The Washington times., 1920-10-12
MAN, 75,BESTS'
3 IN HOLD-UP.
N. Y. Avenue Auto Store Man.
ager Shoots Youthful Ban
dit; Identifies Others.

Without flinching, seventy five
year-old John Alderman, routed
three bandits last night, when they
cessory store Of Thomas j. Crowell,
lis New York avenue northeast,
where he is night manager. He
shot one Of the young men, William
Ernst, twenty years old, of ~ Flor
ida avenue northwest, through the
lung. Ernst is at Emergency Hospi-
tai in serious condition.
TWO UNDER ARREST.
The other two, william Cush, TWEEN
ty-two years old. isl0 North Capitol
street, and c. Palmer Sewers, Kirk
street, are locked up In the First
precinct police station.
Mr.. Ackerman this morning identi-
fled Cush and Sewers as two OF the
men who tried 10 rob him, and both
admitted their guilt
Cush and Ernst approached Acker-
man last night as he was closing the
gasoline pumps outside the store. and
asked him for a spark plug. While
they were in the store examining
spark plugs, Sewers came into the
place, pointed a revolver at Acker-
nun " lHtpw
up his hands Instead of obeying,
however, Ackerman grabbed his re-
yolver from beneath a counter and
fired two shots at the fleeing ban
dts. They rushed out to a waiting
automobile and fled. Ackerman fol-
lowed and tried TO pursue them, but
they escaped.
cush and Sewers said this morning
that the revolver belonged to Ernst.
and that they decided that Sewers
should carry IL just before they went
into the store.
PRAISED FOR BRAVERY.
Ackerman this morning told his
story TO Detectives o'Brien and Bauer
at police headquarters. just before he
went to tbe station house to identify
the young men. He was complimented
by many of the detectives for his
bravery.
According to Alderman. he has been
spprehensiye for some time that an
attempt would be made TO rob the
place. as 1t is one of the most lonely
localities In the city after dark. The
store is at New York and Florida
avenues, in the heart of the freight
district. After nightfali the section
Is deserted save for an occasional
street car.
Last night. just as / was closing
up No. i gasoline pump" Ackermsn
said, two young men came up to me
and asked for a spark plug. I did
not think anything about 1t until
after they had followed me into the
store. They seemed TO be dallying.
and / saw a shadow outside the win
dow on the Florida avenue side. ]
looked out and saw a man with a
derby hat peering into the store. ]
did not connect him with the two men
in the store at the time, but thought
that he was alon,. Finally he came
into the store through the Florida
avenue entrance and with drawn re-
volyer ordered me to hold up my
hands.
My revolver was on a shelf under
the counter and when he ordered me
TO hold up my hands, / raised my
left hand at the same time grabbed
my gun from the shelf with my right
hand and fired two shots. AS soon
as the three men saw the revolver.
they made a rush for the door on the
New York avenue side. In their rush
to get out of the door, one of them
tripped over an automobile cushion
and fell on the sidewalk He
scrambled TO his feet and made off
with the others.
DIDN'T KNOW ONE WAS HIT.
81 then went to the street with the
revolver still in my hands to try and
capture them, but they had gone. 1t
was not until j was Informed by the
police that 1 learned one of my shots
had taken effect.
II have had no experience with fire.
arms. and the fact that ] did hit the
mark was purely luck. i did not want
to harm the young men, but merely
wanted to scare them sway.-I have
seen the boys around the neighbor-
hood many times and never suspected
that they would try to rob the store
or to harm me-"
Sewers, in his cell in the First pre-
cinct station, this morning asked
that his name be kept out of the
newspapers as he did not want to hu-
initiate his family.
81 have lived in Washington all my
llfe," he said. 'T do not know what
prompted me to try to rob Crowells'
last night. As soon as we saw the
old man raise a revolver we were
frightened and only thought of get
ting away. We ran to the corner
where we had an automobile and
started away. I did not know that
any of us had been hit. After going
few blocks Bill Ernst said he be-
lieved he had been shot and we
stopped a few minutes to look him
over. When we saw blood streaming
from the wound we we're terribly
frightened and talked of several
means of getting a doctor. Finally
we decided that the best thing to do
was to go to Emergency Hospital and
tell the story OF being held up by
three negroes in the park. Believe
me, " I ever get out OF this, it's the
straight and narrow for me, forever"
Both the young men expressed deep
sorrow when told that their COM