Evening star., 1947-08-20
| 7 Held for Grand Jury
After Arrest in Flight
From Store HoIdup

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Two men were held for the grand
ury today after arraignment in
Municipal Court on charges of rob-
berry. They were captured in g
neighborhood chase that followed
the holdup of the Petworth Deli
catessen, TOO Upshur street NV.
late yesterday.
The men were booked as Frank
r. Brown, II, colored, of the 1906
block Kenyon street NV, and
Edward L. Thomas. rs, colored
whose only fixed address in the last
two years was said by police to
have been the Lorton Reformatory
Brown, whose bond was set at
5000 by Judge George D. Nelson
also was held for the grand jury on
a housebreaking charge and SEN
fenced to six months in Jail for
carrying a deadly weapon-a letter
opener which featured in the chase
and capture yesterday.
Letter Opener Was Stolen.
Thomas was held for the grand
jury in $4,000 bond.
Policeman Charles w. Yeatman
of the 10th precinct, testified the
letter opener was stolen, shortly be-
fore the robbery and chase, from the
home of Mrs. Elsie M. Lowry, 67Ol
Sandy Spring place NV.
Louis Laker. proprietor of the
delicatessen, was alone in the
store at 4:3o pm. yesterday when
two men entered. He told po-
lice they asked him for an ex.
pensive brand of cigar which he
did not carry. When told he did
not have them in stock, the shorter
of the two men walked around
the counter to his cash register
Mr.. Laker said when he asked the
man what he was doing, the man
produced what looked like stiletto
Chases One Man Out.
Mr.. Laker chased the man from
his shop. Mrs. Maybelle Moneuse
proprietor of the Capital Ambulance
Service, across the street saw the
chase. She called her ambulance
men, Maurice E. Miller. Nicholas
Abare and his cousin, Raymond
Abare, who were playing cards in
the basement. They ran out in the
street.
Meanwhile, Mr.. Laker remembered
the second man was still in his shop.
He ran back and chased him out.
He said the man had scooped out
the contents of the cash register
-$53.45.
BY this time, the neighborhood
was in an uproar. Mrs. Laker,
fearing for her husbands safety,
descended frem their apartment
above the store and was shouting
for police. Many of the neighbors
who had been sitting on front
porches joined Mr.. Laker and the
ambulance men in the chase. Carl
w. Kramer, 554 Shepherd street,
jumped in his automobile and, after
picking up Mr.. Laker, chased the
taller man into an alley. Others got
into their cars and started honking
their horns. Dogs were barking.
Some one called the police.
Just then Scout Car 101 from
No. 10 Precinct, carrying Pvts. Ran
dolph E. Sisk and Charles w. Yeat-
man, came into the block. The two
policemen were wondering what the
excitement was about when they
got the report Of the robbery over
the police radio.
Taller Man Cornered.
The neighbors had blocked both
entrances to the alley in which the
taller man had run, and Mr.. Miller,
the ambulance man, had scaled two
fences, barking his shins, when he
came upon his quarry covered against
garage. Mr.. Miller awaited the
arrival of the police. The man they
arrested was Thomas. Police said he
had the money on him.
Motorcycle Policeman j. E. Sobo-
lewski was cruising at New Hamp-
shire and Kennedy street. When he
arrived men in the street told him
the other fugitive had run into an
alley behind the 800 block of Up
shur street. Pvt. Sobolewski hur-
ried around the block to the far end
of the alley. He said Brown ran
right into him.
Brown had the letter opener. Mr..
Laker identified it as the weapon
with which he had been threatened.
Thomas had been released from
Occoouan Workhouse on Monday
and Brown last week, they told
police.