Alton Telegraph, August 16, 1928
Judge Lawliss Lets Culprits Leave City
Thinks Its Better than to Attempt Getting Fines
The question of who gets changes of venue from police court
was not solved yesterday when a case was carried from Acting Magistrate Lawliss
to Justice Gorman. At an afternoon
hearing, Justice Gorman reports, both sides agreed that he should try the case,
and accordingly accepted the papers transmitted to him.
The case was one against Mrs. Ella Rice of 1209 ½ Belle
street on a charge of selling liquor.
But at the hearing before Justice Gorman, City Attorney Liedel finally
agreed that the charge be reduced to one of disorderly house, and through her
attorney, William Wilson, Mrs. Rice then entered a plea of guilty and was fined
$25.
Yesterday’s complaint against Mrs. Rice grew out of a police
raid Monday night. But there had been a
previous raid last Saturday night and today Mrs. Rice was summoned back into
police court on the case growing out of the first raid. Acting Magistrate Lawliss finally agreed that
the charge be withdrawn after an offer had been made that Mrs. Rice would leave
town, and she was released.
There was similar action taken
by the acting magistrate……(not related to
Rice case)
PARTY ENDS IN SHOOTING, 2 WOUNDED
Two Men in Hospital, Ten in Jail After ‘Rough-House’
19 Released, 1 Held
Son of Mrs. Ella Rice Claims He Shot in Self-Defense
It was due to a baby being knocked off a table, police have
been told that a “rough house”, raised in the apartment of Mrs. Ella Rice at 1209
Belle Street at 11:30 p.m. Saturday developed into a shooting affray in which
two men were wounded.
The two men shot were
Bart Bainbridge, of 802 Henry Street, whose windpipe was punctured, and
Fred Thiesen of 325 West Twelfth Street who was wounded in
the leg between the knee and ankle.
Both were taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital where it was said
that the condition of Bainbridge was regarded as serious, little (illegible)
having been noted, but (illegible) would be taken home having
expected to develop no complications.
Doran Rice Held
The bullet with which Thiesen was shot, one of .32 calibre,
was found in his clothing after he reached the hospital, police say. The bullet which his Bainbridge appeared to
have entered at the “adam’s apple” and to have emerged from the neck a few
inches away. He could not talk other
than a few whispers when police saw him immediately after the shooting.
Doran Rice, barber at Broadway and Laclede avenue in Sering
place and a son of Mrs. Rice in whose apartment the trouble started, was held
by the police for the shooting.
Nine other persons were taken into custody as participants
or witnesses of the trouble, but after questioning were released on their own
recognizance to appear at 5 p.m. today.
Rice’s Account
Doran Rice told a reporter today that he had gone to the
home of mother after closing his barber shop to get some washing she had done
for him. With him were his wife, their 2-year-old
daughter, Iona, and a friend, Mann Duggan, a heavyweight boxer formerly of
Plainview.
While they were in his mother’s apartment, he said, a party
of men burst in and started a rough house.
It began in an apparent spirit of “horseplay” on the part of the
visitors, he said, but, after his baby daughter was knocked off the table, he
remonstrated, and a fight began.
When one man produced a knife, Doran said, he went to a
bedroom and got a revolver he knew his mother kept for protection, and with
help of his friend, Duggan, drove the visitors out.
Rice Opens Fire
But a few minutes later, three men started back. He heard someone say, “Let’s clean out the
place – he won’t shoot.” And when the
trio advanced on him as he stood on the front porch, on showing his knife, he
says he first retreated, then began to shoot.
His first shot wounded Thiesen in the leg, but the other two
men kept coming, and he fired a second time, wounding Bainbridge in the throat.
The police report shows officers were called by some
resident of the neighborhood at this juncture.
When the ambulance arrived Thiesen, his wound bleeding profusely, was
seated in a chair in front of the house, while Bainbridge already had been
started for the hospital in a car, accompanied by two companions. John Boomleaf
(?) and
Robert Paisley or Peasley. Thiesen was
taken to the hospital in the ambulance.
Returning, officers found Doran Rice, who had been named by
the wounded men, and put him under arrest.
His .32 calibre revolver later was found near the rear of the house, to
which point it is believed he retreated after firing the first shot.
Conflicting Reports
While Doran Rice told police that he was forced to shoot in
defense of his family and his mother’s home, police had two counter reports as
to start of the trouble. One was that it
grew out of a “party” at Mrs. Rice’s place, the other that the party had
“horned into” the Rice place after leaving a neighborhood place, keyed up to
seek trouble.
Chief of Police Fitzgerald said today that Mrs. Rice’s
premises had been subject of two raids within the last two weeks, but that no
beer or liquor was found. Some months
ago a raid there resulted in a charge under which she was fined.
Mrs. Rice was among those who went to Springfield last
summer to appear before a grand jury in federal court, it is said, and it was
common gossip that she went to air gossip against the police.
Doran Rice’s automobile was found Sunday in a ditch on East
Eleventh street near Alton, having gone partially down an embankment. Rice said today that after the shooting he
started to take his family and Duggan home, but that they found Duggan’s
overcoat had been forgotten and turned back to get it.
In the fog, he ran past the end of the pavement on Eleventh
at Alton and ditched his car. He
returned to his mother’s apartment on foot and was taken into custody on
arrival there.
Plead Not Guilty on Liquor Charge
Doran Rice, 28, a barber, indicted twice on charges of
assault with intent to kill, as a result of an affray last December 13, at the
home of his mother, Mrs. Ella Rice at 1209 Belle street was arraigned in City
Court before Judge Yager today and entered please of not guilty.
Rice was also indicted jointly with Mrs. Ella Rice on a
charge of violating the state prohibition law, and both he and his mother, who
also was in court, entered please of not guilty.
Two men, Bart Bainbridge and Fred Theisen were wounded in
the affray at the Belle street address last December, and the indictments
against Rice on the assault charges come from this circumstance.
Assistant State’s Attorney Streeper appeared for the state
at the arraignment.
No comments:
Post a Comment