San Francisco Call, Volume 82, Number 16, 16 June 1897 — FOUND A ROBBER'S BLOODY PISTOL [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FOUND A ROBBER'S BLOODY PISTOL

Belongs to One of the Men Who Attacked the Hermitage. "My God, I Am Shot!" He Cried, and Was Dragged Off by His Pals. — _____ Probability That He Is Lying Dead in One of the Canyons in That Lonely District. Oakland Office : San Francisco Call,) 908 Broadway, June 15. A pistol with blood on it and some of the cartridges discharged has been found near the Hermitage, and it is believed that the two bold robbers who held up an officer near the City Hall have been separated. Indeed, it is probable that one is now seriously wounded in some part of East Oakland. The finding of Ihe pistol has been reported to the constables and they are try- ;

ing to find the owner, who is undoubtedly one of the men who tried to rob the Hermitage and shot at its proprietor a few days ago.

The police have made application among the doctors and at the hospitals and drugstores, b;it have not been able to obtain a clew. Leon Faure, the proprietor, is certain that he injured one of the men, and believes that he is now being secreted somewhere in the neighborhood. Certain it is that since the time of the attempt to rob the Hermitage the long and the short man have not been heard from.

Harry Crandall, who found the revolver, said: "I was considerably surprised to find such a weapon lying alongside the road. At first I thought some one had tired of life and used it upon himself. I found marks of blood upon the handle and several chambers empty. It is bulIdog pattern and would have made short work of any one it might have been used on.

"I have reported the matter to Constable Robinson and he is hunting for the wounded robber. It is certain that one of the men dropped it. after doing some shooting around Faure's place, and whoever it was must have been badly wounded. "It is not improbable that he may be dead in some ravine near the Hermitage if his friends did not succred in getting him away. There are plenty of places. within a few Hundred yards where a man might crawl into and be dead a hundred years before he was found." "I never heard such a yell of pain and anguish in my life," saiu Leon Faure this afternoon. "I know well enough that the man was shot, and if my pistol had done its duty I would have got the whole crowd. That fellow is laid up somewhere around, ,and don't you forget it. "The first I heard or the fellows was a rattling of my doorbell downstairs. I was sleeping just over it. and as I rolled out of bed I called out, 'What do you want?' Then a voice said : 'Hush; keep still; I'll make him come down.'

'I have no beds: they are all taken,' I said, but some one wanted me to come down. I suspicioned that all was not right, and called to them to go along. Then I heard one suggest that they go to the other house. That is on the north end of the lot. With this I jumped into a pair of pants and started downstairs. I went out into the yard, where it was dark, and ran alone through the shrubbery to the entrance of the yard of the house they mentioned. It has two doors, and when I got there two men, one a short fellow and the other taller, were at either door. "Without saving a word I snapped my pistol, but it failed to go off twice. This alarmed them and they ran. Then I saw the third fellow. He ran west and out of the gate through which they entered. The other two ran around to the north of the house, when I shot again. This is when he cried out 'Oh! my God, I am shot.' The two tumbled over the fence, but I did not follow, for I did not know where the third man was. I was afraid be might show up again. "The next morning I found blood and footprints where they went over the

fence. Of course, I reported it to the police at once. I am sorry my pistol did not go off at the first attempt, for I would surely have hit all of them before they could have gotten away. 'If he is not a dead man some one has taken good care of him. Captain Fletcher told me he would notify all physicians and the Receiving Hospital to inform him if they were called upon to dress a gunshot wound. But, of course, he may be able to get treatment right heeo in the hills and no one know it."

The Hermitage and the Place Where Leon Faure, th: Proprietor, Shct the Robber. The Cross Marks the Pact Where the Eurgiars Escaped Over the Fence.