SHERIFF TAYLOR
- CAPTURE
Surrender Until After
Mortally Wounded,
Half an Hour Before they Threw
Down their:
_Came Out.
The mountain fastnesses of the southern
end of the county have contributed anoth-
er thrilling chapter to Centre’s criminal
history. Though it caunot be compared
in excitement to the Ettlinger tragedy at
Woodward, on March 6th, 1896, for it was
all over before many people knew that it
bad acbually ocourred. But when the
story of ‘the capture of four burglars in the
old bara at the famous old Faust hotel in
the Seven mountains, about three miles
south of Potters Mill’s, became generally
known everyone realized that the element
of risk fun by sheriff Taylor and his posse
was evel greater than that that surrounded
sheriff Condo when he was trying to capture
the murderer of constable Barner.
The fist intimation had that there was
a well organized band of burglars working
this way came from Laurelton, on the line
of the Lewisburg and Tyrone railroad, last
Thursday morning. The night before four
men had assaulted and robbed Reno Zim-
merman of that place. They secured $15. 5
from him. Later that night they robbed
the office of the Laurelton Lumber Co. A.
M. Reedy’s clothing store and the Laarel-
ton hotel. Mr. Zimmerman described his
assailants as having coarse voices and
speaking with German accent.
AT WOODWARD.
“The next night, Thureday—atter mid-
night. Woli’s ‘store at Woodward was
burglarized and five pair shoes, 2 watches,
2 zevolvers, 1 a 38 calibre and 1a 32
calibre, and a number of knives and razors
‘and $160 in postage stamps were taken.
No one saw any’ suspects about the plage
‘and the burglars got away as quietly as
“they had ‘come.
AT CENTRE HALL. ;
Friday night a party tried to rob the
bank at Centre Hall and there the first clpe
. that led to their capture was secured. The
- Penns valley bank is located on the corner
: of the public square at that place and is
guarded by William McClenahan, the
: night watchman.
| bank is the exchange of the United Tele-
Immediately over the
phone and Telegraph Co. Night operator
Mrs; ‘Annie Boozer was on-duty; but could
not not be seen from the street below. The
burglars climbed wp‘onto "thé ‘railing in
- front of the bank and saw the interor of
tho front room in which a light was Khurp-
ing. Then, it is presumed, in order to
ascertain whether anyone lived up ‘stairs
they threw a small stone against the win-
dow. It broke the glass ; frightening Mrs.
Boozer so badly that she made no outery.
Convinced that there was no one about the
burglars started to pry open one of the
‘ bank windows when McClenahan heard
the noise and fired a shot from his revolver.
This scared the band off and they did noth-
"ing further there than to break open the
tool house at the station and take a hand
car. ;
OFF FOR LINDEN HALL. 4
With the hand car as a conveyance the
band proceeded by rail ‘to Linden Hall.
There they stopped at the crossing of the
. public road and walked back to Ross’ store,
in which the post office is also located.
Forcing an entrance by a side window they
‘ entered the store and had taken the lock
“ly ahove the front entrance.
* off the safe and bad it about two-thirds
sealed preparatory to blowing, when sonfe-
thing evidently interrupted them at théir
work, for they then unfastened the front
door and went out onto the store porgh
where they talked quite loud. This
aroused A. E. Zeigler, who is assistant
postmaster and sleeps in a room immediate:
‘Thinking
that it was some of the lumbermen, who
"are accustomed to rattle on the door at all
hours of the night just as a joke, he got up
and pounded on the porch roof. The men
were silent for a little while but one
“of then went out onto the road and looked
up at Zeigler: ;: Then they; ‘got together
and held another consultation and Zeigler
pounded again, after which they walked off
down the road. Then they pushedy the
hand car down to the station apd walked
back again, up the main street, talking
quite loud. It was after3 o’clock in the
morning by that time but they went on to
the home of William Catherman, where
they broke into his cellar and took a table
cloth, meat, bread and other victuals and a
tin bucket. Then struck off on the road
toward Earlystown. :
Meanwhile Mr. Zeigler had aroused
Hale Ross, the owner of the store, and to-
gether they went down to the saw mill to
see if any suspects were loitering about
there. None were to be found and none
had been seen by the men at the mill,
Then they went back to Catherman’s and
discovered that the burglars could be easily
tracked in the muddy road.
The next step was to telephone to Belle-
fonte for detective Rightnour. The ex-
change here was able to find policeman
Jodon at head-quarters and he went home
to change his clothes to accompany the
detective, but when the latter was aroused
he said he had business at State College on
Saturday and couldn’t put it off. Jodon
telephoned this message to Linden Hall,
whereupon - Mr. Ross, his eldest son
Charles, William Catherman and Harry
Hagan took up the trail of the burglars.
