Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 105, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 May 1913 — Prosecutor in Automobile, “Tags” Fleeing Negro [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Prosecutor in Automobile, “Tags” Fleeing Negro

INDIANAPOLIS. IND.—It was a little game of “peel-away,” with University square for a playground. Prosecutor Frank P. Baker was “it,” and Charles Hamilton (colored), twentysix years old, 725 Hadley street, did his best to keep from being “tagged.” Persons who were passing University square early the other afternoon looked with amazement at an apparently demented negro who raced hither and thither, seeming trying to keep up with an automobile that turned and reversed and counter-turned as it circled around the park. The negro was Hamilton, and the man in the automobile was Prosecutor Baker, in the role of a policeman.

It finally dawned to some of the spectators that the man in the machine was trying to catch the negro, and they joined in the chase. Caught between a crowd of 30 men and women and the man in the auto, Hamilton gave up. “Ah jes’ foun’ a dollah, and ah run like the debbil when two white men tried to take it away from me,” was the way Hamilton explained his plight. Prosecutor Baker was passing Wabash street on Meridian when Hamilton ran out and some one shouted “Stop thief.” Traffic Officer Dan Haley at Meridian and Ohio streets deserted his corner to join in the chase. Hamilton soon outdistanced all his pursuers except Baker, The prosecutor once overtook the fugitive, but as he was deciding upon what to do with his prisoner the negro again ran. At University square the prosecutor was the winner in the game) of “pdel> away.” r , j jV Hamilton is charged with loitering and an investigation will be made.