Paragould soliphone. (Paragould, Ark.) 1918-1950, 1922-06-26

Continued
contraband stuff had been conveyed
| TO the city in considerable quantities
and the watch established last night
| followed carefully laid plans to
capture those guilty of the offense.
Deputy Quinn said he concealed
himself near the approach to the
J bridge before eight o'clock last eve
ming. He said that he remained
| in concealment till an automobile
| was driven up and till the maneuvers
| of the persons involved in the arrest
had completed their arrangements
of making disposition Of liquor that
had been brought to the location
| in a small launch in the river. The
officer stated the car was that of
| Andrew Nicely and that he saw the
latter leave the vehicle and remain
| in the immediate vicinity till he eff
fected the capture of the two men,
| Messrs. Nicely and Austin. Accord
ing to Officer Quinn, three men were
engaged in carrying the liquor from
| the boat to the automobile and he
| commanded them to halt just as
they had deposited the liquid in the
car. Those three men, it is said,
were Toney Pierce, man named
Walker and Newton Austin. Upon
commanding the men to halt, the
officer said the three broke and
ran and he fired several shots at
! them as they left the automobile,
but he succeeded in capturing Mr..
| Austin near the scene MesSrs.
( Pierce and Walker escaped. The
officer said Mr. Nicely was near the
scene at the time and turned his
back upon the three men as they
| approached the automobile with the
| liquor but ran when the shooting
| began.
According to the officer and a
statement from Mr.. Nicely, the lat
ter was arrested as he was driving
| his car in the direction of Paragould
and while in the act of passing the
officers home.
Information supplied By Deputy
| Quinn, was to the effect that he
found eight gallons of liquor in the
automobile after he had underworld
| to halt Messrs. Austin, Pierce and
Walker. In the launch he captured
six other gallons, making a total of
/ fourteen. The officer believes if
he had waited the entire fourteen
gallons would have been deposited
| in the vehicle, but when they deliv-
cred the eight gallons he was under
the impression they had completed
their delivery He conveyed the
| captured liquor to his home, near
the scene of its capture
According to a statement made by
Mr.. Nicely this afternoon, he had
gone to the river on fishing jaunt,
having been informed that one of
his brothers was already there. He
said he drove to the region of the
: bridge and parked his car and was
endeavoring to locate his brother
| when the shooting began He said
he was upon the bridge and was in
| conversation with Newton Austin.
He said that not being able to To-
cate his brother it was his inten
ton to purchase some fish and re-
turn home. He said his CONVERSE
ton with Austin was upon the sub
ject of purchasing fish and that
no reference was made to liquor
being purchased or carried to his
car and that when the shooting
began he naturally was apprehensive
of danger and ran to get away from
what he considered a dangerous sit
uation. He said that following his
arrest after he had started upon his
return to Paragould. when he was
told of the charge against him, he
concluded that the men delivering
the liquor to his car were in error
as to vehicles, believing that his car
was the one being sought to trans
port the booze. He protests his in
nocence of the charge lodged against
him and stated he hoped the people
would not accept some of the st9te-
ments that were being circulated
to the effect that he is guilty of
the offense set out in the informa-
tion filed against him.
The arrests in this case have at
tracted unusual attention and theI
result of the hearing before ESQ.
Kelly Monday afternoon will be
awaited with much interest.