Nineveh Burglary
Burglar Shot and killed in Smith and Webster's Store
Afton Enterprise, May 20, 1887
The usually quiet little village of Nineveh [Broome Co., NY] was thrown into a great excitement early Wednesday morning, by the report that a burglar had been shot and killed in the store of Smith & Webster, in that place. The report spread rapidly throughout Nineveh and thence to adjoining villages, and all day Wednesday large crowds of people visited the scene of the tragedy and viewed the remains of the dead burglar. A representative of the Enterprise was dispatched to the excited little village and the following particulars were learned:
About 12 o'clock Tuesday night Mr. Webster, who resides a short distance south of his store, was awakened by the report of the burglar alarm bell which runs from the store to his dwelling. Calling his clerk, Mr. L. W. Clark, who boards with Mr. Webster, the two hastily dressed and Mr. Clark arming himself with a double barrel breech loading shot gun, they started for the store. They were obliged to move cautiously, for fear than an accomplice might be stationed on the outside of the store, and either shoot them down or make good their escape. Creeping up to the building they could hear somebody moving around inside, but no light was visible. They went around to the north eastern side of the building to the outside door of the meal room where Mr. Webster stopped, Mr. Clark going on to the rear end of the store. As Mr. Webster stood looking through the glass part of the door the burglar entered the meal room and struck a match. He was not more than twelve feet from Mr. Webster, but he being unarmed was unable to do anything. The burglar got a sack and returned to the main part of the store, and leaving Mr. Clark on guard, Mr. Webster went to the Pease Hotel after help.
Mr. Clark then went around to another door, in the rear of the building, which he found partly open, and concluded that the burglar had made his escape. While he stood there listening the burglar struck another match, when Mr. Clark drew up his gun and fired. The burglar threw up his hands and exclaimed, "My God, my time has come" and dropped to the floor. At the time the shot was fired the burglar stood behind the counter facing Mr. Clark and the charge took effect in his breast and abdomen. The gun was loaded with buckshot, and the distance between the burglar and Mr. Clark was about twenty feet. A few moments after the shooting Wm. Horton and John Seagraves reached the store, and the four men entered the building together. They proceeded very carefully, as they were not aware that the burglar was fatally wounded, and thought that he, or an accomplice, would not hesitate to shoot.
Finding their way unmolested and hearing nothing of anyne else in the store, they reached the dying burglar, who gave one or two gasps after the men reached his side. A light was procured and the dead body removed to a more convenient palce. Messrs. Webster and Clark then notified Deputy Sheriff Hobbs and gave themselves up.
Nothing was found on the body of the dead man by which he could be identified, and who he is or where he is from is a mystery. He was about five feet seven inches in height, and weighed about 140 pounds, wore short sandy side whiskers and mustache, and was dressed in brown corkscrew coat and vest and check pants, blue flannel shirt and soft black hat. A few cartridges were found in one of his pockets, but he had no weapon . He was evidently a tramp, and it is believed that he had an accomplice. In the bag he obtained in the meal room he had put some cheese, crackers, canned fruit, tobacco, etc., and had on one new rubber when he was shot. He had also taken some change out of the money drawer, about $1.60.
The burglar obtained entrance to the store by breaking out one pane of glass in a window on the south side of the building, and then by inserting his hand he could remove the nail that fastened the window. This let him into a room where butter, salt, flour, etc., is kept and then by forcing open another door leading to the main part of the building, he could go where he pleased. The back door through which he was shot he had probably opened do he [could escape] if he heard [someone coming].
In different parts of the store the firm have placed burglar alarms, and it would be a very difficult job for a person to gain entrance thereto without awakening Mr. Webster, to whose house the wire runs. Mr. Clark, the young man who did the shooting, is about 28 years of age. He is about medium height, weighs about 135 pounds and wears a mustache and chin whiskers. He has the reputation of being a fine young man, and while it is to be deplored that he was obliged to shoot a fellow being, all law abiding citizens will honor him for the brave stand he took. Our country is full of lawless men who prefer to steal rather than to work, and if more of them were served as Mr. Clark served this one, it would be better for all concerned.
Coroner Osborn, of Binghamton, was notified, and on reaching Nineveh empaneled the following jury and held an inquest: Silas Scott, Wm. Grannis, Geo. Searles, Chas. Hare, Willard Brown, and Andrew Blake. After a few witnesses were sworn the inquest was adjourned until today (Friday). Of course this is all proper and well enough, but no jury would think of rendering a verdict other than of "justifiable homicide." The body of the dead man was removed to the undertaking rooms of J.H. Ayers, at Harpursville, and will not be buried until today.
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Still Unidentified
Chenango Semi-Weekly Telegraph, May 25, 1887
The body of the dead burglar at Nineveh remains unidentified at this writing. Investigation by the authorities seems to point to the conclusion that more than one person was engaged in the commission of the crime. There is a wing on each side of the store, in both of which goods are stored, and to which there is no practical entrance from the outside, except the windows. When Clark first arrived on the scene after the alarm, he went to the side window in the left wing of the building, and peering through, saw a man in the wing room. He immediately went to the back room of the store, which he found open, and discovered the burglar upon which he fired. There was hardly time between Clark's leaving the side window of the wing and his arrival at the back door to enable the burglar to change his position. Moreover, the intruder was behind the counter, in the act of eating, as if he had been thus employed for some time. When Clark fired the shot, and heard the man exclaim "I am gone" he immediately left the spot, with the intention, as he now claims, of calling a doctor. There was plenty of time before his return to enable anyone else who might have been in the store to escape, and the fugitive was given every opportunity to make that escape perfect, as the idea of a confederate did not develop, and as a consequence there was no pursuit. On the body of the dead man ammunition was found, but not a scrap to give a clue to his identify. It is now positively believed that the man seen on the track on Tuesday talking with the dead burglar was a confederate.
Mr. Clark, who fired the shot that put an end to the burglar, regrets exceedingly the rashness that impelled him to so summary a step, and not withstanding the fact that he was in a great measure justified in his action by the presence of a burglar in his employer's store, he is considerably disheartened by the occurrence. If, however, there is any plausibility in the theory that the whole affair was a planned and systematic robbery, his course proves the only one conductive to his own safety.
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Coroner's Jury
Afton Enterprise, may 27, 1887
The jury in the case of the unknown burglar who was shot and killed in Smith & Webster's store, at Nineveh, the particulars of which appeared in the last issue of the Enterprise, rendered the following verdict:
"Death was caused by gun shot wounds in the region of the abdomen, said wounds being made by buck shot discharged from a gun while in the hands of Lester W. Clark, at the store of his employer's in the village of Nineveh, N.Y., on the morning of the eighteenth of May, while the store was being burglarized by said unknown man; that Clark fired with the intention of disabling the burglar in order to capture him; that under the circumstances we consider the killing justifiable, and therefore we exonerate Lester W. Clark."
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