was taken to the state hospital at Norwich. The man was not seriously wounded by the shot from MT. Davis revolver, the bullet hitting Ali in the shoulder.
 Followed Postmaster Home. It was just before o'clock Wed nesday morning when MT. Davis, who | had just arisen, saw Ali in the yard. The man has followed MT. Davis on l his way home from the post office the | ;-1{ Iof1 ha r1nC Cfy1T1 Et @ - l ed trouble and armed himself with. l revolver. Then he put in a telephone call for Sheriff Holbrook,s in Put nam, and it was while MT Davis was standing at the instrument putting l through the call that Ali, unobserNed, l crawled through an open window in 1 the pantry and made his way into 1 the room where MT. Davis was. ugly looking knife and prepared to attack Don't come nearer or I'll shoot you" was MT. Davis warning to Ali, but it went unheeded as the and backed away. The bullet struck Ali but it seemed only to increase the mans passion and he charged at MT Davis with all the fury of a wild beast Two more shots rang out as
 MT Dapis backed out into hallway
 and then two more, but under the
 stress of the excitement the postmas- ter's aim, good ordinarily, was not
  arniss.
 To Defend His Life. Then, with the chambers of the weapon emptied, MT. Davis threw the against the wall to fight as best he
 might the frfghtful prospect before him.
 At this stage Ali, governed by the vagaries of an insane mind, switched from his knife attack and grabbing
 up an umbrella struck Mir. Davis over ] the head, breaking the umbrella off
 at the handle The man then turned
 Mrs. Davis had been driven through i terror.
 Maniac Captured. l Mir. Davis hurried to his nearest
 neighbor's, Andrew Furlong's, and told 1 of the attack upon him. Messages l were flashed all over that territory to the end of rounding up Ali and it was not long before a, report came in
 that Ali had been seen near the FL l liott barn. It was in that direction l that Sheriff Holbrook was speeded
 when he arrived in his automobile and i he was prompt in locating Ali. The l resistance to the sheriff and his assist ants. Search of the man developed the fact that he had rid himself of 1 the knife with which he started his
 attack upon MT. Davis. Before ' a. m. | Ali was locked up at police head | quarters here
 1 First Seen Tuesday. Ali was first seen in Pomfret Tues | day afternoon soon after he arrived
 there on a train from Putnam. The
 man acted strangely and begged food 1 from house to house.
 At o'clock Tuesday evening when 1 Postmaster Davis closed the office,
 which Is in Warren Averilrs store, and started for his home which is | about a mile away, he noticed that l Ali following him The 1 seemed threatening, so MT. Davis stop 1 red at the home of Louis Averill and | telephoned to Sheriff Holbrook- In | the meantime Ali approa ched the
 house and mumbled something about a 1 train. He was told to hurry back to l the station and catch one that was about due for Putnam l He started in the direction of the l station but turned again as Mir Da- | wis left the Averill house and followed after him. An approaching cars head lights threw their glare upon Ali and 1 he turned about and fled.
 Appeared in Underwear Orly. Spreading the news of this Mir. Da- l wis soon had several men out hunting for Ali Eventually the man appeared at PeaPs garage. By this time he was minus all his clothing excepting his underwear. With his aid, the men at the garage were able to recover Ali's trousers. which he donned and | then produced his big knife, with the evident intention of dolng some cut ting. So Ali got away, Entered Abingdon House. He could not be found during the night, but at 4.30 Wednesday morn ing walked into the home of Mrs A. B. Smith, near Abingdon, with the aid of Mrs. Smiths son-in-law, Leon ard Watson, Ali was gotten out of the house, and evidently went from there
 10 the Davis place. ---- Insanity Chareeable to War.
 A1fs friends in North Grosvenor- dale say that a few months ago he deposited S700 in a bank and then
 drew a check against it, forwarding
 the check to relatives in Albania Not
 a word of acknowledgment came to
 him, and believing that all of his fam
 iiy are dead through the scourge of
 war, he lost his mind, becoming vio--
 lently insane.
 Postmaster Davis is we'll known in