A BAND OF BURGLARS.
Tracked to the Old Faust Hotel Barn id the Seven Mountains
they are Found Sleeping and Surrounded.—Refused to
AND POSSE
one of the Band was
then They Parleyed
Arms and
THE PURSUIT BEGINS.
It was easy to follow the tracks in the
soft mud. Is wae soon discovered thats here
were four men in the party and they were
evidently hungry for bits of bread along
the road indicated that they were eating it
dry as they walked. No one along
the route had seen the men, however, until
John Reish’s was reached. He said he
had seen a man carrying a tin bucket hut
there were no others with him. A little
later the pursuers came to Curt Lingle’s
farm and found out that he had seen three
men going down his lane towards the
woods.
He told a WATCHMAN reporter that just
after he had gotten out of bed, about5
o’clock in the morning, he stepped to the
window to look out. His attention was
attracted to three men going down his. lane
and be remarked to his wife that some one
was getting out to work very early. Then
he thought they might be going fishing and
stepped back to the window for another
look, but could discover no rods. At his
second observation be noticed that there
were three men in the party, ‘one smaller
evidently walking as fast as his legs would
carry him to keep up. His peculiarly
erect carriage made him quite conspicuous.
TRAILED TO THE BARN.
It was about 8:30 when Frank Brad-
ford, of Centre Hall, met the Ross party.
He and James Smetzler were on their way
over to Gherrity’s to fish, they had known
of the attempted burglary, at Centre Hall,
also of the successful affair at Linden Hall,
and when Mr. Ross told them that he had
tracked the robbers to a point about a mile
west of the Old Fort, where they had cut
into the woods towards Potters Mills, they
said they wonld be on the lookout for
them. Bradford and his companion saw
nothing of the men while driving to the
Bank, but when they arrived there they
were told by landlord Reish at the hotel
that four men had been there only a short
time before and purchased a pint of whis-
key, paying for it all in pennies. Further
inquiry revealed the fact that one of the
quartet had stopped at the home of Mrs.
Annie Hartman and asked for a tablespoon-
ful of salt, saying that he intended to cook
breakfast up in the mountains and had no
salt. Mrs. Hartman was especially attract-
ed by the man’s pleasant manner and
later, when the robbers were brought back
to the village, she recognized the one who
is wounded as the man to whom she had
given the salt.
Bradford was about to start on up the
mountain when two fishermen came down
the road. They told him that they had
passed four men only a short distance back,
that they were cooking breakfast. This
convinced him that the ‘game was only a
short distance off, so before starting on he
telephoned back to Centre Hall for the
Ross party to harry up. The answer came
back that they were on the way so he and
Smetzler started on. All along the muddy
road they could see the tracks of the quar-
tet but not until within a quarter of a
mile of the famous old Faust place did
they see any one. There they saw a man
with a bucket answering the description of
one of the hand apparently fooling around
in the brush of the old orchard. They
were convinced at once that he was: one of
the party but betrayed no suspicion that
they were trailing him. They drove on
past the barn that stands close to the road
| beside the charred ruins of the old ‘hotel,
noticing that the tracks led into'it. ‘Brad-
ford bad already an idea that the men
were in there, so after they bad driven past
a considerable distance he became con-
vinced of it when by peeping out through
the back curtain he saw the man with the
door.
distance away, he told Pat and Walter of
the situation and, borrowing a Winchester
rifle, made a detour back to Sand Knob
where he could still command the barn
and intercept the Ross party whom he
believed to he following. A
THE WARRANT SECURED.
After Ross and his party of pursurers had
heard Lingle’s story and were unable to
find any constables they decided to go to
Centre Hall and secure a warrant. If
was while driving to that place that they
met Bradford and Smetzler and advised
them to be on the lookout. Arriving at
Centre Hall justice Wm. B. Mingle was
bunted up and Catherman swore outa
warrant for the arrest of the men. Charley
Hagan and Charley Ross were sent back
home from this place and G. R. Meese and
Wm. Cummings joined the elder Ross and
Catherman when they reached Potter's
Mills. They drove on up the mountain
until Bradford stopped them and a hasty
consulation was held. ' It was decided that
there were not enough of them to effect a
capture and that the carriage should be
sent back to Potters Mills for more men.
While there the messenger learned that
sheriff Taylor was on his way to the scene;
having been apprised of the situation by:
justice Mingle. Arriving back at the
than the others who was behind and |.
