The Midnight Hold-Up That Turned Deadly

The man who was shot yesterday morning in the Adelaide saloon is named Frank Elmor, though he later identified himself as Frank Moran. Elmor claimed he was involved in a quarrel with a 'dago' fisherman who fired a shotgun at him. However, bartenders from the Cayuga and Adelaide saloons tell a different story: Elmor and two tough companions were going around the city compelling bartenders at gunpoint to provide free drinks. At the Cayuga saloon, they assaulted a man named John Conner, kicking him until he crawled under a pool table, and then allegedly robbed him. When the group moved across the street to the Adelaide saloon to repeat their demands, they pushed a revolver muzzle under the bartender's nose. John Conner, who had followed them, appeared at the door with a shotgun and fired at Elmor, hitting him in the ribs. The wounded man was taken to Providence Hospital in critical condition. One of the other assailants, William Ditton, was arrested after he and Conner, who had pursued them, fought with a police officer. Officer Topping, who attempted to intervene, was struck in the face with a heavy revolver by one of the men. Ditton was later captured in a lodging house after police pressured a child into revealing his hiding place. The shotgun used by Conner was recovered in the room.