Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1918-02-15

deliberately given to the newspapers
for the purpose of creating sentiment
in Carter's favor, is carried on for the
next 80 days, the mind Of the public
will be thoroughly poisoned with I'M
truths. l think the reading public is
done great injustice by continually
being fed on these false stories.
venture the assertion, and l have evil
dence to prove it, that the stories told
as coming from Carter were never re-
lated by Carter. They are planned by
other persons and told by other per-
sons, part of them without Carter's
knowledge.
Here are the facts:
will Carter was committed to the
state reformatory at st. Cloud, Mimi.
on March "a, 1903, and was transferred
from there to the penitentiary at Still
. water, Mimi, on Jan. 3, 1905, for the
crime Of grand larceny, and was dis
charged June 10, 1907. On March q,
1913, he was sent to the penitentiary
at Saltwater to serve an indeterminate
sentence, with a maximum of Is years.
! for the crime of robbery. He was dis
charged on parole June Is, 1917. Two
weeks after his discharge on parole
he violated his parole and came to
Davenport, where he remained until
the murder of Peter Jelvek on Nov. 4,
1917.
During this time he burglarized
many places in the tri-cities. On Sat
urday evening, Nov. 3, he came to Rock
Island and spent the night in this city.
committing burglaries. The last place
he entered was the home of E. c. Eber-
hart, and it was in this house that he
murdered Peter Jelvek. He entered
the house about o'clock Sunday
morning. went upstairs and opened the
door of the bedroom occupied by Peter
Jelvek and Hellvard Bangstod. AS he
gradually opened the door, Bangstod
sat up in bed and looked Carter full IL
the face. There was an electric ligh,
burning in the hallway. The globe Of
this light was not one foot from Car
ter's face. 1t projected from the wal
on a bracket attached to the wall i'm
mediately beside the jamb of the dool
through which Carter entered. A:
Bangstod looked Carter full in the
face he recognized him as Negro
He saw Carter with his left hand OF
the doorknob and with a gun in his
right hand. As Bangstod was talking
to Carter, ordering him out OF thu
room, Jelvek suddenly raised in bed
and Carter, thinking Jelvek was goint
to defend himself, fired the shot tina
killed Jelvek instantly. Carter turne'
and went downstairs. As he steppet
onto the porch Dave DeSmet, a tax
: driver who had heard the shot, say
him stand on the porch for an instan
| and then walk out and across tn
: street toward the north. DeSmet rec
ognized the man as Negro wearing
, coat like the coat Carter wore, an
, as a man of Carter's size. DeSmet ha
= seen Carter on the streets before an
: knew him. On this particular nigh
| he was not close enough to recogniz
7 Carter, but when Carter was arreste
: DeSmet said he appeared to be tn
| man he saw walking across the stree
= and that he was dressed like the ma
t walking across the street.
Gun Smells of Powder.
l 1.-THE police officers were immediate
, ly notified. Carter was arrested as b
: rushed from a restaurant on Thir
I avenue in an effort to board Bridg
line car going to Davenport. Whe
Carter was arrested by Officer kell h
: made quick pass under his coat wit
Ibis hand, but Officer Durham grabbe
:. his arms from behind while Office
Y Kell took from under Carriers coat
: 38-calibre revolver, practically ney
: On examination this revolver smelle
# of freshly burned powder. 1t was full
t loaded with six cartridges and in Ca
: ter's pocket were five cartridges of I'll
d same size One of the chambers an
: the barrel showed that it had been r.
It Gently fired. The remaining five chan
: bers still contained gun oil and ha
Y not been fired. Mr.. Jelvek was kille
: with bullet identically the same {
the bullets contained in the cartridge
in Carter's gun.
n Garter claimed to have been in IL
J. restaurant many hours, but the re
d taurant proprietor said he had bee