CONSTABLE SETS
PRISONERS FREE
POLICE MELODRAMA IN WHICH
CASEY IS COMEDIAN.
TWO CONFIDENCE MEN ESCAPE.
THROUGH CONSTABLE'S MED-
DLING, AFTER ONE IS SHOT.
Two confidence men, who had fleeced J. W. Burrows, and Oklahoma ranchman, out of $1,000, were captured last night after an exciting chase, in which several shots were fired, and then, after being in the safe custody of two officers, made their escape at Eighth and Delaware streets through the alleged interference of Roy Casey, a constable of Justice Remley's court.
Both confidence men were arrested by Detective Lyngar, who captured the smaller of the swindlers as he was emerging from a Leavenworth car at the Junction. The larger of the confidence men jumped through the car window and fled down Delaware street. Lyngar, dragging the smaller prisoner with him, gave chase and finally fired at the escaping prisoner. The bullet entered the right arm and the man fell exhausted near the rear of the American Bank building.
Lyngar, determined to catch his man, turned the uninjured prisoner over to Patrolman Regan, and then grabbed the second man. The officers and prisoners then started for the call box at Eighth and Delaware streets and it is here, witnessees say, that Casey interfered.
STOPS THE POLICEMAN.
Casey, in company with David S. Russell and C. E. Reckert of the city engineer's office, pushed through the crowd that had gathered and stopped Lyngar. Casey's explanation is that he did not know Lyngar was an officer and thought that he was going to shoot Patrolman Regan, who was marching in front with the injured prisoner. O. P. Rush of 3015 Olive street and L. R. Ronwell of 1902 East Thirty-first street witnessed the affair and told the police that they heard Lyngar tell Casey that he was an officer.
At any rate an arguent ensued. Patrolman Regan, who was holding his prisoner by the collar of his overcoat, turned around to ascertain what the trouble was. In an instant the inured prisoner slipped out of his overcoat and dived into the crowd. Regan pursued him, firing three shots at the criminal as he ran west on Eighth street. None of the bullets seem to have taken effect.
These shots created fresh excitement and Lyngar, furious with Casey's interruption, loosened his hold on the other man. In an instant the prisoner had jerked away from the officer and was lost in the crowd.
RAPPED CASEY'S HEAD.
The only satisfaction Regan and Lyngar got was in arresting Casey. Regan rapped him twice over the head and Lynar took the constable to the Central station, where he was released on $26 bail. Casey had been attending the Republican convention.
The inured thief not alone lost his overcoat, but in plunging through the crowd lost his hat and undercoat as well. He was traced as far as Second and Wyandotte streets, where he purchased a new hat and coat. Then he ran toward the Kansas City Southern yards.
STOLE $1,000 FROM BURROWS.
Upon the complaint of J. W. Burrows, Oklahoma ranchman, that he had been swindled out of $1,000 by the two confidence men, Detectives Lyngar and Lewis were assigned to the case. Lewis was called away, so Lyngar accompanied by Burrows, made the investigation alone. At the Junction, Burrows espied the two men inside a Leavenworth car at about 9 o'clock. Lyngar went after them. The larger of the men, finding the front entrance of the car shut off, jumped through a window. The smaller attempted to brush by Lyngar, but the detective grabbed him It was following this that the chase began, which ended in Casey's intererence and the escape of the men.
The coat lost by the injured prisoner contained a book which indicates that he lives in the vicinity of the Union stock yards in Chicago.
About 1 o'clock this morning police officers found the coat of the smaller of the two confidence men, from which he also slipped when he escaped from the officer's grasp. It was in Brannon's saloon, on Delaware street, near Eighth.
When the smaller "con" man squirmed out of the garment it fell in the crowd, which parted to allow him to pass. It is not known who took it to the saloon. It is the theory of the police that the $1,000 stolen from the ranchman was in the pocket of the little man's coat when he was captured. It wasn't there when the coat was found.
