Jasper County Democrat, Volume 19, Number 82, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 January 1917 — CITY MARSHAL KILLS GROCER [ARTICLE]

CITY MARSHAL KILLS GROCER

Each in Search of Robber Who Had Held Up Merchant. - Watseka, Illinois, January .7. — Francis Labounty, a grocer, was shot to death early today by Assistant City Marshal A. J. Bailey, who mistook him and was mistaken by him for a robber who had held up the grocer a short time before. Labounty was held up by two men, who robbed him of S4OO, while going home from his grocery with his wife. (He took his wife home and reported the theft to the city hall. He then obtained a revolver and began a search for the robbers at the same time that Marshal Bailey left the city hall on the same mission. Each man saw the other creeping cautiously along a darkened street and each mistook the other for one of the robbers. Labounty opened fire and Marshal Bailey replied. Labounty was aided in the fusillade that followed by a brother of the sheriff, but Bailey’s aim was the only true one. Labounty, mortally wounded, ran to the city hall, pursued by Bailey, who did not discover his mistake until he saw Labounty drop dead in the marshal’s .office.. Bailey was arrested.