Weekly journal-miner., 1918-12-18
from Tnesdav's Daily.l

O'Brien, one of the workmen on the construction job at Ft. Whipple, was shot and almost instantly killed at 6:30 o'clock Sunday morning just as he and an unknown pal had finished robbing the store of the Arizona Sad dlery Company on North Cortez Street, the killing having been done by lack Brant, former United States deputy marshal, who had been hired by Frank Olzer, proprietor, to watch the store at nights Polaski and his companion had secured en- trance to the saddlery store by using a key which had unlocked the front door, and 1t was just as the men were about to fiji the key into the lock for the purpose of locking the door that Brant, who had been awakened from his sleep, saw the robbers and direct ed the deadly fire of his A Colt in their direction. Brant fired at the men from the balcony which runs around the top Of the store The bullet hit Polaski in the top O the left shoulder. ranged downward through the heart and made an exit wound near the right nipple After leaving the mans body, the steel jacket tore a gaping wound in his right forearm, and then striking the concrete pavement, ricocheted and travelled across the street breaking a window in the second story of the Prescott hotel. Ii landed in a hat which the occupant of the room had left laying on a stand at the side of his bed and was found several hours later by Chief of Police Bloom.
 Stole Rugs and Hats.
 Polaski, who had been attempting to carry off four large beaver cow boy hats, worth Sl6 each. did not drop in his tracks after being shot, but in some unexplained manner managed 10 run several feet up Cor tez street, toppling over dead in the gutter in front Of the Voigtlander tailor shop The companion, who had in his arms six Navajo rugs which he had stolen from the store, dropped the rugs at the first shot and ran north to the intersection of Willis street and turned east. He then ran up the alley back of the Catholic church and managed to escape into the Santa Fe freight yards Brant, who in the meantime had ran down off the balcony, reach ed the front of the store in time to fire one shot at the figure disappear ing in the darkness, but he does not believe that he hit the fugitive.
 Tn shooting attracted the attention of several of the occupants in the rooms in the Prescott hotel, and one of these shortly afterwards telephon ed to the sheriff's office Undersher- if Johnnie Robinson and Chief of Police Bloom were both notified of the killing, and were soon on the scene. After hearing Of the circum- stances of the affair, the officers de- clined to take Brant in custody. Coroner McLane was also sent for and shortly afterwards called togeth- CT a jury which viewed the remains of the dead crook At the inquest, which was held at ten o'clock, a yer dict of justifiable homicide was re- turned, the verdict recommending that no action Of any sort be taken against the man who did the killing.
 Hundreds View Body
 The body of PolaSki was taken to the Ruffner morgue, where through out the day, curious crowds of peo- plc called to view the remains of the deceased. He was a man of about B or 40 years of age, smooth-faced and with certain foreign cast to his features, a circumstance which seem ed to bear out the statement of cer- tain parties protesting to know the man that he was native of Poland. That the man had come here ostensi- bly to work at the new hospital was testified to by the men in charge of tue bunk house there. It seems that the man had been working by day and robbing by night, many petty crimes having already been laid at his door during the epidemic of housebreaking which has been prevail ent hcreabouts during the past few weeks. Ii is believed that the dead man also had hand in the blowing Of the safe in the office of the Mas sing Coal company here on Thursday night of last week
 Had Robbed Saddlery Before.
 The presence of Mir. Brant as watchman in the saddlery is explain cd by the fact that on the night of Friday, December 9th, the store had been entered by someone who had used a skeleton key on the front door, and four valuable rugs had been carried off. TAe proprietor, be- lieving that the thicf or thieves would return again under the impress sion that the rugs had not been missed, hired Brant. who is known throughout the southwest as a dead shot and as a youth who Is remarkab- lv fast on the trigger, to sleep in the place, arming him with a silver Colt oi a large calibre. Brant had been on duty just a week when the shoot ing occurred.
 Brant's Story of Killing.
 MT. Brant was interviewed on Sunday by a Journal-Miner repre- sentative, and gave the following version of the affair:
 "I had not been sleeping very soundly on Saturday night Along about midnight l was reused from my mapping by the sound of some one trying 10 get in through the