Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1932-03-04
FUGITIVE TRAPPED
IN HOUSE-TOP CHASE
Temporarily EIudes Police by
Hanging From Ledge.
Accused as Burglar.

Cornered after chase up fire escapes
and over housetops in the 1400 block of
Park road last night, a man suspected
of being a burglar hung from the
cornice of a 5-story apartment house
until he became too tired to pull him
self back to safety He was grateful
when the three policemen whom he had
been trying to elude discovered his
plight and dragged him over the ledge
of the roof.
The suspect, Harry I. Williamson, %,
colored, of Prescott, Ariz., was locked up
at the tenth precinct police station,
where he was booked for investigation.
Policeman r. S. Bryant and one of
the other policemen, r. F. McCarty,
went to the Alton apartments, 1445 Park
road, in connection with another case.
While they were there, man tele-
phoned the police station and reported
he had seen a masked man enter the
building. Policeman r. F. Goodwin was
sent to the apartment house.
Lights Turned Out.
Entering the building, Goodwin found
all the lights in the halls and on the
Stairways had been turned off. AS he
CROPPED his way along the hall he saw
a man creeping up the stairway.
Then the chase started, Goodwin pur
suing the man up the stairs to the roof
and down again. The man disappeared
several times, but each time Goodwin
caught a glimpse of him, and the chase
began anew, the officer and his quarry
running up and down fire escapes, over
the roofs of adjoining buildings and in
and out Of apartment houses.
Finally, Goodwin became so tired that
he had to sit down and rest. Just then
Bryant and McCarty emerged from the
apartment in which they had been visit
ing. Goodwin told them of his activi-
ties. and they began another search.
Finding no trace OF him, however,
they concluded he had escaped, so they
decided to return to the police station.
pened to glance upward, and he saw
his quarry hanging from the cornice of
an adjoining building apparently about
to drop at any moment.
Three Pull Him to Safety.
Goodwin and McCarty ran to the
roof and attempted to pull the man
to safety, but he proved too heavy for
them. They called to Bryant, who had
remained on the sidewalk below, and
he Joined them. The three policemen,
combining their strength, finally man
aged to drag the man over the ledge.
The man, obviously exhausted, was
unable to move for several minutes
lying on the roof and gasping for
breath. After he had recovered his
strength, he was taken to the police
station, where he explained he had
decided to hang from the cornice when
he found he was trapped. BY the time
the officers gave up the hunt, however,
he was too weak to pull himself back
over the ledge.
Gun in His Pocket.
When the officers pulled Williamson
to safety, he still was masked, they said,
and a gun was found in his pocket.
Two hold-ups were staged last night,
the bandits obtaining $45 in one and
s210 in the other.
One of the victims-John Cook, 300
block of Indiana avenue-said two men,
one white and the other colored, robbed
him of s45 near New York avenue and
Twelfth street. One Of the pair was
armed, he added.
william Lord, 1920 C street northeast,
reported a man stopped him near his
home and, after snatching his watch,
forced him to take walk" The
walk" terminated in front of Cooks
home, where, he said, the robber forced
him to hand over all the money he had