NEGRO AT BAY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 824, 9 April 1910, Page 4

NEGRO AT BAY.

Toronto, February 15

After having shot to death his wife and mother-in-law, William Withers, a negro, successfully delended for three hours a brick house at 25, lilliot street, against about 50 members of the Toronto police force, armed with revolvers and shot guns, after which he ended the siege by putting a bullet into his own head.

The first intimation of the affair was conveyed to Policeman Creighton, the officer on the beat, by a boy who heard the shots. Ihe constable rushed to the house, and tried to get in, but found all the doors locked. Reinforced by two more constables, he broke through a window at the rear and entered. At the foot of the front stairs they found the body of Mrs Withers, with a bullet hole in her head.

Upon attempting to mount the stairs, however, they were met by a fusilade of revolver shots from Withers, who was upstairs, one of which struck Morris in the left leg above the knee. On the threat of Withers to shoot again if they did not get out, the constables, who were unarmed, assisted Morris with all possible haste by the way they had entered. Morris was taken to the general hospital, while word was sent for lurlher reinforcements. Detectives Wigg, Guthey and Murray wore the first to arrive from headquarters. They re-entered the broken window at the back, opened the front door, and carried out the body ol Mrs Withers. In the meantime other policemen had arrived from Nos. 4 and 8 stations, and the remainder of the detective staff. The crowd on the street had grown to tremendous proportions.

The siege of the house began with the man they were after on the first floor above the ground. The police held undisputed possession of the ground door, but immediately anyone attempted to gain the next flat shots rang out, and bullets whizzed above their heads. The house was surrounded by detectives and policemen, all armed and watching the windows. A rapid exchange of shots invariably followed any attempt to mount the steps until the desperado was driven to cover in one of the rooms. The fusilade of shots from outside evidently became too much for Withers’ comfort, and he look himself to the top floor, which could be approached only by one extremely narrow staircase. The detectives then took possession ot the second floor, and there found Mrs Davis, Mrs Withers’ mother, lying on the floor, with several bullets in her head and breast. She was carried out, and lived but a very few minutes. A few shots were sent by Withers out of one of the windows, upon which something approaching a panic was caused among the crowd, which scattered apart with wonderful rapidity, leaving a clean space right across the street for some distance in either direction. In the meantime Inspector Duncan and Detectives Moflatt, Sockett, Armstrong and Archibald had armed themselves with shot guns, and a constant fusilade was kept up for a matter of half an hour, their object being to keep the negro from the windows, for he could easily have created disastrous havoc among the crowd below had he dared to expose himself.

Several attempts by those within to gain the third storey were met and repulsed by shots in rapid succession. On one occasion Inspector Miller, ot No. 8 division, attempted the ascent, followed by Detective Young. Shots rang out, and bullets lodged in the wall not six inches from his head. Making a hasty descent, he stumbled and fell on top of Young, who feared for a moment that the inspector had been killed. Withers then adopted new tactics. Since he dared not expose himself to take proper aim at his enemies, he began firing through the floor at them, and forced them to seek fresh quarters. With the idea of smoking him out, the police then secured some sulphuric acid and salt, which they mixed at the foot of the stairs in two pails. The fumes arose in great quantities, but did not have the desired effect, owing, presumably, to the fact of all the windows being open ; in fact, the police themselves were nearly suffocated, and that scheme had to be abandoned.

After the siege had lasted about three hours, Detective Wallace called up to the negro to come down and give himself up, that he had made a fool of himself long enough. “ Who is down there ? Is that you, Mr Cuddy?” the man returned.

11 Yes, this is Cuddy,” Wallace said,

“ All right, then, boss, I am coming. JUook out!” was the response, and immediately five shots came down the stairs. A loud laugh came from above. “ Come right up here, Mr Cuddy, and I will give you what is coming to yon.” A lew minutes later a call came down again : I guess it’s all up. I am going to shoot myself.” One more shot was heard, then some groans, and the most sensational shooting affair in the criminal annals of Toronto had ended.

Detective Guthrie was the first upstairs. He found the man who had caused the excitement lying face down on a mattress in a front room, bleeding from the mouth and the top of his head. He had sent a shot into his mouth, which went right through the brain and out the top of his head. Jealousy of a coloured man, John Miller, who lived in the house, is given as the cause of Withers' crime.