NEGRO POLICEMAN NOT GUILTY.
County Attorney Taggart Dismisses
Case of Press Younger.
County Attorney Joseph Taggart in the north city court yesterday noon dismissed the case of Press Younger, a negro policeman, who was accused of shooting three ex-street car men at Fifth street and Oakland avenue in Kansas City, Kas. M. E. Martinson, one of the men shot, said on the witness stand that he knew Younger well and that it was not he who did the shooting. Following this the accused officer proved an alibi.
The day before the arrest of Younger by the county authorities, the police arrested Reuben Harpole, another negro, on the same charge. Later, two little negro girls who saw the affair and are said to have been the cause of the shooting, positively identified Harpole as the one guilty of the shooting. His preliminary trial has been set for April 29.
It is held by the police that Joshua Wells, Charles Johns and M. E. Martinson had been drinking on the night of April 10 and met the two negro girls, to whom they made some insulting advances. Negro bystanders joined in the row and blows followed. Both parties drew revolvers. Martinson received a slight wound on the right leg, but Wells and Johns were shot through the breast and are still in critical condition at Bethany hospital.