‘bucket gointo the barn and close the]
Hurrying on to Gherrity’s, only’ a ‘short
JAMES GEWALT, THE WOUNDED .MAN,
A Yarn A
Cuts published through the courtesy of the Centre Reporter.
“Two Planks were leaned against the side of the shed, on these the wounded man was skid to the ground, carried to al
carriage and conveyed to the Potters Mills hotel and placed under the care of Dr. H. 8. Alexauder.’’
told the others that the sheriff was on’ ‘the
way so they all decided to await his
arrival.
It was then nearly noon and the party
had swelled to about. twenty men and
boys. Some with rifles, others with shot
guns and the camera fiend was there also.
The time had slipped away in the diiving
back and fourth to Potter’s Mills, for it
must he borne in mind that the spot where
the watchers were grouped is three miles
up a mountain road from the Mills. They
had gathered at a spot about vue fourth
a mile down theroad from the barn, ata
sharp turn in the road. From this point
they could see the barn, yet wot be seen
themselves.
THE SHERIFF TO THE RESCUE.
When sheriff Taylor gos the word here
he made preparations to leave at once and
with treasurer Phil D. Foster as his deputy
and two new 30-30 Krag-Jorgensen rifles
in the bottom of the buggy they left for the
scene at 11:45.
_ The drive over the mountain to
Centre Hall required only. an Lour and
with a fresh team secured at that place the
sheriff proceeded on his joarney arriving
near the Foust place shortly before one
o'clock. At the turn of the road on this
side of the barn he met all of the crowd of
pursuers.
Following the sheriff and treasurer Fos-
ter were W. A. Sandoe and Frauk Shute,
of Centre Hall. They swelled the eutire
party to twenty-seven or eight persons. .
After a hasty consultation the sheriff
decided to surround the place at once.
‘covering bis rifle treasurer Foster saw one
“barn doors.
‘ble, hut after the shooting it ‘became’ bvi-
THE FIRST SHOT HIT. ? :
While the sheriff was in the act of un-
of the band crouching oni the lof above the
Two hoards were off che side
of the building and through this aperture
he saw that the man had a revolver. Quick
as a flash Foster's rifle flew 'to his slioulder
aud a sharp report reverberated along the
wountain tops, then all was still again.
Those who were close enongh could see
that the deadly 33-30 ball from the Krag
had goue howe, for the man on the loft was
seen to stagger and grope his way toward
the side of the barn. It bad all occurred
so rapidly that no one seemed to realize
just what had bappened until the little
party was brought to its senses by the
click uf a revolver. Eyeiy rifle was up
again in an instant and when someone dis-
covered a revolver and about six inches of
arm sticking out a crack ‘on’ the side of the
barn directly where ‘they had seen the
wounded man stagger there were six re-
ports that tang out on the still air while
their leaden messengers were ripping op
the sides of the barn in 3 way that carried
consternation to the hearts of ,the, robbers
within, ’
DEPUTIES SWORN 'IN.
Up to this time the sheriff had sworn in
no other deputies than treasnrer Foster.
He had delayed this matter with ithe hope
of saving the eonnty all the. expense possi-
dent.that the situation was a grave ‘one.
Iv appeared . that the robbers jintended
to pat up a fight for~ their liberty.
Three prisoners are to the left.
Ryan standing in front of Samuel Shireman.
three minutes
avoid: rthe camera; and it was only by deception that the: view! was Stakes
First William Palmer, iaring. front;
after the prisoners had been handcuffed. The trio endeavored to
James
This view was taken in Jess than
The entire party
deployed in a semi-circle about the barn at
a distance of about 500 ft. They covered
the north and south and east escapes.
leaving the large cleared field to the west
unoccupied because any one attempting to
cross it could easily have been stopped by
a rifle shot without the danger of shooting
into any of the guards. Then sheriff Tay-
lor and Mr. Foster drove up the road to
the barn, tied their horses toa telephone |.
pole about 50 ft. distant. Mr. Foster im-
mediately uncovered a Krag rifle and took
np a position to protect the sheriff who
started for the barn. p
THE SHERIFF ENTERS THE BARN UN-
! ARMED.
He first examined an adjoining shed and
finding no one there opened the large barn
door. Sweeping the place at a glance he
saw the much talked of tin bucket. Con-
vinced that his men were there, though
hearing nor seeing nothing of them, he call-
ed out in loud tones :
‘‘I.am the sheriff of Centre county and at
this time am unarmed, and come to arrest:
you. I now call upon you to surrender
peaceably, for I mean to take you,dead or
alive. My posse has you surrounded.
