By Brian Irby, archival assistant
This is a continuation of last
month’s story about Jack the Shooter, a man who terrorized the City of Little
Rock in 1912. To read Part One, click
here.
“Jack the Shooter,” an armed
burglar who had stalked Little Rock’s residents through the spring of 1912,
attacking them in the safety of their bedrooms at night, remained elusive. He
had confounded police — breaking into homes in the small hours of the night,
shooting at the homeowners and then fleeing into the darkness. Since his first
break-in at the home of C.R. Smith is April 1912, no one knew who he was, but
everyone was on edge wondering where he would appear next.
For most of his spree he had
remained a hapless burglar, brandishing a pistol to little effect, but with the
May 19 death of the Coulter child, he was now a murderer. This latest violence
caused panic throughout the city. Local pawnshops reported runs on pistols and
shotguns as citizens, male and female alike, armed themselves. A gun dealer in
Little Rock reported that he had sold 400 revolvers in the previous month. With
so many people armed, mistakes were bound to happen. R.W. Keith, an incurable
insomniac who lived on Broadway, grew frustrated at a loud barking dog who was keeping
him awake. Around 2:30 in the morning on June 14, he went to the house of the
dog’s owner to complain. The dog’s owner, fearing that Keith was “Jack the
Shooter,” immediately opened fire, causing Keith to flee back to the safety of
his home. Meanwhile, neighbors also arrived armed, and began firing at each
other indiscriminately. Police were able to restore order after arriving at the
scene.
Police Capt. T. M. Clifton
remarked about the incident, “The fact that nearly everyone in the city is
armed, and that so many people are prone to shoot first and investigate
afterward creates a serious condition of affairs. There is not one man in a
hundred who can shoot a pistol with any degree of accuracy.” His concluding
advice was, “Be sure you are shooting at a burglar before you fire.”
People became suspicious of each
other. Residents pointed fingers at suspicious neighbors. Little Rock Mayor
Charles E. Taylor summoned the city to attend a public meeting on May 20. During
the meeting, the mayor announced that they would be taking volunteers to help
police patrol the city. The police station was subsequently flooded with
volunteers. Chief Fred Cogswell told the volunteers that there was not a clear
description of the killer, only that he was a white man of medium build who knew
the layout of the city well.
The murder of Coulter’s son added a note of urgency to the growing alarm. City Hall sprang into action and offered a $300 reward for the capture of Jack the Shooter. Matching rewards from other organizations soon expanded the reward to over $1,000. On the evening of May 21, as many as 50 armed volunteers patrolled the city. Around 10 p.m. that evening, Deputy Constable Will Stein was patrolling on Broadway when he spotted two men lying on the ground. When Stein shined his flashlight on the men, they both jumped up and bolted. As Stein began to chase the suspects, townspeople quickly gathered on the street to watch the spectacle.
Due to the crowd, Stein was only
able to capture one of the men, a man who identified himself as George Parker,
who was visiting the city from Texarkana. As Stein was escorting Parker to the
police station, the crowd grew more agitated. Several in the crowd demanded
that they lynch Parker. Parker told police that he been trying to beg for money
on the street but got scared of the growing armed police presence and chose to
hide in the garden by lying down on the ground. He claimed to have run only because he feared
he would be arrested for vagrancy. Once again, police had many of the
eyewitnesses come in to identify Parker. Many of them stated that he resembled
Jack, but none were positive. Within hours of his arrest, police released
Parker for lack of evidence.
On May 29, police arrested and
charged Sam Brassfield, a former policeman who had been fired recently for
dishonesty, with the murder of the Coulter child. There was little evidence
connecting Brassfield to the crime, yet police still suspected that he might be
worth the investigation. Many of his former colleagues suspected that he had
been the man involved in the attacks. Police brought Brassfield to Marion Smith,
the nanny who was caring for the Coulter child at the time of his murder, who
identified him as the murderer.
Unfortunately for police who
thought they had captured Jack the Shooter, the attacks seemed to continue,
even while Brassfield remained in jail. On May 30, May Nolan, a nurse living on
Sixth Street, awoke to a man entering her room through a window. She awoke her
friend Daisy Andrews and then reached over and turned on the bedroom light. They
both screamed at the intruder, who in turn fired two shots at them, both of
which missed their targets, and then leaped out the window. E.M. Pfeifer,
living on Gaines Street, a few blocks over, awoke to the sound of gunfire and
then went outside to investigate. He saw a man running through his yard and
fired two shots at him. The stranger ran off into the night, apparently
unwounded by Pfeiffer’s pistolry. Soon after the incident at Nolan’s home,
Minnie Cauley, living on 11th Street, reported that a man entered her home and
assaulted her.
