Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-01-03
NO VERDICT IS
REACHEDABOUT
SHERIFF DEATH
Only One Fact Ascertained at In
quest Yesterday adjourn Jury
TnsiI Later Date"

Wilbur Hepburn and occupants 0
the taxi, who were held up just be
fore, carried the fatally wounded
county official TO an auto, is the on'
fact ascertained at the coroner.
inquest held at the Moline city hal
yesterday afternoon to inquire intC
the death Of the sheriff
No verdict was returned Cor
oner and Acting Sheriff John 6
Miller, at the end of two hours
questioning, adjourned the jurJ
until some futurS date"
II was intimated that at the fu
ture date the authorities will hayt
something more substantial to pre-
sent in connection with the murder
Of Sheriff Wigers.
States Attorney Floyd E. Thomp-
son, who examined the witnesses a
the inquest, declared that he has
hopes OF developing something i'm
portant Whether this something
refers to the capture of the bandit
1nurderers Mr. Thompson did not
say.
The story told yesterday after
noon by the two deputies who ac-
compSnied the sheriff on his hunt
for the bandits and by members OF
the Davenport Joy-ride party which
was being held up when the sher-
ifs party approached was just as
vague as the story told the day
after the tragedy.
The one important event. aside
from the shooting of the sheriff. was
not explained. The excitement OF
the occasion, it appears, prevented
The deputies and the DavenpOrters
from seeing how the bandits es-
capped.
Hepburn, one Of the deputy sher-
IFS, told the story in the following
words:
I'VE saw something was the mat
ter. The sheriff jumped ont of the
car and said, Come on. Bill l saw
n man fire a shot in the air
I'VE kept on coming Some one
fred a shot at Wigers and me. He
missed Mr.. Wigers fred two shots.
Then l saw two flashes and the
sheriff fell
Il returned the fire. Three shots
were fired in quick succession. Two
bandits went around the car.
went around to the north side Of
the car.
Saw Man Limp Away.
-4Then 1 saw the car going down
the road I fired two shots at the
car. I saw a man limping along
behind the car. My gun was empty
and / ran 10 or 90 feet backwards
TO telephone pole"
After that the deputy rushed to
the sheriff, helped put him in the
Davenport tAXi-cab and accompan-
led the car to Moline city hospital.
Chief Ben De Jaeger of Moline.
introduced, during the last minute
of yesterdays inquest, a pocket
book that the bandits had taken
from Claude Radick of Davenport.
The pocketbook, said Chief De Jae-
ger, was found by Harry Peterson
in q corn6eld not far from where
the shooting occurred
Tracks leading to and from the
road indicated that one of the ban
dts had walked to the field, dis
carded the billfold and then es-
capped.
that the sheriff's posse had visited
the liquor houses and warned pro-
prietors that bandits were in the
vicinity.
We were standing in front OF
one Of the camps when a roadster
came by" said. Deputy Hanna 1T
went up the road about a quarter Of
a mile, then stopped and turned
around. The sheriff sad il looked
suspicious and We got in our ma
chine and followed the roadster"
after following it for a while
We came to two machines stopped
in the road ahead of US. 7 raced
the engine and threw all cur lights
on the machines. I said to the
sheriff that it was holdup.
"As | said that the sheriff &c;
ready to get out. ! said For Gods
sake. don't get ont vet He vas
nut before I had finished saying it
] did not get out of the machine a.
8irst
Many Shots Exchanged.
The sheriff had no Ciore than
cot to the south side Of the road
than shot was fred. Another fol-
lowed almost instantly. Then
shot came from the sheriff's gun
Eighteen or twenty shots were
fred
The third shot from the bandits
got the sheriff. Shortly after thai
/ saw young man run around tho
car jumped from our car and
told him to hold up his lands
The banlitS did their shooting
from behind the other party. Their
machine was N motion when the
shooting stopped. / got = glimpse
OF one man IN grey ovefcoat"
when the Sheriff'S car came
heard one of the hoIdup men say
Watch that car" said Herbert
Parker. one of the Davenport men
who was held up He no more
than said that than the shooting
started I saw one man limpinr
away and that's about all I EaT OF
he getaway"
,"When they started % shoot l
riucked," said Walter Snyder,
driver of the Davenport taxicab
The sheriff walked across in from
81 my car. I couldn't sec whether
be had a gun OF not There was
nothing said between the sheriff
and the bandits. don't know who
fred the first shot. l think the
sheriff did. saw him fall as he
shot.
There was a lot o. shooting
going on. l don't know who was
doing it. The bandit car was or
The north side of the road. and
. about three feet from my car. One
man jumped in and l saw the car
drive away. l didn't see what be- +.
rome of the other men. The man
: who held me up was the man who /.
shot the sheriff"
Other witnesses who testified !