There is no chance for you to escape, for
we are armed with Krag: Jorgensen rifies.”’
Not a sound was awakened from within
by the sheriff’s demand. Still calling upon
them to surrender he returned to his buggy
bivouac near the barn the reinforcing party
to get his rifle.
was accordingly Acutdingly ig went Arouid His! entire |
line, instructed, all the wen as. i how they
should act and. depntized ‘the following of
them : Frank Shutt, Frank Bradford and’
W. A. Sandoe, Centre Hall; P. D. Fos.
ter, Bellefonte ; Calvin Commins, Colyer, ;
and J. F. McCoy, F.A Carson, Frank b
Pennington, Calvin Rah}, Walter Gherrity, .,
Pat Gherrity, E. J. Sweetwond and Reuben vl
Colyer, of Potters Mills, fies
This circuit’ took about lialf an hour. 4 :
All the time Foster was standing guard
over the barn supported by a few men forty 156:
feet to the rear. Not a sound was heard !
from within. Nota moan or a word from |
the robber who was lying weltering in his
own blood. Upon the sheriff's return he:
again called upon the gang to surrender,
but received no response. He continued
his demand persistently for cnother half |
hour until his deputies had become wost
impatient to make a rush on the barn. |
THE SURRENDER. t
Just when they had about decided to
storm the barn in earnest a voice from i
within cried. :
“Will you guamnice to. protect us it we,
sarrender.’’ oF
The sheriff answered by assuring them
that he was the sheriff and would see that
no one harmed them. *‘Yes,’! came the:
voice from within the barn. again, “hut |
some of them hot-headed fellows among you |
Pia
might shoot us without orders.” There-
| upou every ah was ordered to lower his
gon and, put the muzzle’ down, The
sheriff, pacing. in trons of the ban; “then
commanded :
~ “Now come out, one at a time, throw
your reyolvers ou the ground and bold up
your hands.”
In a second or two the big man of the
party, a fellow with a very florid com-
plexion and heayy brown moustache, came
out into the open and threw up bis hands.
‘Now the next,”” rang: out the sheriff’s
stern voice, and another stepped out and
threw up his hands.
“Now. the next!’ Came the command
that bronght a third one out into the line.
‘Now the next !”” Called the sheriff a
fourth time but brought no response.
‘Is that all ?’’ Said sheriff Taylorand one
of the band spoke up and said. ‘‘No there
is another man up above, but he is'ghot.*’
Upon their protestations that all who
were able had surrendered the sheriff ad-
vanced and put hand-cuffs on them separate-
ly, then he directed treasurer Foster to go
up above and procure the wounded man.
Frank Shutt joined Foster and togeth-
er they climbed the ladder
loft above where a horrible sight met their
gaze. Lying pear the side of the barn,
just where he had fallen after his futile at-
tempt to [fire upon the ‘posse,’ was the |
fourth robber. He was gasping for breath
and had his revolver still clutched tightly |.
in his right band. From his. mouth, great
gushes of blood flooded at. each effort to
breathe “and ‘when Foster; approaching,
said where are you shot, ‘he ‘replied :
“Through the heart.”” The treasurer knew
‘this could not be so and, told the wounded
man that he must be mistaken. + The sight
was more than Foster conld stand 'so:he
‘withdtew ‘with’ instructions to’ Shutt to dis-
arm ‘the’ man and. get, him down,
. Here was a ‘predicament. Is was evident
to all that ‘the man was | very ‘badly ‘hart
and liow £6 get him down the ladder Was a
question, Someone’ suggested that he’ be
taken down the ontside of the barn, . «. This |
seemed thelonly way possible. According- |
ly alplank was secured and stood up on a
slant and the wounded ‘man was slid down,
‘a8 is shown in ‘bite of the ifthstrations: in
‘$his | issne. Sheriff | Taylor immediate] y
| ordered bim bugtied to the nearest deetor
so he. was: placed in ‘Ross’ ‘carriage and |
taken to Reish'y hotel where Dr. Alexander
‘dressed’ his Ww onngd and was Joined later. by.
Dr, Braucht. G10 if SHUEY 10 sya
The other three prisoners were ‘londed
into a sprifg wagon ‘and taken” to Centre
Hall, where they were given a heating, 4
,. BEFORE JUSTICE . MINGLE
“At the hearing before nstice Mingle the
pris ners ‘had litle to, say. An fact they |
wold ‘give no Aurther intermation ; than
that ‘their names were! William “Paimer,
age 49; Samuel Shireman; age 323 ames |
‘Ryan; age 34. e8he names given: were no }
yf
3 jis oy
SHERIFF HucH S. TAYLOR.
to thei’
doubt fictitious. Immediately justice Min-
gle ‘committed. them to jail here without
iL 3 Torr lg ia
The sheriff procured his own team again
and taking one of them in’ his ‘buggy, left
thie other two for Treasurer Foster to bring
over in a carriage’that” wads secured there.
