Judge Faces Maniac’s Pistol for Half an Hour

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 648, 27 April 1929, Page 22

Judge Faces Maniac’s Pistol for Half an Hour

Rescued by Tear Bombs HALMLY sitting on his bench and writing a letter Judge Fred S. Michigan, passed nearly half an hour in the Wayne County Circuit Court waiting for police officers to rescue him from the menace of two pistols with which a madman was covering him. His assailant, Roy A. Wynkoop, 46, a carpenter, released three months previously from the Michigan Psychopathic Hospital, finally was subdued by tear gas bombs and a bullet in the left arm. He was removed to a receiving hospital and charged with assault with intent to kill. While Judge Lamb wrote his letter and waited for rescue, his clerk, August Blessing, and his court stenographer, Benjamin Preston, were seeking aid. When the door was opened, police rushed in, shooting a barrage of tear gas bombs and bullets ahead of them. Wynkoop turned on them but did not fire. Wynkoop demanded that Judge Lamb dissolve an injunction restraining him from starting law suits against creditors to whom he owed money on a petrol station he had purchased. Blessing and Preston were in the courtroom with Judge Lamb when Wynkoop displayed his pistols and demanded “justice.” The judge asked him several questions and concluding that he was not rational, turned to the clerk and said: “Mr. Clerk, I believe you and the court reporter had better bring in the file in this case. I think I would like to look further into this question.” Clerk and court reporter took their cue and summoned aid.