New-York tribune., 1918-12-14

Too Startled to Use Gun
Peal put up his hands new--to his
vest, where the cloth smoldered from
the flash of the revolver He swaXed
and then crashed from his stool to tho
floor. face down, dead. He was shot
/ squarely in the centre Of the chest
Upon his desk, within easy reach lay
the SS-calibre revolver he had been toe
startled even to try to use
For an instant no one could appreci-
ate what had occurred. There was a
| second of amazed silence, in which
could still be heard the rattle of the
door with which the smaller robber
wrestled and his loud complaint:
~ can't get in"
Then the tall robbers pistol swung
round to cover Freeman, who ducked.
"I lodged behind q steel letter case"
he told the police, "and he shot at me-
tie fired at me again as II ran toward
/ the back of the bank and ducked under
the shelter Of counter"
Assistant Treasurer Shot
Henry W. Coons, the assistant treas
urer, had his desk against the wall
of the building, almost behind where
Peal had been sitting. He was slip
ping from his chair now, and presently
Slid TO the floor, with great tear in
his groin. probably caused by q bullet
intended for Freeman.
The few customers in the bank
screamed and rushed to the corner
furthest from the tall figure in the
drab overcoat, who leaned against the
paying teller's window in a powder
haze, emptying his gun into the cage.
bank, who had been in the rear of the
room when the first. shot was fired,
| came rushing toward the front
Il did not know what had happened" :"
he said. Il thought that the reports
came from an automobile with a flood
ed muifier. Then | saw the big fellow
IN thekhaki colored overcoat. He had
white silk handkerchief about his
neck and he was pointing his gun at
| Coons and Freeman and ordering them
to open the grille to the right of the
paying teller's window.
Morehouse Makes Escape
"Then I saw Peal reel and fall, hands
spread out. | ran for the rear door,
and the stockier man, who was still
wrestling with the steel barred gate,
me to stop, but I kept on, through the
rear entrance and out into Franklin
| Avenue"
While the tall mans revolver was
still speaking, the smaller man gave up
his attempt to force the door. He
glanched swiftly about him, then ran
half the length of the room and dived
headtirst through the 1S-inch-high
opening where new accounts are re-
ceived. He crashed heavily to the floor
on the inside, but was up like a cat
IN an instant and running toward Peal's
desk
While his pal still covered the room
with his pistol, the stock robber
wrenched open the cash drawer and
dumped its contents into satchel.
The entire amount he took-S13, ,112 S5
wa sin small bills, change and few
checks. In the vaults which stood
open, close to Coon's desk. was $4,000
more in cash and S6,O00,OOO in bonds.
The little man slapped the satchel
shut. ran back to the window through
which he had entered, flung himself
through it into the public portion of
the bank and joined his companion at
the door.
All this had happened in the time
that it TOOK Mr.. Morehous, who had
slipped out the back way, to run across
Franklin Street. As he reached the
opposite curb. the two robbers came
plunglng out the front entrance, driv-
ing back at the pistol point the crowd.
which the racket had drawn to the
door, and ran down Myrtle Avenue.
Detective Shot Down
At Kent Avenue stood the taxicab.
AS the two men approached it. De
tective Docdy, who was passing on a
steet car. leaped off and ran toward
it to intercept them.
The robbers plunged into the cnb
before he reached it, and as Doody
came charging down upon the machine.
fumbling in his hip pocket, there was a
squirt of smoke from the limousine
and the detective spun around and
dronped, shot through the right arm.
The taXicab chauffeur threw his
clutch with crash and the cab lurched
away along Kent Avenue
In the meantime, Mr.. Morehouso had
run to the store Of Sol Uberall. toy
dealer, across Myrtle Avenue from the
bank. In front of the store stood
at the wheel. Mr. Morehousc leaped
to the seat beside him and told him
to follow the taXicab, WHICH was lust
getting under way block beyond
Pursuing Machine E,uded
For the next twenty minutes the two
machines played game of tag through
the streets of Brooklyn. Neither could
attempt much speed, because of the
slippery condition of the streets. and
for some time the uberall machine
was able to keep the taxicab in sight.