Twin-City herald., 1934-01-06
White Holdums Shoot
Two Defenseless Men
TWO MEN LOOKING FOR NIGHT
CLUB SHOOT DEFENSELESS
MEN

Two aged men are in the hospital,
one not expected to live, following an
early morning visit to a Northside
private home by two young white
hoodlums who shot the men who re-
monstrated with them when they
sought entrance to the home at 83
Highland Ave.
The two men who were shot are
Frank Tolliver, 60, and his brother-in-
law John Nichols, 60, who is said to
be fatally wounded.
Looking for Night Club
According to the story told police
by the men and other witnesses, two
white men came to the home about
$50, kicked on the door demanding
admittance. Both were drunk and
told Tolliver that they were looking
for a night club which is located a
block away at 141 Hyland.
When Tolliver demonstrated with
the men about waking up the neigh
borhood both of them became abusive
and Tolliver slammed the door in their
face and went in the house. The men.
who appeared to be intoxicated, con-
tinued to kick on the door, cursing
and calling out abusive names. Final
ly Tolliver accompanied by his brother
| in-law and white man named Jack
who lives at the same address went
out on the porch. .
One of the white men put his hand
in his pocket and Tolliver grabbed
him Immediately after the man fired
revolver wounding both Tolliver and
Nichols, the latter is not expected to
live. About eight shots were fired.
The men fled in an auto.
Make Statement
The statement given the police by
the two men follows:
Nichols said he came from Gary,
Indiana, but made Minneapolis his
home for years, having been in and
out of the city.
He was asked if he knew the boys
who fired the shots at him and he
said he did not, just that they were
couple of young fellows.
His statement to the police, made
after he was told he was in criti-
cal condition and might die, is as fol-
| lows:
81 was down in the basement fix
ing the furnace and my sister called
down and said, you and Jack better
come up right away Jack is white
man who is broke, and my sister has
given him a room in the basement. I
called to Jack who was in his room
and told him to hurry, that my sister
wanted us upstairs for some reason.
"When we got up there they had
my brother-in-law on the porch
went out and asked them what they
were doing here, why they had come
here and that they better get out and
off the porch, that they had no right
| to come messing around peoples
homes at that hour in the morning.
, zone of the fellows reached for his
pocket and my brother-in-law saw
him do it and he grabbed for the
pocket. There was a struggle and
then the man pulled his gun and shot.
grabbed a club, about two feet long,
and hit the fellow over the head.
"After the men shot us, they ran
and got into car"
| Tolliver's statement was not very
long. He said he did not know the
! men who shot him. He said he was
attracted to the door by a violent kick
| ing and pounding and a demand for
| admittance. He said he opened the
door and told the men to go away,
that they were in the wrong place.
Without warning, he said, one of the
men pulled gun and started shoot
ing. Then they ran to their automo
bile parked at the curb.
Mrs. Eta Tolliver said she saw the
men get into green colored coupe.
She could not tell the make of the
car.
William Burrell, living upstairs of
-