USVI Public Records

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4";“’.v/ . o7 _ wNS e ils & I vOp |l ’ : /..’:'s&"%i : * 4+ loS L 4 3 ) 2 J i ’ l ;\‘| \‘ }\\/<§/‘ / \ ‘?"‘ :\ 3 4 ’\%4 f r'?% Sy / (/’ N : ;N3 % : ‘-\‘\\ 31 !, R 75TH YEAR. CHRISTIANSTED. V. 1. U. S. A., THURSDAY 16tH SEPTEMBER 1920. Dougherty fell, his heart pierced by Lo- pez’s knife. Donohue, though not killed, | fared badly. Three slashes given him by | his adversary were of telling effect—his | right eye was cut out ana two other se- ’ vere wounds inflicted—one on the shoul- | der and another in the side. | Meanwhile, where were the other mem- | bers of the erew? In their quarters, most of them -‘runk thru the effects of | liquor. ‘ Just before the stabbing, one man call- | ed aboard the ship Paddy, going to call a | friend of his, came upon the men and witnessed the crime. He says that af- ter Lopez had knifed the two men, he slashed at kim, saying, ‘'That’s for you Paddy.”” He saved himself, however, by jumping into a room and closing the door. | He then ran and gave the alarm. | The deed accomplished, Soto and Lo- : pez gained the docks and moved in a ' southerly direction. It was then that | the chief officer and Policeman Anduze, l seeing the men trying to escape, fired several shots. Searching parties were | soon sent in the direction taken by the | men. - | One of these, a party consisting of six l men organized by Mr. Moorehead, of the | Labor Union, succeeded in capturing Jose | Soto, Jose Soto fleeing along the rocks | succeeded in reaching Poumee, and luck- | ily the party organized by the president ’ of the Labor Union took that direction. Moving warily along they came upon ' Soto, just before dawn, lying fast asleep in the bush with the ugly instrument | of his crime at his head. One of the | men nabbed it and the posse then sur- i rounded and secured ‘he sleeping man. | ‘‘All right, Mr. policeran,’’ said Soto, i and, denying his guilt. was marched- | into town and delivered at the Police | station. Meanwhile, where was Jose | L.oopez, the man whose anerring aim had | brought Dougherty’s career to so sud- ‘ den a close? The searching parties | could not find him, and not until a late | hour yesterday morning was any clue | given the police, as at 10.15 o’clock the ! Chief of Police was noti"ed by Mr. Pec- kam of the Shipping Board that a man answering to the description of the slayer | had been seen at an early hour resting | in a disused shed just back of the old | tanks. The Director of Police Morningstar | immedaiately upon receipt o° the message | sent over a party to capture the fugitive. | The party consisting of about four | men was led by Distiict Chief of Police | Lantz and Inspecter Geraux. On land- ing at the Navy Doeck they at once in- THE ST. CROIX AVIS is printed and published daily (Sundays and Holidays excepted) by G. Johansen at the Avis Office. TERMS---50 cents monthly in advance. 2 cents per single copy. Entered as second-class matter May 26th 1917 at the Post Office at Christian- sted, St. Crove, V. I of the U. S. 4., un- der the Act of March 3. 1879. Contribution to this paper will be glad- ly received when the same deals with mat- ters of general interest, and is accompa- nied with the author’s nmame, as a guar- antee of good faith. The editor cannot be responsible for the views of his correspon- dents nor does he necessarily endorse them. St. Thomas News. ONE MAN STABBED TO DEATH AND ANOTHER SEVERELY INJURED IN ROW ABOARD S. S. POLAR STAR.- GUILTY SEAMEN CAPTURED. Thursday evening at about 10.45 the town was startled by signals of alarm, which came from the s. s '‘Polar Star.”’ Soon the report that the ship was on fire got started, and crowds hastened on foot and in machines to the wharf of the West India Company to view the supposed conflagration. It was soon found out however, that the cause for the alarm was not fire, but ~ murder. A most dastardly act had been committed aboard the vessel. Two mem- bers of the crew had been attacked by {wo sailors, also members of the ship’s crew, with the result that the one was killed and the other seriously injured. It appears that ill feelings had started between the Latin speaking members of the erew and the others, through the dis- charge of the deck engineer, a Spaniard, who had drawn a knife at a mess hand when the ship was at Newport News, the culmination being a quarrei between Jose Soto and Jose Lopez, Latins, and Donochue and Dougherty, Irish, on Thurs- day evening. What was the immediate cause of the quarrel has not yet been as- certained: but it happened that as Dono- hue and Dougherty left the crew’s quar- ters to go on deck, they were fallen upon while going up the ladder by Soto and L.opez. A very short and unequal struggle fol- lowed, as the two victims were unariined. o 21k vestigated the report which showed that Lopez had been seen on two occa- sions during the morning. Upon learn- ing the accuracy of this, a vigorous search was started. Thru the thick bushes went the policemen, unheedful of the clusters of '‘suckers’’ and other thorns that stood in their path: or of the fierce sun that blazed down. They cared for neither so bent were they on securing their man. At about 1.30 p. m. the District Chief ordered them back to the town, while he remained until relief arrived. This was reluctantly obeyed by the tired and disappointed policemen. They were will- ing to remain on tle scent the whole day, but this was unnece sary as it was not believed the man could escape the trap laid for him. During the whole evening a guard consisting of one policeman and two civilians continued the search. The ‘‘Polar Star’’ in the meantime at the request of Director of Police Morningstar, kept playing her search- light at intervals of half an hour on the lurking place of the murderer. Nothing turned up during the night, and the men were just wondering at the possi- bility of his having eluded their vigi- lance, when he was spied picking his way along the beach facing Water Is- land. He surrendered without givings any trouble, and was at once brought across the harbor and lodged in jail. At the investigation conducted by Judge Thiele today (11th) the evidence strongly. pointed to the guil: of the two seamen, although they denied knowing anything of the affairs. l.opez declared he was too drunk to know anything, but witnesses stated that theugh he might have had in someting, he was not too drunk to have known what he was abour Moreover, it was ascertained that they were looking for other members of the crew. A creport of the invesiigution will be pubiished later.- St. Thomas Mail Notes, Sept 11th. ~ The "‘Polar Star’’ is of 2623 “tons, and belorgs 0o the New York Argentite Steamshdp Company.— foid. For good appetiteand . ° good digestion use Dr. Ross’ Life Pills. Readers, No20-17.