Armed Citizen

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May 1, 1960

American, Chicago, IL

Chicago jeweler William S. Kraicek, suspicious of the stranger who entered his shop, quietly removed his pistol from a drawer behind the counter. When the stranger pulled a cal....
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May 1, 1960

Post-Dispatch, St. Louis, MO

Bartender Curtis H. Scott closed his East St. Louis, Ill., tavern for the night, walked past the nearby alley, and was accosted by two robbers who forced him at gunpoint to return...
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May 1, 1960

News, Philadelphia, PA

Sixty-year-old George Saddic managed to reach his cal. .38 revolver and fire two shots at his assailants just before collapsing in his Philadelphia candy store from an assault by...
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May 1, 1960

News-Free Press, Chattanooga, TN

In Chattanooga, Tenn., ham radio operator George Zarzour had just retired when he heard someone tampering at the window. With the crash of glass, George, now joined by brother Abe...
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May 1, 1960

Review, Fort Fairfield, ME

In Fort Fairfield, Maine, Mrs. Otis Flannery woke her husband, grabbed a Luger pistol, and ran across the road to their store where they surprised two burglars. Mrs. Flannery forced...
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May 1, 1960

State Journal, Topeka, KS

When a robber attacked him in the darkness of his back yard, Bruce Haughey mounted lights on the garage behind his Topeka, Kans., home and secreted a .38 pistol to carry on the walk...
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May 1, 1960

Daily Press, Newport News, VA

Two men bought soft drinks in Cecil Saunders' York County, VA., general store, shot him in the knee with a cal. .22 pistol, then demanded all the cash. The storekeeper gave them...
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March 1, 1960

The Union, Sacramento, CA

After being robbed in his Sacramento, Calif., apartment of $1100, restaurant owner Louis Jim Chong armed himself with a cal. .380 pistol. Chong was watching television when he was...
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March 1, 1960

Daily Tribune, Chicago, IL

Christ Borras, watchman for the Chicago Indian Boundary golf course, was making his nightly rounds when a bandit poked a gun at him and forced him into the concession shack where...
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March 1, 1960

The Commercial, Pine Bluff, AR

Floyd Strahn closed his Pine Bluff, Ark., liquor store at midnight and went to his car parked near the building. As he opened the door, a gunman hiding in the back of the car fired...
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March 1, 1960

Twin City Sentinel, NC

A youth was captured as he broke into a Winston-Salem, N.C., grill. Carl Shields was asleep in the restaurant when breaking glass aroused him. Shields surprised the burglar and held...
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March 1, 1960

The Chronicle, Houston, TX

A felon who had spent 28 years in penitentiaries was killed by pharmacist Nolan John Powers in his Houston drug store. When the long-time convict and a confederate approached a clerk...
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February 1, 1960

UPI, OH

Odell Teague was on the way to open his Cleveland cafe when he saw two burglars hauling cases of whisky through the smashed window of a state dispensary. When the robbers said, "Beat...
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February 1, 1960

Sun-Times, Chicago, IL

In eighteen years of operating his Chicago tavern, John Fahey has killed three bandits and wounded five others. The 70-year-old saloonkeeper thwarted a recent holdup by grabbing...
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February 1, 1960

UPI, AL

In Saraland, Ala., the berserk husband of a woman charged with possession of illegal whisky killed one police officer and wounded another but, as he tried to make his escape, was...
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February 1, 1960

Sun-Times, Chicago, IL

As Roman Kosinski, a Chicago jeweler whose avocation is target shooting, waited on customers he heard window glass crash and saw a masked man grab a tray of diamond rings. Kosinski...
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February 1, 1960

The Review, Decatur, IL

In 1956 a bandit who robbed Decatur, Ill., liquor clerk James W. Miller of $1025 was captured three days later and sentenced to prison. Recently paroled from his 20-year term, the...
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February 1, 1960

The Daily News, Washington, DC

After buying $2 worth of gas at a service station near Bowie, Md., the customer pointed a gun at attendant Gilbert Roy Gertz and said, "Give me what you've got in your pocket." Gertz ...
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January 1, 1960

Herald-Post, El Paso, TX

John A. Wilkinson, a nighttime railroad worker, was awakened at 10 A.M. when the doorbell rang at his El Paso home. Wilkinson ignored the ring until he heard the noise of a housebreaker...
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January 1, 1960

The Bee, Fresno, CA

Grocer Stephen A. Hardcastle heard the burglar alarm in his Hanford, Calif., store, got out of bed, grabbed his pistol, and headed for the front door. There he captured 3 burglars...
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January 1, 1960

