OCR Text |
Show MORRIS CASE BRIEFLY TOLD w attCSd bTcTrcnmaSace "j"? sensational and jcpulatrlc'tor1 It was Immediately preceded by an-pl an-pl Br crime that squalled In daring reck ! lesa any ever committed In O ah? At 5:30 .clock pS the uSAS Tlfay . i u. j J M,ris and John Murray entered en-tered the ncle Sam oawnsh p SO Ernmt First South street. Morris covirina the attendant., at the More with bis In this act he v.as Imitated bv MuiTav and both Order the store attendant io group themselves behind the counte?. ThS men covered bj the rum of the robber? were A. l Wfilte, Jr.. proprietor f th" place, .v L. White sr. rather of the anTrne,- ' -J''r' F'u- alasman, and lie, ...rt r,eufer an au tlont i r i.aving their victims aafely disposed of and Murray eoUected as many loose and set diamonds and as m other Jewelry as they could rapidly cram into their pocketc and aped out of the store on to First South street, both men carrying their revolvers n ian,, An alarm giv-n bv the store attend-' ants, together with the sight of the fleeing flee-ing robbers caused u. crowd to rush 'in 1 pursuit. Morris and Murray ran down j Commercial street and Murray left Morns Mor-ns at Orpheum avenue, going eai Mnr ris cams out of CommercJal street at Second South and Murray emeraed from Orpheum avenue on Bute street between First and Second South, thus dlvldlrfS the chase and the pursuers Running eouth on state ttreel Mum wai captured met as he was tuning west on Second South. Patrolman Bd. BoOo?. nick : and L. H Slmma, of Murray, I , ?ir Inm him at that point -tur ! As Morris ran across Second -. it atreeL whan he came out from Commercial Commer-cial Htre..t .lames Walter Axtell th . " n a the puneo hotel, who wi. aim directly In front of Held'.- store on the south Hide of the street, crannied with the bandit Without atteniptlnc to take 'any chance al a stritKCle. in physical strength, Morris fired a Phot into (Vxtel's body at ami -lensih range. The bullet , pierced Axtell 8 heart and he died almost insi antly. Then Morris ran on west on Second South and began tiring Into the crowd of people. K B Wiiman received a bul-."t bul-."t u the right breast, which penetrated the inriK. v r. Hlggfnbotham was shot In Ihe right lec. but was not seriously wounded. R..th of the men recovered Mv the rinu- he had readied Main and second BOUtfa streets Morris had one shot iPft m his pistol. Here he was stopped by Deputy Sheriff A. A. Butler Who beat him on the head with his Clubbed revolver, but Morris fired Ida one remaining shot at the officer, the hullet tearing Its way through his OOat. but inflicting in-flicting no bodily harm. Firing this final Shol Morris threw his empty revolver into tne. street and gave up the struggle strug-gle So infuriated was the crowd, over the murderous work of Morris, that the robber-murderer was QUlCgly rushed to police headquarters to prevent a lvnch- '. barged with murder In the first degree, de-gree, Morris pleaded nol guilt'- was irle-1. found guilty and sentenced to Buffer Buf-fer Hi.- cxir-me penalty Having 1,,-en allowed t" ChOOSe the method of death be tele led hanging, afterwards saying i that he- would put the state to us much i , trouble and expense as possible In his e.-I e.-I coition. The ease was carried to the supreme "onrt on appeal, but on March 8. 1912, that tribunal refused to trant a new irial and affirmed tho judgment of the Third ' district court. On February B, 1912, Morris attempted to i.Tiirnit suickle at the state prison 1 taking twelve grains of morphine tie 1 id smuggled Into his cell In a m.-in-ncr noiiietimes adopted by criminals of desperate character. His attempt failed however, and he has lived to expiate hla crime. After h's arrest for the murder of Axtell, Ax-tell, Moiris mad., sensational charges iKalnst the police, making affidavit do- lacing that the officers had sr.i.-n from him a package of gems which he valued at about $5000. ThlB accusation he re-peated re-peated In a statement given to th" press last Sunday afternoon. It was asserted by Morris that the gems were secreted In the llninK of his vest when be wan arrested ar-rested by the police, and that the officers Ktracted them from their hiding place. Morris and Murray were identified as the two men who had held up the clerk and robbed the till of the Schramm-Johnson diusr "tore at South Temple and First West streets about midnight a few days befon their final crime. They were also ldentltled a.- the men who seriouslv lad r.'efiitv Sli.-riff William Iviven-der. Iviven-der. who had discovered ihem while they were lying In wait to rob the bank at Layton, .i small town about twentv miie north of Suit Lake. Tills was about the tlm- t i the clrtior store clerk had been held up. |