They arrived here about 7:30 Saturday
evening. A great. crowd had gathered
along the streets and followed the officers
to the jail, where only the clanging of the
big prison doors put an end to the invasion
of the curious.
IN JAIL.
Once in the sheriff’s office the ‘men were
given a hasty examination and: the names
as above entered in the jail register.” They
were locked up in steel cages on the second
tier ‘on’ tlie ‘north side. Ryan and Shire-
man together and Palmer by bimself. The
latter seems to be the head of the gang, for
the other two will do nothing '¢ or gay noth-
ing unless he takes. the initiative.
They have been very tagiturn since their
arrest, yet at times they have shown a dis-
+ | position to ‘talk some, but have steadily
evaded answering leading questions. They
were: persuaded to stand for: their photo-
graphs on Suuday ‘and "lined up before
‘photographer Mallory in the jail yard as if
they ‘enjoyed it. When asked to’ stand
again on Monday they seemed ‘to realize
that they had made a mistake the day be-
fore and said that they were'nt courting
any more notoriety than they had already
gained. :
THEIR ARMAMENT AND PLUNDER.
At the time of the arrest sheriff Taylor
found the following articles on them, all of
‘whieh were brought here and turned over
to district attorney Spangler :
Five revolvers—38 calibre and lot of
cartridges, stick of dynamite, knives, ra-
ZOTe, purse containing paper money and
lot of small change, tin bucket and table
cloth—identified by Mr. Catherman, of
Linden Hall, basket, bread, bacon, coffee,
‘pan, soap, mirror, etc. :
Before leaving the scene the sheriff
specially detailed Pat and Walter Gherrity
‘to make a careful investigation of the place
for other plunder. The two mountaineers
searched high and low and not without re-
ward for in various parts of the barn they
uncovered a tin tobacco box containing five
fuses and percussion caps, found in the
wounded man’s pocket after he had been
taken to the hotel, a 10c. piece of to-
bacco of the ‘“Worth”’ brand, a new two
bladed knife of large size, an Ingersoll
watch with a plated gold chain, about a
pint of nitro-glycerinein two half pint bot-
tles, four cheap silk handkerchiefs, a piece
of cotton rag, might be a bread ‘cloth, and
a black oil cloth pouch, ahout 12x6 con-
taining a post-office’ registry envelope in
which were stamps to the value of $167.44
in the following denominations, 1076 one-
cent stamps, 800 twos; 340 threes, 493
fours, 492 fives, 491 sixes, 575 eights and
107 tens. :
All of these articles. were delivered to
sheriff: Taylor at the jail about mid-night
Saturday by Walter Sheslty and J. F.
McCoy. J
(THE WOUNDED. BURGLAR.
To turn back to the wounded burglar
who ‘was left at. Reish’s hotel at Potters
Mills where .he was’ receiving medical at-
tention from .Drs. Brancht and Alexander.
| Their investigation ‘revealed ‘the fact that
the ball entered - the lefs ‘side of the neck
‘about an. -inch and ‘a-half “above the collar
hone, passed. throngh. the windpipe and
came ‘out: on top of ' the right ‘shoulder.
‘The ‘clean nature of the wound confirms
the story, as’ told ‘above, that it was a
Krag. that bit him. The effect of the
shot wouldmuot ‘have been bad at all had it
not torn his" windpipe ‘making the danger
from strangulation with blood very great.
‘This man gave his name asShowalter,and
Gewalt says he is 39 years 01d and bails from
‘Wisconsin, He i is rather tall, weighs about
160 Ibs, bas light blue ‘eyes, . a brown
‘moustache, bald on the front’ part’ of the’
‘head giving the appearance of an abnormal.
1y bigh forehead and speaks German.
On Monday. worning Sheriff Taylor,
Commissioner Pi H.' Meyer’ and ‘county
‘physician R. G. H. Hayes drove over to
Potters. Mills and. brought him to this
place in Baum’s ambulance. ‘He seemed
none the worse of the trip and arrived at
the hospital about 2.0! "glock in the after-
noon, He is apparently resting. easy. there;
‘being able to'sit up in bed. The tube that
had beer inserted | in’ his’ windpipe has been
taken, out. . “His guards at ‘the hospital are
1sase Dassen and Samuel Smith.
"INCIDENTS. i
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