UPI, TX

Sixty-two-year-old George E. Sellers armed himself with a .410-ga. shotgun and went to his barn when he heard someone breaking in. The surprised thief grappled with Sellers, trying...
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January 1, 1960

The Tribune, Tampa, FL

Shortly after robbing the Palatka, Fla., bus station, a burglar was killed when he jimmied a door to Richard Henderson's bar. Henderson slept in the building and awoke in time to...
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January 1, 1960

Star, Indianapolis, IN

When the intercom burglar alarm woke them in their house adjacent to their root beer stand near Lawrenceburg, Ind., Philip Bauer and son Thomas armed themselves with pocket and target...
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January 1, 1960

Evening Bulletin, Providence, RI

Roland L. Braxton surprised a burglar in the kitchen of his Cranston, R.I., home when he came in at 2 A.M. The intruder flailed at Braxton with a bread knife, inflicting a scalp...
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December 1, 1959

The Morning News, Dallas, TX

Alton A. Sanford of Texarkana, Ark., who collects dimes as a hobby, placed his special mark on a number of them after his store was burglarized. When burglars struck again, the storekeeper...
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December 1, 1959

The Repository, Canton, OH

Sherwin Alberts, a Canton, Ohio, grocer, keeps 2 guns secreted in the store. When 2 bandits entered, one herding Alberts and wife at gunpoint to the rear while the other rifled the ...
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December 1, 1959

Free Press, Detroit, MI

When 2 holdup men, simulating guns in pocket, menaced Catherine and Josephine Alford in their Detroit grocery, sister-in-law Josephine grappled with one bandit while Catherine grabbed...
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December 1, 1959

Journal, Albuquerque, NM

Thomas H. Myrick was in the back room of his Albuquerque, N. Mex., liquor store when he heard his wife pleading with a holdup man rifling the register. Myrick rushed out with shotgun...
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November 1, 1959

Daily News, New York, NY

Two youths who confessed to six jewelry store burglaries were captured at gunpoint by bartender James O'Brien when they switched targets by breaking into a Coram, N.Y. saloon. O'Brien ...
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November 1, 1959

The Columbus Citizen, Columbus, OH

Virgil Ruskin got out of bed and returned to his Columbus, Ohio, restaurant on a hunch that the place might be burglarized. The restaurant had been broken into three times in recent...
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November 1, 1959

Daily Sun, San Bernardino, CA

When burglars stole many valuable tools from Clyde Inman's garage in San Bernardino, Calif., the proprietor began sleeping in the place. Inman was recently awakened by two tire thieves...
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November 1, 1959

Tribune, Oakland, CA

After his father-in-law was killed by a bandit in his Oakland, Calif., liquor store, Forrest Norman Anderson became the proprietor and bought a cal. .38 pistol for protection. When...
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November 1, 1959

Daily Journal, New Ulm, MN

After the fourth robbery of their Judson, Minn., implement company, Harvey Rengsdorf and Edwin Fischer went on the alert. From his nearby home Rengsdorf noted prowlers, got his shotgun,...
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November 1, 1959

UPI, AL

Two gunmen kidnapped an Eclectic, Ala., town policeman and used the officer to gain admittance to the home of Carl Ray Barker in the early morning hours. Barker, an Eclectic banker,...
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November 1, 1959

Times, Shreveport, LA

When two armed paroled felons invaded a Shreveport, La., grocery and herded four employees and a customer into the cold storage box, proprietor Charles Whorton protested. One thug,...
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October 1, 1959

The Oregonian, OR

An ex-convict with a fresh bullet wound from a previous robbery attempt was killed by the owner of a Portland, Oreg., drive-in as he chopped his way into the restaurant with a hatchet....
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October 1, 1959

Times-Leader, Wilkes-Barre, PA

Leonard Conwell and son Robert had just closed their Bear Creek, Pa., restaurant when a car pulled up. Victimized by vandalism and six burglaries in recent months, the Conwells quietly ...
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October 1, 1959

The News, Miami, FL

Dominick Litz, watchman for a Miami, Fla., sausage company, investigated with drawn pistol when he heard a noise in the plant. Litz surprised a burglar descending a stairway and...
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October 1, 1959

The Star, Minneapolis, MN

John Paul, who lives in a basement apartment below his St. Paul, Minn., furniture store, heard intruders' footsteps and got his cal. .38 revolver. In the dim glow of a street light,...
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