Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-06
H. ]. Mcdonald Expected to
Succumb From Gunshot
Wound Through Lung.
ATTEMPTED RUM THEFT
FRUSTRATED BY OFFICER
Colored Man Escapes After Brother
Falls in Street Nor
tally Hurt.

One OF Two coloreQ gunmen is QeaQ
and a young policeman is dying, VIC
tins of desperate pistol battle, which
ensued at Seventeenth and @ streets
early this morning when the colored
men, one an escaped convict, who had
been placed under arrest by the police
man following an attempt to steal
whisky from drugstore, tried to shoot
their way to freedom.
Private H. j. Mcdonald of the third
precinct, was shot through the right
lung by one of the two men he had
arrested as he was preparing to tele-
phone for the patrol wagon at 4:30
O'Clock this morning. Physicians at
Emergency Hospital say they do not
expect him to live.
Despite the critical nature Gf his
wound, Mcdonald drew his revolver and
opened fire on the two men as they
fled north on Seventeenth street Shot
through the neck and back, one fell
to the street.
Identify Slain Man.
He had told police he was William
williams of East Baltimore street, Bal
timore, but through fingerprints and a
photograph he was identified later. as
Albert Aldridge, 90 years old, who es-
capped from the Massachusetts, State
Penitentiary on May 9, last. He was
serving a sentence Of from to 10
years for assisting another prisoner to
escape.
williams fingerprints were taken be-
fore he died by Detective Sergt. Fred
Sandberg, and were found to corre-
Spond with those found in the looted
drug store and also with those on rec
ord In the police files as Aldridge's.
He was also identified through pho
tograph on file here.
The other man escaped on foot when
McDonald's last two shots went wild.
Bleeding profusely, the wounded col
ored man was taken to Emergency Hos
pital, where he died five hours later.
Before his death he identified his COM
panion in the attempted robbery as
"James Williams" his brother"
Every available policeman has been
ordered on duty to aid in the search
for the other man. William Williams
pistol, which was found in his hand
when other policemen reached the scene
of the shooting, had not beRnx dis
charged, indicating that the bullet
which wounded Mcdonald was fired by
the fugitive now hunted.
The pistol battle was witnessed by
Edward Beach, a driver for the Chevy
Chase Dairy, who lives at 1708 Wiscon-
hospital Immediately after the shooting.
Describes Shooting.
1t was Beach who saw the colored
men in the drug store and called
police. His description Of the shooting
was given as follows:
IT was walking east on Church street
near Seventeenth, at about 4 o'clock
to make delivery. Suddenly a man
opened the window of an apartment
house across the street and called to
two men up in that tree. They are
going to jump on you
II looked up and saw two colored
men, poised and ready to leap. When
they saw they had been detected, they
ran in one direction and I ran in the
other.
After getting several other drivers
70 assist me, we returned to the place
I had seen the men. They had dis
appeared and we begun looking around.
"At the corner Of Seventeenth and Ql
streets, saw one colored man stand
ing in front Of Albert Feldman's drug
SVOIe. AS we WdCCQeQ companion
climbed out of q window on the first
floor Of the store and joined the one
in front. They saw us and ran. While |
the other drivers went after them, II
called the police.
Mcdonald In Own Car.
"A few minutes later three police
men arrived. One of them, Mcdonald
was in his own car, and the others
were in the precinct machine. point
ed out the direction the men had taken
and the police started after them. Nc
Donald, in bis car, turned into Cor
coran street, while the other two went
up Seventeenth in the police car.
About five minutes later Mcdonald
returned with two colored men in the
front seat beside him. He had cap
tured them in an alley short dis
tance away.
Mcdonald stopped his car across
the street from the patrol box and
the colored men got out. The police
man followed them, getting out on the
same side of the car.
Mcdonald was in crouching posi-
tion to get through the small door,
and had his face down. One of the
colored men raised his arm and fired.
"The policeman lurched out of the
car and began to Stagger. After q
moment, however, he braced himself
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