New-York tribune., 1921-06-07
Diamond Merchant Routs
Thief and Girl and 80
Shots Are Fired i'm Chase
Through 4lss Street
Straw Bullet Wounds
Ticket Office Clerk
Thug, Cornered in Cellar
ofKnickerbocker, Fights
Until Clubbed Insensible

A diamond thief, who gave his name
% the police as George Brewster but
who was later identified at Bellevue
Hospital as George Desaro, fought
pistol battle with two police officers
at Fortyfrst Street, near Broadway,
last night about o'clock, and was
later captured after fight in the cell
lars of the old Knickerbocker Hotel.
Twenty shots were fired.
Desaro and a young woman of
attractive appearance, fashionably
gowned, entered the jewelry store of
Morris Sapo, Oh the second floor of
729 Sixth Avenue. shortly before p. m.
Sapo, diamond merchant and manu-
featuring ieweler, was behind his coun-
ter when the man and woman entered.
Desaro was masked and his companion
were toque with a veil that covered
her eyes and the upper part of her face
There were diamonds worth $4,000 in
trays on display.
Woman Aids in Attack
Hands up, quickl' yelled the rob
ber, and Sapo complied, but as he did
so the bandit dropped one of his re-
yolyers and stopped to pick it up. In
all instant Sapo jumped for him ard
the two men fell to the floor. AS the
men struggled Desaro's woman accom-
plice kicked Sapo viciously IN the
head. Sapo struggled to his feet and
kicked the revolver dropped by Desaro
under a counter. When he started after
It Desaro and his companion ran for
the stairway
Occupants Of the floor on which
Sapo's race of business ia were at
tracted by the struggle and the jewel
er'S cries for help. They chased the
bandits down the stairway to the street,
where Desaro shouted to his com
ranion:
Make your getaway have to
fight it outn'
Desaro ran down Sixth Avenue to
Fort5@t first Street,eturning to fire as he
lodged through the dense crowd, push
NE men. women and children into the
cutters. Traffic Officer Moore, sta
tened IN Broadway, was frs to take
up The chase. Desaro fred fve shots at
whenever he could do so without too
great II OF wounding others. Traffic
Vfficer McAvoy Joined Moore in the
pursuit, and, firing as they ran, the
two p2trolmen trailed Desaro to the
entrance Of 143 West Forty-frst Street
where he disappeared down a stairway
Plunge Into Cellar
Plunging downward in the dark, the
patrolmen found themselves in the
lumber laden old cellar of the former
Aniekerbocker Hotel. A search was
made among the rubbish the cellar
contained without a trace of Desaro
being found until Moore discovered a
closet The door appeared to be locked.
Come out or we'll shoot through
the door, shouted McAvoy, and Desaro.
lmping from a bullet wound in his
Tlght knee, stepped forth. Thinking
taelr man intended to surrender the
soihcers were off guard for an instant.
Desa"o closed with McAvoy, who was
nearest, and tried to trip him. Although
both McAvoy and Moore dubbed the
man for five minutes in the dark with
their revolver butts, he continued to
fight until unconscious.
When the pursuit began in Forty
hrst Street dense crowds were Just
staftlng homeward and a multitude, at
tracted by shots, surged from every
direction. Traffic policemen and re-
serves. hurried from adjacent stations,
made futile efforts to control the mob
which packed about the entrance in
which Desaro and his pursuers had
disappeared. When Moore and McAvoy
emerged dragging their half-con-
scious and wounded captive, crowds
were so dense that the men had to
hght their way 10 the ambulance.
Search for Woman
;. information given the police imme-
oiately after Desora's arrest led to
.ne dispatch of half a dozen detectives
iom the West Forty-seventh Street
station in quest of the woman who had
accompanied him. According to a story
to1d detectives, Desaro and the woman
are Italians. The man is said to have
criminal record and the woman to be
well known steamship operator
pesaro's accomplice is described as
brunette, about twenty-five years
eld, Slight OF stature, with a pale oval
tsce. Her eyes and the upper part of
ner face were concealed by the dark
Sst' Bystanders told detectives that
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