THRILLING FIGHT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 176, 30 August 1909, Page 4

THRILLING FIGHT.

WITH BURGLAR IN MID-AIR. Now York, June 27. A thrilling battle between a desperate burglar and a detective took place yesterday afternoon on the roof or a liroadway skyscraper, twelve storeys above the street, in the presence of ecv'eral hundred spectators. Three detectives were shadowing three rx-eonviets in Broadway shortly after five o'eloeek. They saw the men enter an office building in 627, Broadway, where most of the occupants had stopped work for the day. When they followed, the detectives found that the door leading to a suite of offices on the second floor had bei>n "jimmied. 1 ' Two of the ex-convicts were found inside and captured without ♦?. sistanee, but the third, a notorious burglar named Clayton, fled up flight after flight of stairs with Detective Toner at his heel.

The detective crawled towards the burglar, who shouted, "I'll throw jva into the street!"

Pedestrians in the street below saw Toner crawl nearer and nearer until ho was within arm's length of the fugitive. Suddenly the burglar seized Toner, and it appeared as though both would 'all Into the street.

The detective managed to get his revolver from his coat pocket and flrni noint'-blank at his prisoner. The bullet struck Clayton in the leg, and fie immediately collapsed. The detective hauled him away from the cornice l>y his collar, and after dragging him across the roof, shouldered the wounded man and carried him downstairs.

Clayton is now in the hospital. His wound is not serious.