JAILER ON RAMPAGE
WITH BIG REVOLVER
STEPHEN DEHONEY ALMOST
TAKES BYSTANDER'S LIFE.
Police Board's Employe at No. 2 Sta-
tion Discharges Revolver, After
Hitting a Citizen on the
Head With It.
While Stephen Dehoney, jailer at No. 2 police station, was resisting arrest by a brother officer at Fifth and Walnut streets last night, Dehoney's revolver, which he held in his hand, was discharged and the bullet came near hitting someone in a crowd which had gathered. Whether Dehoney, who had been drinking, was attempting to shoot Patrolman Charles D. Fuller, who was trying to arrest him, or whether the revolver was discharged by accident is not certainly known. The bullet shattered the plateglass window of the Dougherty & Lorber Commission Company, of 514 Walnut street. Fuller took Dehoney to police headquarters, where he was locked up "for safe-keeping."
Fuller, in his report, said that while he was on duty at the Gilliss theater, a citizen came running in and told of an officer with a gun attacking him on the street. The citizen was bleeding from a wound back of his right ear and claimed that the officer had hit him with the gun. Fuller said that Dehoney had the revolver in his hand when a moment later, he accompanied the complainant outside and accosted Dehoney.
A few minutes after Dehoney was locked up Miss Jessie Wilson, an actress with the Irwin company, scheduled next week at the Majestic, who came to the station to tell of an assault by an officer, identified Dehoney as the offender.
"I was leaving the Wellington hotel about 7:30 o'clock, on my way to the Ashland," Miss Wilson told Police Lieutenant James Norris, "when I had to go pass a man scuffling with a negro. The man grabbed me roughly and said, 'Here, you're under arrest, too.' I was frightened, for he had been drinking. He showed me his star and I walked along quietly for a bit, but at Missouri avenue I jerked away from him suddenly and ran all the way to the Ashland hotel."
Lieutenant Morris said last night that he would put no charge other than "safe keeping" against Dehoney, but would keep him until he had orders from Chief Ahern to turn him loose. The matter will eventually come before the police board, it is presumed.
On one occasion Dehoney had trouble in a rooming house. Two years ago a couple of negroes ran to the station late at night and said that a man had fired two shots between them because they would not give him all the sidewalk. The police heard the shots at Fourth and Walnut and ran out. The negroes described the man who fired at them and soon pointed Dehoney out in Granfield's saloon where they said he ran after the shooting. No attempt was made to even detain him and the negroes fled. Not until a citizen complained to the police that they had not even searched Dehoney for a revolver was he held. Then the negro witnesses were gone and Dehoney was soon released.
One time after that Dehoney was taken to police headquarters. He was with two deputy sheriffs, walking out on Independence avenue. Two shots were fired. The police took all three to the station, but they were released.
Dehoney was appointed to his present position by the police board two months ago. He is said to be a personal friend of one of the commissioners.