Police questioned Nolan and Andrews
the next morning. Andrews claimed that she had clearly seen the intruder,
describing him as a tall, slender man of dark complexion with a heavy mustache.
Minnie Cauley gave a similar description of the man who entered her home soon
after the suspect fled Nolan’s home. Curiously, Cauley reported that during the
struggle with her attacker, his mustache came off and he seemed to be wearing a
disguise.
As the attacks continued, local merchants saw an opportunity to advertise their wares on the back of the attacks. Fred Arthur, real estate agent in Hillcrest took an advertisement in the Arkansas Gazette, claiming, “Jack the Shooter has never invaded the peaceful quiet of Hillcrest. That is only one of the numerous advantages of a quiet, refined neighborhood.” Refined Hillcrest residents needed not worry about the madman running the streets only a few miles away.
As the month of June waned, the
Pulaski County prosecutor convened a grand jury to investigate suspects. They ultimately
indicted no fewer than six individuals on charges of breaking and entering in connection
with the “Jack the Shooter” cases. Among those indicted was a Mexican national,
David Birones. Birones had been arrested previously for prowling. Due to the
recent “Jack” cases, police began watching Birones with the suspicion that he
was behind many of the crimes. Specifically, he was charged with being the
perpetrator of the break-in at the home of Mary Nolan on May 30. Andrews also positively
identified Birones as the man who had invaded her home.
Meanwhile, Brassfield was charged
with the murder of Paul Coulter. With the two main suspects in custody, police
began developing a theory of the crime. Perhaps it was not several
perpetrators, but possibly just two? Were Birones and Brassfield working
together, with one operating on the east side of town, while the other worked
the west? They found it curious that “Jack’s” crime spree seemed to stop once
the two men were in custody.
On July 4, Birones was convicted of
assault with the intent to kill and sentenced to 21 years in the penitentiary. While
Brassfield awaited his trial, which was scheduled for September 1912, the
prosecutor’s theory of the crime was destroyed when another attack occurred. On
July 25, one Maud Summers discovered a man crawling through her window at 900
Center Street. She screamed and the suspect shot and wounded her. He then fled
the scene. Meanwhile, police heard her screams and ran to the scene to catch a
glimpse of the attacker running away. They quickly chased him into the home of
Samuel Collins on 10th Street, who upon seeing the attacker coming into his
house shot and killed the man. Detectives identified the attacker as James B.
Brown, an attorney and businessman. Police found that Brown was disguised and was
wearing women’s stockings and heavily perfumed clothes, and in his pocket was a
pack of newspaper clippings about the Jack the Shooter cases. When looking into
Brown’s background, detectives discovered that he had been picked up several
weeks before and charged with prowling and breaking and entering but had been
released due to a lack of evidence.
A search of Brown’s house revealed
a trunk full of material from previous robberies: it held silk sashes, women’s
handbags, jewelry, hosiery, numerous bottles of perfume and other materials
that he used to disguise himself. Detectives also discovered “lewd pictures and
questionable literature,” including several articles about recent crimes. Dr.
G.W.S. Ish, a doctor who had previously treated Brown, came forward to tell
detectives that he had treated Brown for several gunshot wounds over the
previous months. Now, he recognized that the wounds were likely the result of
victims defending themselves from his attacks.
Gov. George Donaghey pardoned Birones
who had been convicted of some of the crimes now attributed to Brown and set
him free. Meanwhile, Brassfield’s trial in the death of Paul Coulter came to an
end when the prosecutor convened the jury and instructed them to return a
verdict of not guilty. Brassfield was a free man, if only for a moment: he was
immediately rearrested on the charge of impersonating an officer.
One particular legal case was
affected by the death of James B. Brown. Robert Armstrong had been sentenced to
death for the attack and assault on Ella Hardcastle in October 1911. After the
crime, Hardcastle’s parents received a letter from an anonymous writer claiming
“credit” for the rape. Police arrested Armstrong and charged him as the letter
writer and Hardcastle’s attacker. Armstrong’s attorney, when examining Brown’s
handwriting, thought it looked very similar to that of the anonymous writer. Could
Hardcastle’s attacker have been James B. Brown? The strong possibility created
serious doubts as to Armstrong’s guilt, so Donaghey also pardoned Armstrong. Was
James B. Brown the infamous Jack the Shooter, or were there a series of
perpetrators? The answer has been lost to history. It is likely that Brown was
the perpetrator of at least a few of the crimes, but whether he can be held responsible
for all of them must remain up for debate. It is notable that with Brown’s
death, the attacks ended. For the time being, Little Rock residents could
breathe a sigh of relief. They were safe. Armed to the teeth, yes, but safe.
